Marquis de Lafayette — French Ally, Bridge Between Worlds

**Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette** was the founding generation's most romantic figure — a 19-year-old French aristocrat who bought his own ship, crossed the Atlantic, and volunteered to fight (and bleed) for a country that wasn't his, in a revolution driven by ideals he'd only read about. Born in 1757 into one of France's wealthiest and most ancient noble families, Lafayette was orphaned young and inherited a fortune that made him one of the richest men in France. He could have lived a life of aristocratic ease. Instead, inspired by the American cause, he defied King Louis XVI's direct orders, purchased the ship La Victoire, and arrived in America in 1777 at age 19 with a letter of introduction from Benjamin Franklin.