The Other Special Relationship

As a young man Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette arrived in America at the age of 19 ready to serve the cause of liberty in the American Revolution. He quickly became part of Washington’s military family and over the years, their relationship grew to that of a father and adoptive son.

Major General François Jean de Beauvoir, Marquis de Chastellux, was a French officer sent to America in the summer of 1780. He served as one of the principal liaison officers between George Washington and Rochambeau. A member of the distinguished Académie française, Chastellux was a man of letters as well as a soldier. 

In 1754 Washington’s surprise attack upon a small French force at Jumonville Glen and his subsequent surrender to French forces at the Battle of Fort Necessity helped to spark the French & Indian War.

The “Genet Affair,” also known as the French Neutrality Crisis occurred during George Washington’s second term as President and threatened to plunge the young nation into an international war.

Between the onset of the French Revolution in 1789 and the final defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte at Waterloo in 1815, the foreign policy of the United States confronted the dilemma of possible or actual global warfare between the two most powerful European states.

George Washington's love of dogs and foxhunting is well documented. However, some of Washington's dogs did not share his inclination for the sport.