TIMELINE OF LAFAYETTE IN GEORGIA 1825
| March 19 | Lafayette arrives in Savannah by steamboat from Beaufort, SC. After landing at Yamacraw Bluff, he is taken on a welcome parade that criss-crosses the city, ending up at the Owens-Thomas House (as it is known today) at Oglethorpe Square. |  | ||||||
| March 20 | As it is a Sunday, little is scheduled. Lafayette is escorted to the Christ Episcopal Church for services, then the City Exchange (City Hall today) for conversations. |  | ||||||
| March 21 | Today is the Big Day. Lafayette and the Masons + dignitaries parade down Drayton Street to veer inwards twice, to Johnson Square to lay a cornerstone on the Nathanael Green monument and to Chippewa Square to do the same for Casimir Pulaski’s. Lafayette afterwards witnesses a Standard giving ceremony on Liberty Street then heads to the Masons for a meal, on Broughton. He declines to attend a Ball in his honor; instead collecting his things and heading to a new steamboat, and heads upriver to Augusta. |  | ||||||
| March 22 | On the River | |||||||
| March 23 | The General arrives in Augusta, at the wharves between 5th and 6th Streets. The Augusta welcome parade is shorter and easier…down 5th Street (then, Centre Street) to Broad Street, heading west to Macartan and makes a right to get to the Planters’ Hotel. After a while he is escorted back down to City Hall/Court House for an outdoor public dinner. |  | ||||||
| March 24 | The Marquis is convinced to stay one more day. He goes over the river to visit Hamburg, SC (no longer existing). Then he returns to the Hotel. Late in the day he visits the Masons (7th and Ellis) and they escort him back to the Hotel for a Ball. |  | ||||||
| March 25 | Lafayette leaves Augusta by carriage in the early morning along the Milledgeville Stage Road. He ends the day in Warrenton where he resides at Jacob Burkhalter’s house (since moved) and feasts at the Allen House (also moved, out of town!). He falls sick but, unlike common misconceptions and pamphlets, he recovers overnight. |  | ||||||
| March 26 | Lafayette leaves Warrenton, makes a brief stop in Sparta. Gives a speech and converses at the Court House steps and then spends the day, conversing, eating, then sleeping at the Eagle Tavern. |  | ||||||
| March 27 | Milledgeville is the capital city. He stays in the Government House, the Governor’s residence; not the same one as today’s but on a different part of the lot, now gone. He visits a church for services. Spends much of the evening conversing with citizens. | |||||||
| March 28 | It is a bit more logical that the events described in Levasseur’s account happened on this Monday though he seems to indicate otherwise. Reviewed troops in the morning then he visits a Masonic Hall at E. Greene and S. Wilkerson (a Truist Bank is now there; there once was a marker there, on a different bank, but today there is no marker). Returned to the House for arespite then….Ate at a public dinner under an arbor in the State House square (marked by a boulder-monument). A ball was done in the Capitol chambers. He spends most of the evening chatting with politicos before briefly joing the Ball and then retiring. |  | ||||||
| March 29 | Leaves Milledgeville with a limited escort. Passes through Macon with but a 2.5 hour stop at the Macon Hotel and the Masonic Hall behind it. Then he travels to the Old Indian Agency on the Flint River for the night. |  | ||||||
| March 30 | Enters Creek Nation territory, passing through the wild lands on the Federal Road. While pass near Mauk and Fort Perry a terrible storm scatters the entourage. Lafayette and others stop at Spain’s Inn to dry clothese and Lafayette meets his first Creek Indians. Afterwards the group rejoins together and heads to Calfrey’s Stand, now in a No-Go zone in Fort Moore. While there they meet, among others, an English-speaking Creek named Hamley (or Hambley) who takes all but Lafayette (who declines) to his homesite a mile south to see how Creeks really live. |  | ||||||
| March 31 | Leaves Calfrey’s for the short ride to the Chattahoochee River shore where an Alabama delegation of Creek Indians takes him over the River to Alabama. |  |
From River to River
THIS BICENTENNIAL COINCIDES WITH THE 250TH ANNIVERSARY (THE SEMIQUINCENTENNIAL!) OF THE START OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR, A NATIONAL CELEBRATION. AMONG THE MANY THINGS ONE CAN DO IS FOLLOW THE GRAND TOUR OF THIS MOST HEROIC FRENCH-AMERICAN AND STAND WHERE HE STOOD AND SEE WHAT HE SAW, AND WOULD SEE TODAY!
For a Sneak Peak, click here!
From River to River affords the modern reader a chance to see Georgia (and to a degree, the USA) through earlier eyes and then visit the same sites and compare them with today’s views.
Reviews of the first edition of Nine Days Traveling:
“Lawrence Krumenaker, in ‘Nine Days Traveling’…..has meticulously traced every step Lafayette took and has written out a plan whereby we can follow the same route, but by car,…..Now that we are able to move freely about, following Lafayette around Alabama might be great fun for the historically minded.”
Don Noble, Tuscaloosa News
“Fantastic work!”
Chuck Schwam, American Friends of Lafayette
Author: Lawrence Krumenaker
ISBN 978-1-930765-16-3
(c) 2024 Hermograph Press LLC, Opelika, AL
Language: English
Paperback, full color, perfect binding.
Price: (US)$26.95 (+S/H and appropriate sales tax)