A newly refurbished marker commemorating Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, was re-dedicated on Saturday, May 10, 2025, with all four of the original sponsoring organizations participating. The event was held in Warder Park in Jeffersonville.
This event was part of the larger “Bicentennial of Lafayette’s Farewell Tour.” Learn more by clicking the link.
by Terri Gorney Lehman
After reading two biographies of the Marquis de Lafayette, I have a much greater appreciation of the man and the debt that our country owed to this Frenchman for his efforts during the Revolutionary War. According to his biographers, the marquis wanted to be known as General de Lafayette as he was proud of having earned that title.
In his later years, General de Lafayette toured the United States in 1824-1825. He came to the United States as a returning Revolutionary War hero. He wanted to visit Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and others from his Revolutionary days, and the people of the United States wanted to honor him and sent him invitations. He visited all twenty-four states on his extended tour.
On May 12, 1825, General de Lafayette visited Jeffersonville as the official guest of the State of Indiana. He was treated to a grand dinner in the open as so many attended. Governor Ray and a committee of the General Assembly welcomed him at the home of former Governor Thomas Posey at the corner of Front and Fort Streets.
On November 5, 1926, the Board of Governors of The Society of Indiana Pioneers resolved that a suitable marker should be placed in Jeffersonville to commemorate General de Lafayette’s visit.
The marker reads, “General La Fayette was the official guest of the State of Indiana at Jeffersonville on May 12, 1825, at the house of former Governor Posey on the West corner of Front and Fort Streets. He was welcomed by the Governor of the State, by citizens of Jeffersonville, and by veterans of the War of the Revolution. As commemorative of that visit and in enduring gratitude for his services in that war as an American General in the field and in enlisting the support of France at critical periods, this tablet has been erected by:
THE SOCIETY OF INDIANA PIONEERS
THE DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
THE SONS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
THE COLONIAL DAMES OF AMERICA
IN INDIANA”
The marker was placed in Warder Park in Jeffersonville and dedicated on October 27, 1928. The weather was inclement on that day, so the dedicatory exercises were moved indoors to the Clark Hotel. Professor Samuel L. Scott, in the absence of the Mayor of the City of Jeffersonville, presided. Charles N. Thompson, President of The Society of Indiana Pioneers, presented it to the citizens of Jeffersonville and the State of Indiana. Judge James W. Fortune, on their behalf, accepted the gift. After these exercises were concluded, the party consisting of about fifty people went to the park for the unveiling of the marker, which is a bronze marker attached to a limestone boulder.
The Committee on Commemoration consisted of Robert L. Moorhead of The Society of Indiana Pioneers, Chairman; Mrs. Arthur V. Brown, Regent of the Cornelia Cole Fairbanks Chapter, DAR; Mrs. F. Ellis Hunter, Regent of the Caroline Scott Harrison Chapter, DAR; Mrs. Herman W. Kothe, Regent of the Arthur St. Clair Chapter, DAR; Thomas A. Daily, President, Sons of the American Revolution of Indiana; John F. Clearwaters, Secretary; Mrs. Edgar H. Evans, President of Colonial Dames of America in Indiana. Thomas C. Howe and Judge Charles F. Remy were in charge of the details of the erection of the marker; they were assisted by the Anne Rogers Clark Chapter, DAR, Jeffersonville, Mrs. Walter Swartz, Regent, and the Piankeshaw Chapter, DAR, New Albany, Miss Edna Sagasbiel, Regent.
