Lafayette Tour Marker, Selma, Alabama (AL-149)

President James Monroe invited the Marquis de Lafayette to visit the United States, his adopted country. Lafayette’s tour of all 24 states in 1824 and 1825 drew large crowds and sparked a renewal of patriotism. During the American Revolution, Lafayette’s intense advocacy of the American cause had convinced French King Louis XVI to send troops and ships, which proved crucial to the American victory at Yorktown. 

The boats, the Balize and the Henderson, made a brief stop at Selma, Alabama, to greet citizens before proceeding to Cahaba. Three miles from Selma, an oak tree was planted, a gift from Lafayette to William Rufus King, the only U.S. vice president from Alabama. The tree, on the old King plantation three miles from Selma, was called the "Prince Charley Oak."

Lafayette was a committed and early supporter of abolition who helped secure the freedom of James Armistead, an enslaved African American who served the Continental Army.

Learn about Revolutionary War Combat Strategy. Watch the Revolutionary War Animated Map. For a summary, read An Overview of the American Revolution.