Lafayette Tour Marker, Niagara Falls, New York (NY-25)

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 convinced King Louis XVI of France to send troops and ships, which proved crucial to the American victory at Yorktown. 

On June 5, 1825, Lafayette visited Niagara Falls, New York. He was escorted to Goat Island by Judge Augustus Porter, where he spent over two hours marveling at the natural wonder and was deeply moved by its power and grandeur. His secretary, Auguste Levasseur, recorded that they remained “nearly half an hour on the edge of the gulf, contemplating the rapid fall of the water in silence and as if dumbfounded by the sound of its terrible water…whose noise makes itself heard during the calm of the night, they say, for 20 miles." 

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