Lafayette in Belchertown
By Cliff McCarthy and Allegra Giovine
Essay originally written by Cliff McCarthy for Belchertown's 250th anniversary in 2011. Essay revised and republished here with images gathered from the Stone House Museum's archival collections for the 200th anniversary of Lafayette's visit to Belchertown.
One of the town's most enduring legends is that the Marquis de Lafayette visited Belchertown on his triumphant tour of America in 1824-5. The story is pervasive; nearly all of the local histories and historians mention it. In 1961, during the celebration of our town's 200th anniversary, a pageant was held in which Lafayette's visit was re-enacted. A century ago, John W. Jackson portrayed the visiting dignitary during the 150th anniversary celebration.
Archival record in the Stone House Museum’s People Photographs Collection: John W. Jackson as General Lafayette at Belchertown’s 150th Anniversary Celebration on July 4, 1911.
A close up of General Lafayette (John W. Jackson) bowing for the camera.
It has been said, “When the legend becomes bigger than the truth, print the legend.” And so we will. The story is perhaps best summarized this way: When Lafayette was on his Grand Tour of America, he came to Belchertown, travelling by coach with a military escort from Albany to Boston to lay the cornerstone of the Bunker Hill monument on June 17, 1825. While here, he called on Dr. Howe, a veteran of the Revolution, then paralyzed and in poor health, to pay his respects. There was a dance given for Lafayette at which Susanna Dwight Shaw danced with him and she kept the gloves she wore to hand down to her daughter. The daughter, Susan, who later married Calvin Bridgman, was kissed by Lafayette when she presented him with a bouquet of flowers. She and the other school children gathered under the great elm on the Ludlow road to sing to him. The tree became known as the Lafayette Elm.
Lucy Thomson’s (1868-1943) index cards to sort out Belchertown’s Lafayette connection. Thomson was one of the founding members of the Belchertown Historical Association, and she likely wrote these notes on Lafayette in the very early 1900s.
It's a charming story, but is there proof?
No military leader of the Revolution, other than George Washington, captured the hearts of Americans more than the orphaned French nobleman who was so enamored with the cause of liberty. Arriving in the colonies at his own expense to assist that cause—and offering to serve without pay—he was commissioned as a major-general in the Colonial Army at the implausibly young age of nineteen. He won the confidence of the commander-in-chief; Washington considered him like an adopted son. With his military training and his important influence abroad, the young Frenchman proved to be a vital part in America's struggle for independence. He was an excellent military strategist and he was largely responsible for bringing the French fleet into the conflict on the side of the Americans. Further, he was devoted to the ideals of the revolutionary cause. The American people were devoted to him.
Portrait of Lafayette by Henri Grévedon in 1824 around the beginning of his tour of America. Image from the Lafayette Digital Repository: ldr.lafayette.edu/concern/images/tq57ns02b.
In 1824, President James Monroe, wishing to rekindle the Spirit of '76, invited the aging revolutionary to tour the United States as the “Guest of the Nation.” Congress concurred and Lafayette accepted. Traveling with his son and his private secretary, Lafayette arrived in New York in August of that year to begin his Grand Tour, which lasted more than a year and covered more than five thousand miles. Everywhere he went in America—New York, Philadelphia, Washington, the southern states, the western states, and New England—he was toasted, honored, and celebrated.
The Belchertown segment of his tour supposedly occurred in June of 1825 after the nobleman sped across New York State on his way to Boston to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill. He was in a hurry because he had committed to arrive in time for the event, but had fallen behind schedule.
The main published accounts of Lafayette's journey across America all quickly skip from Albany to Worcester or Boston without mentioning Belchertown, but we know from newspapers of the time that the general stopped for the night in Worthington and spent part of the next day in Northampton, so why not Belchertown? In fact, there is good reason to suspect that at least a kernel of the story is true.
We know Lafayette traveled the Bay Road from Albany to Brookfield—which passed through Belchertown. Lucy Thomson, a Belchertown and Pittsfield resident and local historian, wrote in 1932 that, “the Marquis de Lafayette was met at the [Pittsfield] town boundary on the Albany road by a fine coach sent by Jason Clapp.” This is confirmed by newspaper accounts of the time. Jason Clapp was considered the maker of the finest carriages in the Pittsfield area. He also operated the stage route from Pittsfield to Northampton; the route from Northampton to Belchertown was run by his brother, James H. Clapp, who owned Clapp's Tavern, an important way-station on the route. It is highly likely that Jason would have recommended at least a halt in Belchertown at his brother's inn for, at least, a change of horses.
An ambrotype of James Harvey Capp in the Stone House Museum’s Daguerreotype and Ambrotype Collection.
Clapp’s Tavern, later known as White’s Tavern and the Union House, c. 1880, occupying the space where Lawrence Memorial Hall now stands.
Below, licensing documents related to the hotel and tavern that James H. Clapp bought in 1812:
Certification of an innholder license granted to James H. Clapp in 1833.
James H. Clapp’s request for a taverner’s license in 1834.
The Hampshire Gazette story of Lafayette's visit gives some details of his visit in Northampton. A reception committee met him at 10 o'clock on the morning of June 14th five miles outside of town and, after some remarks of greeting, they escorted him into Northampton. He met the militia, the Round Hill School personnel, and then went to Warner's hotel where he was introduced to the selectmen. Then, he travelled by open carriage through the streets of Northampton, collecting a crowd of schoolchildren and other followers, to the meetinghouse where he met a contingent of the ladies of the town. After that, he went to another hotel where he met the clergy and other citizens and ate dinner. By two o'clock the general was being escorted to the river crossing.
According to Lucy Thomson's notes in the Stone House Museum, “the people in Northampton and Hadley had planned to entertain him on the top of Mount Holyoke where the house had been built four years before but he did not reach Rock Ferry until two in the afternoon and could not take time to climb the mountain if he was to reach Belchertown before dark so he forwent the choice Jamaica spirits/St. Croix Rum, Cognac brandy, Holland gin, cherry rum and brandy with Spanish segars and other refreshments generally desired.”
One account of his trip, written by an historian in 1967, claims that Northampton provided the last reception Lafayette attended before reaching Boston. This account also states that his party covered the fifty miles from Northampton to Worcester in twelve hours, arriving at two in the morning. It also says the party changed horses about every ten miles—this would bring him to Belchertown where, no doubt, James H. Clapp was waiting with a fresh team. It would likely have been early evening, and still daylight, when the Nation's Guest arrived in our humble town.
The story of his meeting with Dr. Howe has the ring of truth to it and would certainly have been possible. Dr. Howe served as a doctor in the army during the Revolution and the two had met previously. Dr. Howe's home was on Lafayette’s route and only a short distance from Clapp's Tavern. If the general took some refreshment at the tavern, it is likely that some of the townspeople might have met him. Maybe Susanna Shaw even danced with him, but the idea of Lafayette attending a dance given in his honor is preposterous. If there was a dance, he did not attend. The man was in a hurry and no account of the time even suggests such an event.
Pages from Estes Howe’s Revolutionary War journals. On March 11, 1778 (bottom left red box), Howe wrote: “I returned from Skeneelida [Skaneateles] in company with the Marquis de Fiat [Howe’s misspelling of Lafayette’s name], a Gen. Conway and their attendants, nine in all. Very merry on the road.” Two days later (top right box), Howe recorded: “This day we all, the officers that are in Albany had an oath of allegiance administered to them by the Marquis La De Fiat.” On another page listing major generals, Howe spells Lafayette’s name correctly (“De La Fayette”).
The most troublesome part of the story is the gathering of the schoolchildren to sing to him and give him flowers under a great elm tree. The location of the elm tree is variously given as “the Ludlow road,” “the Springfield road,” “at Hillcrest Farm,” and on present-day Chauncey Walker street. This would pinpoint the location to be near where the golf course is on Route 21. There once was a tree there known locally as the Lafayette Elm. But this just does not make sense—it is out of his way. Why would they be gathered there, anyway?
Others have suggested that the schoolchildren might have met under the great elm in the center of town; there once was a great elm tree near the present day Masonic building. Or perhaps, they gathered at the Cold Spring District School, which was up past the present-day UMass orchards, and would have been on the general's route to Ware. Either of these scenarios is plausible, but there is no evidence to support them.
Lafayette arrived in Boston in time for the celebrations at Bunker Hill. He stayed in America until September when he left these shores for the last time. He died in 1834 and was buried in Paris under soil from the Bunker Hill battlefield which his son, George Washington Lafayette, sprinkled on his grave.
Engraved broadsheet, “Our Nation’s Guest,” by Joseph Perkins (1825). The inscription reads: “In commemoration of the magnanimous and illustrious Lafayette's visit to the United States of North America in the forty ninth year of her independence.” Image from the Lafayette Digital Repository: ldr.lafayette.edu/concern/images/5999n434w.
Perhaps someday new evidence will come to light that will either confirm or refute our town's charming legend. Probably not. We may have to be content to honor the great Lafayette with a story, a good story, repeated many times on our town's most celebrated occasions. Let the schoolchildren sing.
