Collections for the Classroom: Remembering America’s First Veterans

Virginia Teacher Workshop, Fredericksburg Area Museum

Fredericksburg, Virginia
November 8, 2019

The marquis de Lafayette’s tour of America in 1824 and 1825 helped invigorate appreciation for the sacrifices made by America’s first veterans—individuals James Madison wrote suffered a “singular hardship” that “can never be forgotten.” Lafayette’s stop in Fredericksburg, Virginia is well-chronicled, as is the early life of the Society of the Cincinnati in the State of Virginia and its first leaders including Fredericksburg’s George Weedon. The following American Revolution Institute museum and library collection items can be used as primary sources in the classroom to tell the story of America’s first veterans and the marquis de Lafayette’s romantic return to America.