Gilbert du Motier, born into French nobility on September 6, 1757, became the Marquis de Lafayette after his father's death and was already a trained soldier at nineteen. At his own expense he sailed from France to North America to fight for the ideals of the thirteen colonies declared in the Declaration of Independence. He worked closely with Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton, became a general in the Continental Army, and formed an enduring friendship with George Washington. Lafayette commanded the right flank of the American forces at the Battle of Yorktown when General Cornwallis surrendered, helping ensure the end of the American Revolutionary War. In recognition of his efforts, the United States Congress invited him to undertake a Farewell Tour of America, and for thirteen months he visited all twenty-four states. In March of 1825 he visited Georgia, whose western frontier reminded him of the Chateau de LaGrange in France, and the newly established town here afterward took the name LaGrange in his honor. Across America, cities, towns, streets, and counties were named for him as a champion of liberty and human rights. He was remembered for courage, friendship, loyalty, sacrifice, perseverance, and advocacy for the rights of all persons, including the abolition of slavery, expanded legal rights for women, defense of French Protestants and Jews during the French Revolution, and support for movements advancing liberty in South America, Italy, Ireland, Greece, and Poland. He was married to Adrienne de Noailles, who fully supported his human rights activism, and together they had four children, naming their oldest son George Washington Lafayette.