Born at the Château de Chavaniac in Auvergne, France, on September 6, 1757, Gilbert Motter De Lafayette became a major general on George Washington's staff at age 19 and played a vital role in the defeat of General Charles Cornwallis at Yorktown on October 19, 1781, ending the American Revolution. Later in France, Lafayette was commanding general of the National Guard, a leader in the movement that gave France a republican form of government, the author of the Declaration of the Rights of Man, and the designer of the “Cocarde of Liberty.” LaGrange, Georgia, was named for Lafayette's home, the Chateau De LaGrange, on motion of Julius Calford when the city was chartered on December 16, 1828, honoring Lafayette, who crossed the Chattahoochee below LaGrange on March 30, 1825.