*Includes pictures
*Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading
*Includes contemporary accounts
By the time the Revolutionary War started, military confrontations between the world powers had become so common that combat was raised to the status of a fine art, consuming a large portion of time for adolescent males in training and comprising a sizeable component of the economy. Weaponry was developed to a degree of quality not accessible to most North Americans, and European aristocrats were reared in the mastery of swordsmanship with an emphasis on the saber for military use. Likewise, the cavalry, buoyed by a tradition of expert horsemanship and saddle-based combat, was a fighting force largely beyond reach for colonists, which meant that fighting on horses was an undeveloped practice in the fledgling Continental Army, and the American military did not yet fully comprehend the value of cavalry units. Few sword masters were to find their way to North America in time for the war, and the typical American musket was a fair hunting weapon rather than a military one. Even the foot soldier knew little of European military discipline.
However, with European nations unceasingly at war, soldiers from one side or the other often found themselves in disfavor, were marked men in exile, or were fleeing from a superior force. To General George Washington's good fortune, a few found their way to the colonies to join in the cause. Some were adventurers recently cut off from their own borders, while others embraced the American urge for freedom that so closely mirrored the same movements in their home countries.
Autocrats of the 18th century feared an emerging model from the Revolutionary War that might be refashioned by dissidents within their own colonies. Among those living the consequences of defeat and exile, the soldier class of Europe paid particularly close attention. Some were rapt by the growing ideology of the Enlightenment movement as it pertained to their own cultures while others grew weary of inertia imposed by an inability to practice their craft.
In the case of Marquis de Lafayette, who appeared as little more than a young, inexperienced dandy upon his arrival early in the war, American leaders were skeptical that any good would come of a collaboration with him. However, Lafayette was more than an aspiring youth in search of glory on another country's battlefield - he hailed from the aristocracy, whic