Comparatively few people of the present generation are aware of the inestimable benefits which the French nation conferred upon our forefathers during the American Revolution, at a time when America was without credit abroad and when our cause aroused no other national sympathy in the world...-Charlemagne Tower, Jr., in the PrefaceIn this 1895 biography of one of the key figures of the American Revolution, writer and diplomat Tower traces the career of the Marquis de La Fayette from his arrival in America in 1777 until his return to France after the surrender of Cornwallis in 1781. Using private letters as well as official documents from both private and governmental collections, Tower presents in detail the military operations of the Virginia campaign and delves into La Fayette's time at the Court of Versailles in 1779, when, on leave in France, he was a vocal proponent of the American fight for independence from England.These two vital volumes are an insightful look at a period of American history during which the fledgling nation looked abroad for sustenance and succor.CHARLEMAGNE TOWER, JR. (1848-1923), son of American financier Charlemagne Tower, was trustee of the University of Pennsylvania and president of its department of archaeology and paleontology. He served as U.S. minister to Austria-Hungary from 1897 to 1899, and as U.S. ambassador to Russia from 1899 to 1902 and to Germany from 1902 to 1908.