Marquis de Lafayette

Lafayette was born in 1757 into one of the oldest noble families of France and was commissioned an officer as a boy. Fired by the American cause, he fitted out a ship at his own expense and sailed in 1777 to offer his services to Congress, which made him a major general at nineteen.

He fought at Brandywine and Monmouth, wintered at Valley Forge, and became a trusted aide to Washington, whose friendship he kept for life. In 1779 he returned to France to press for a larger French commitment, and in 1781 he commanded the troops that helped trap Cornwallis at Yorktown.

Back in France he became a leader of the liberal nobility, drafted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen with Jefferson's advice, and tried to steer the Revolution toward a constitutional monarchy. He was imprisoned during the Terror, later sat in the Chamber of Deputies, and in 1824 made a triumphal tour of the United States. He died in Paris in 1834.

Wikipedia