On September 6, 1757, Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roche Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, was born in Chavaniac, France to a family of noble military lineage. Inspired by the stories he had heard, Lafayette sailed to the newly declared United States in 1777 to join the colonists’ struggles against British oppression. Colonial leaders refused his help at first, but his passion and offer of free service impressed them. He was named a major-general in the Continental Army. Lafayette proved his intelligence and worth as a leader in the continental army after the winter in Valley Forge with George Washington, helping to garner more French support for the colonial side. In May 1778, he evaded the British sent to arrest him Bunker Hill and rallied a Continental attack at Monmouth Courthouse which ended in a stalemate. Lafayette then traveled to France to persuade Louis XVI for more aid for the colonies. Upon his return to America and the war in 1780, he was given increased military responsibilities becoming the commander of the Virginia Continental forces in 1781. In this role, he helped keep Lieutenant General Lord Cornwallis’ army at Yorktown, Virginia, while Washington and France’s Comte de Rochambeau’s forces surrounded the British and forced their surrender in the last major battle of the Revolutionary War.