Speaker: Will Mackintosh, Associate Professor, University of Mary Washington
The program examines Lafayette’s 1824 visit, its key moments and sites, and why his three-day stay may have been the biggest celebration in Fredericksburg’s history.
Will B. Mackintosh is a cultural and social historian of the 19th century United States, with particular interests in the history of leisure, the history of crime, and the cultural history of capitalism. He is author of Selling the Sights: The Invention of the Tourist in American Culture (NYU Press 2019) and editor of The Panorama, Extensive Views from The Journal of the Early Republic. He is currently working on a new project dealing with the Loomis Gang, a group of horse thieves in nineteenth-century New York. He offers courses on early American history, the American Revolution and Early Republic, gender history, urban history, the history of the book, and the history of capitalism. He holds graduate degrees from the University of Michigan and an undergraduate degree from Swarthmore College.
Sponsor: Fredericksburg Lafayette Bicentennial Commemoration Committee
About Fredericksburg Lafayette Bicentennial Commemoration 2024:
Over the last two years, representatives of historic and civic organizations, city personnel, and historic-minded individuals researched documents, mapped out Lafayette’s original route, identified the venues that he visited, and formed a plan to honor this hero at the 200th anniversary of his 1824 Fredericksburg visit.
In the years following his Farewell Tour, public awareness of Lafayette’s important contribution has gradually faded. But in 1824, across the country, Lafayette held rock star status.
The goals of the Commemoration are to rekindle interest in Lafayette’s incredible life, to underscore Fredericksburg’s continuing relationship with “The Hero of Two Worlds,” and to foster gratitude for his contributions.
The Commemoration Committee has worked to create “an event like none other.” The Committee worked closely with the American Friends of Lafayette (AFL) to tie our programming to its own. For more information on other Lafayette Bicentennial events, visit Lafayette200.org here.
See more information about the Fredericksburg Lafayette Bicentennial Commemoration 2024 here.
