To James Madison from Robert G. Scott, 27 September 1824
From Robert G. Scott
Richmond September 27th. 1824
Sir
The Volunteer Companies of the State, intend Celebrating at York the 19th. day of October next, and have invited General La Fayette to that Village on that day.1 By the request and authority of a delegation from these Companies, I beg leave to solicit your Company, to unite with the Volunteers and Citizens of the State on that occasion in giving evidence of our gratitude, towards this benefactor of our Country, and in Commemorating one of the most interesting events in the history of the nation; and to assure you the Sincere gratification which your presence will afford them. I am with high Consideration Your Obedient Servant
Robert G. Scott2
RC (DLC). In a clerk’s hand, signed by Scott. Docketed by JM.
1. For a description of the celebrations at Yorktown in October 1824, see Auguste Levasseur, Lafayette in America in 1824 and 1825; or, Journal of a Voyage to the United States (2 vols.; Philadelphia, 1829), 1:180–93.
2. Robert G. Scott (1791–1870), a lawyer and son-in-law of JM’s cousin, Bishop James Madison, represented York County in the Virginia House of Delegates, 1813–18, and was a member of the Virginia constitutional convention of 1850. After 1814 he was for many years a member of the board of visitors of the College of William and Mary (Johnson et al., Papers of John Marshall, 9:232; , 4:160, 161 n. 1).