Utica - June 10, 1825
The green space you see here enclosed in a low stone wall is Bagg’s Square Park. This was the site of Bagg’s Hotel, also known as Shephard’s Hotel, which served as Lafayette’s Utica headquarters on June 10th, 1825.
Lafayette spent the day here enjoying the typical meals, speeches, ceremonies, militia reviews, and introductions to throngs of locals. One highlight of the day was a meeting between him and a large number of Revolutionary War veterans. Another involved leaders of the Oneida Nation, America’s ally during the American Revolution.
The Oneida Observer of Utica reported that, “At the particular request of General La Fayette, the chiefs of the Oneidas . . . were invited to meet him, among whom he recognized two, whom he knew during the Revolutionary War.” The conversation was poignant. The Oneida leaders said that, as their hunts were no longer productive, they were forced to turn to farming, a circumstance that made them unhappy. They did not blame their white brothers of New York who “allow us to live in peace near the bones of our fathers.” They proclaimed, “We sincerely love our white brothers, the Americans.” Lafayette complimented them on these sentiments, said that he had not forgotten the good services they had rendered, and entreated them to regard the Americans as their brothers forever.
Did you know that Lafayette almost invaded Canada from upstate New York in the winter of 1777-1778 as part of the effort to defeat the British during the Revolutionary War? Almost, because he nixed the invasion when he discovered that he had insufficient and unpaid troops, and a lack of ammunition and other supplies. While in the Utica area in 1778, Lafayette built fortifications for the Oneidas. He also recruited 47 Oneida soldiers, who joined the Continental Army at Valley Forge. Six of them died under Lafayette’s command at the Battle of Barren Hill (now known as Lafayette Hill), in Pennsylvania that May.
Seven years later, an Oneida boy named Peter Wekchekaeta (Otsiquette) sailed to France to live with Lafayette. He returned to his home in New York after a few years. Decades later, his son almost missed Lafayette during his 1825 visit here: According to Lafayette’s secretary, Auguste Levasseur, as the general’s canal boat, renamed “La Fayette” for the occasion, left Utica on June 10th, a youthful-looking Native American leapt from a bridge onto the boat. Landing on his feet, he said: “Where is Kayewla. I want to see Kayewla.” (Kayewla, which means “Great Warrior,” was the name the Oneidas had given to Lafayette in 1778.) He told Lafayette that he was Wekchekaeta’s son, and offering his hand, said that his father “had loved you so much that he followed you to your native land . . . after the great war.” After a brief conversation with Lafayette, the young man jumped about ten feet to the shore “with the nimbleness of a deer, and disappeared in an instant.”
