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Primary sourcePainting1784

Washington, Lafayette and Tench Tilghman at Yorktown

Charles Willson Peale · 1784

A 1784 painting showing George Washington with Lafayette and Tench Tilghman at the Yorktown encampment.

Shows Lafayette alongside Washington at Yorktown, commemorating their wartime partnership soon after the battle.

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Full-length painting of three men in 18th-century military dress at an outdoor encampment. A tall man in front wears a blue coat with gold epaulettes and a sword, hand tucked into his waistcoat. Behind him a balding man in a tan coat stands beside a man in a blue coat holding a folded paper. A red and white canopy and a flag with stripes and stars appear, with soldiers in the background.
Charles Willson Peale, Washington, Lafayette and Tench Tilghman at Yorktown, 1784.

About this source

What it is

This full-length painting shows three men in 18th-century military dress at an outdoor camp, with a flag and canopy in the background. It was painted in 1784 by Charles Willson Peale and depicts George Washington alongside Lafayette and Tench Tilghman at Yorktown, site of the decisive 1781 victory.

Why it matters

Painted soon after the events it shows, this work reflects how Americans honored the alliance between Washington and Lafayette during the Revolutionary War. It places Lafayette directly alongside Washington as a trusted companion in the campaign that won independence.

Look closer

  • What details identify which figure might be Lafayette and which is Washington?
  • Why would an artist choose to paint military leaders together in a group scene?
  • What does the painting not show about what happened at Yorktown?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Marquis de Lafayette on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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