The Lafayette of the Greek Revolution

Samuel Gridley Howe

Samuel Gridley Howe was a nineteenth century United States physician.
Howe was born on Pearl Street in Boston, Massachusetts on November 10, 1801.
His father Joseph Neals Howe was a ship-owner and cordage manufacturer. His mother Patty (Gridley) Howe was considered to be one of the most beautiful women of her day.
Howe was educated at Boston Latin School.
After graduating from Brown in 1821, Howe attended Harvard Medical School, taking his degree in 1824.

Howe did not remain in Massachusetts for long after graduating. In 1824, shortly after Howe was certified to practice medicine, he became fired by enthusiasm for the Greek Revolution and the example of his idol Lord Byron. 

He sailed for Greece, where he joined the Greek army as a surgeon.

In Greece his services were not confined to the duties of a surgeon, but were of a more military nature. 

Howe's bravery, enthusiasm, and ability as a commander, as well as his humanity, won him the title "the Lafayette of the Greek Revolution. 

Howe returned to the United States in 1827, to raise funds and supplies to help alleviate the famine and suffering in Greece. Howe's fervid appeals enabled him to collect about $60,000 which he spent on provisions, clothing, and the establishment of a relief depot for refugees near Aegina. 

He later formed another colony for exiles on the Isthmus of Corinth. Afterwards, Howe wrote an account of the revolt, Historical Sketch of the Greek Revolution, which was published in 1828.

Samuel Gridley Howe MD Memorial

Located in Tripoli, Arcadia, Greece

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* Lafayette Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier de La Fayette, Marquis de La Fayette (6 September 1757 – 20 May 1834), in the U.S. often known simply as Lafayette, was a French aristocrat and military officer born in Chavaniac, in the province of Auvergne in south central France. Lafayette was a general in the American Revolutionary War and a leader of the Garde nationale during the French Revolution.

In the American Revolution, La Fayette served as a major-general in the Continental Army under George Washington. Wounded during the Battle of Brandywine, he still managed to organize a successful retreat. He served with distinction in the Battle of Rhode Island. In the middle of the war, he returned to France to negotiate an increase in French support. 

On his return, he blocked troops led by Cornwallis at Yorktown while the armies of Washington and those sent by King Louis XVI under the command of General de Rochambeau, Admiral de Grasse, and Admiral de Latouche Tréville prepared for battle against the British.

La Fayette was the most important link between the American and the French Revolutions.

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