It was a memorable day in the history of this little town when, on April 3, 1825, the great Frenchman Lafayette, then on his last visit to America, stopped here. The reception given him, though not without its amusing incidents, portrays vividly the eager and open-hearted temper of the citizens. Escorted by three hundred Alabamians and a number of Indians, he reached Montgomery on a beautiful spring morning, and was met by the entire population on what is now Capitol Hill. Captain Woodward, who was one of his escort, thus quaintly describes the scene:
"On Goat Hill, and near where Captain John Carr
fell in the well, stood Governor Pickens and the largest
crowd I ever saw in Montgomery. Some hundred yards
east of the Hill was a sand flat, where General Lafayette
and his attendants quit carriages and horses, formed a
line and marched to the top of the hill. As we started,
the band struck up the old Scottish air, Hail to the Chief.
As we approached the Governor, Mr. Hill introduced
the General to him. The Governor tried to welcome
him; but, like the best man the books give account of,
when it was announced that he was commander of the
whole American forces, he was scarcely able to utter a
word. So it was with Governor Pickens. As I have
remarked before, Governor Pickens had no superior in
the State, but on that occasion he could not even make
a speech. But that did not prevent General Lafayette
