27 Reasons Why We Should Honor General Lafayette 1. He began his American military career at the precocious age of nineteen in Philadelphia on July 31, 1777 when Congress awarded him the commission of major general in the American Continental Army. As a volunteer he agreed to serve without pay. He thus became the youngest general of all others who fought on both sides of the War of Independence, and he would serve on active duty until the end of the war. In this point in time, he became a teenage role model. |