President George Washington and Marquis de Lafayette visit Marblehead to thank the Town for its Revolutionary War sacrifices. “May your prosperity, in the preservation of that liberty so gloriously purchased, ever venerate the memory of their ancestors.” — Lafayette. Washington especially wanted to visit his retired General John Glover, now a Selectman, who led the crowds of people welcoming the President. In his message of thanks to Marblehead he wrote, “Your attachment to the Constitution of the United States is worthy of men, who fought and bled for freedom, and know its value.”