A new historical marker on River Road celebrates a Revolutionary War general in only 18 words, but they have ignited the ire of at least one local American history buff. He wants the sign changed.

The marker, installed earlier this month near Montgomery Place, is one of 118 signs along the Lafayette Trail, a project commemorating the Revolutionary War general Marquis de Lafayette’s 1824-1825 return to the United States from France.

The marker was approved by faculty at Bard College and the Daughters of the American Revolution. But Ted Ruthizer, a retired Columbia Law School professor, Lafayette history buff, esteemed immigration attorney and Barrytown resident, says that the sign omits a description of the most basic of Lafayette’s roles in the American Revolution: his position as a major general in the Continental Army.

Representatives from groups that approved the sign insist that it is historically accurate, and they believe it advances the mission of the Lafayette Trail, which is to promote the legacy of Lafayette and, specifically, to share the story of his return to the United States. They have no plans to change it.

“The Lafayette Trail is thrilled that this marker was installed on the campus of Bard College. The staff historians at the William G. Pomeroy Foundation, along with those at the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, have no issues with the event the marker highlights or the accuracy of the marker’s inscription,’’ said Julien Icher, founder and president of the Lafayette Trail, Inc., a Maryland nonprofit whose mission is to explain Lafayette’s so-called “farewell tour” of the United States in 1824.

Theodore Ruthizer of Barrytown is a Lafayette history buff who argues that the new River Road sign misses the most important facts of the general’s legacy: his role in the Revolutionary War (photo courtesy Theodore Ruthizer).

The sign reads: “Lafayette’s Tour: General Lafayette, French statesman, abolitionist and friend to native people, visited Janet L. Montgomery here on September 19, 1824.”

Each marker on the trail designates an important site on Lafayette’s tour, during which he covered over 6,000 miles and visited all 24 states then in the country.

Receiving a hero’s welcome, Lafayette made his return at the behest of then-President James Monroe, who hoped the return of this last surviving general from the Revolutionary War would inspire “the Spirit of 1776” two years ahead of the United States’ 50th anniversary. Every sign designates a specific notable moment from Lafayette’s tour. The marker in question commemorates Lafayette’s visit to Montgomery, the widow of fellow Revolutionary War General Richard Montgomery.

Ruthizer’s objection is that people who are not steeped in the story of Lafayette’s life will miss the basic facts of Lafayette’s biography, namely that he fought alongside George Washington in the Continental Army and garnered aid from France to assist the American cause. “The main thing about his life and the main reason he came back to the U.S. during his triumphant tour was his role in the Revolutionary War,” said Ruthizer, who studied American history at Lafayette College, named in honor of the general.

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