Happiest City in America

Lafayette arrived by packet boat on Sept. 18, 1824, at a side-cut of the Erie Canal. He had become familiar with the area many years before while making his way to Gen. Philipp Schuyler’s headquarters during the Revolutionary War. As temporary arsenal Commander Lt. Thomas J. Baird gave him a personal tour, Lafayette was struck by a vision from his past. As he stared in disbelief at a British 12-pounder cannon with a large indentation on its right side, memories flooded back to the old general. W