Episode 8: The Great City and the Great War

Pierre Charles L'Enfant was born August 2, 1754 to Pierre L'Enfant, a painter with a good reputation in the court of King Louis XV, and Marie Lhuillier, the daughter of a minor court official. He studied at the Royal Academy in the Louvre and the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture but left France to join the colonist in the American Revolution in 1777 at 23. Despite his aristocratic upbringing, he closely identified with the United States and went by Peter after arriving in America. 

L'Enfant was commissioned a captain, was on Washington's staff during Valley Forge, was wounded at the Siege of Savannah in 1779, and recovered to became a prisoner of war when Charleston, South Carolina surrendered in May 1780. He was exchanged the following November and joined.  In May 1783, he was made a brevet major in recognition of his many contributions to the cause of colonial independence and was discharged when the Continental Army was disbanded in December 1783.

L'Enfant is closely tied with the design of Washington, DC and much of present-day DC can be seen in his 1791 design, though that was almost not the case due to the rapid expansion of the capital during the Civil War.

Much of L'Enfant's original features were resurrected in 1901 by the McMillan Plan, which saved L'Enfant from historic obscurity and ended to his remains being moved to Arlington when his tablet is able to look over the city he was not able to build.

Build just below the front stairs of the Jefferson Memorial, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Memorial Bridge, and other famous sites can be seen from the spot.

The top of L'Enfant's marker has an engraving of his plan for Washington and the words: ENGINEER - ARTIST - SOLDIER

First Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge was born February 8, 1882 and graduated second in the West Point class of 1903 (Douglas MacArthur was first). His fateful flight in 1908 was not his first time in a powered flying machine. Selfridge was enshrined in the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1965.

Orville Wright was at the controls of the Wright Flyer when when propeller snapped. He cut power hoping to be able to glide the plane safely to the ground when it suddenly fell from the sky and Thomas Selfridge became the first casualty of powered flight. The inquiry from the crash can be found here.