Charles E. Stanton was a Colonel in the United States Army during World War I, and as chief disbursing officer an aide to General John J. Pershing. On July 4, 1917 he visited the tomb of French Revolution and American Revolution hero Marquis de La Fayette and (according to Pershing) said, "Lafayette, we are here!" to honor the nobleman's assistance during the Revolutionary War. The famous quote is often misattributed to Pershing. Stanton was the nephew of Abraham Lincoln's Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton.