[1] John Laurens was a son of Henry Laurens, president of the
continental Congress in 1777. He joined the army early in 1777, and was
wounded in the battle of Germantown. He continued in the army (with the
exception of a few months), under the immediate command of Washington,
until after the surrender of Cornwallis, in which event he was a
conspicuous participant as one of the commissioners appointed to arrange
the terms. Early in 1781, he was sent on a special mission to France to
solicit a loan of money and to procure arms. He was successful, and on
his return received the thanks of Congress. Within three days after his
arrival in Philadelphia, he had settled all matters with Congress, and
departed for the army in the South under Greene. There he did good
service, until his death, on the Combahee, on the twenty-seventh of
August, 1782, when he was but twenty-nine years of age. Washington, who
made him his aid, loved him as a child. He declared that he could
discover no fault in him, unless it was intrepidity, bordering on
rashness. "Poor Laurens," wrote Greene, "has fallen in a paltry little
skirmish. You knew his temper, and I predicted his fate. The love of
military glory made him seek it upon occasions unworthy his rank. The
state will feel his loss." He was buried upon the plantation of Mrs.
Stock, in whose family he spent the evening previous to his death in
cheerful conversation. A small enclosure, without a stone, marks his
grave.