Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert Du Motier, marquis de Lafayette, A.D.S. La Grange [France] November 10th 1825

Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert Du Motier, marquis de Lafayette, A.D.S. La Grange [France] November 10th 1825

La Grange [France] 1825

[2] p. on 2 conjugate leaves ; 26 cm.

MSS L2010F168 M

Soon after his return to France from his grand tour of the United States in 1824-1825, Lafayette wrote this memoir of his former comrade-in-arms Lt. Col. John Laurens of South Carolina, who was killed in action at Combahee River in 1782: "The brilliant, devoted, and steady services of Col. Laurens in our revolutionary struggle are so conspicuously connected with the history of American independence and freedom that a minute account of his civil, military, and political career would be superfluous. I shall only observe that either as a champion of a cause, and the citizen of a country both of which he loved with enthusiasm, or as the most valued aid de camp to the commander in chief, as a gallant leader in the field of action, as an intrepid volunteer, or also as a Representative of Congress ... he has display'd such eminent qualities, and patriotic virtues, as must impress every well informed mind with the highest sentiments of admiration and respect. That his disinterestness [sic] even to carelessness was a distinguished trait among his other qualities is a a fact well known to his surviving contemporaries to which may be added that whenever cause and country were at stake this disposition knew no bounds ..."
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