SOUTH CAROLINA 



331 



He was the idol of his men, and for his known bravery 

 and quickness of resource was chosen for difficult and 

 dangerous service. Thus we find him detailed to dispute Gaiiant and 



. , 1 1 • 1 • 1 Idolized 



the difficult pass ot Cossawhatchie bridge, near Charleston, 

 with the British General Prevost and his large force ; 

 while Laurens had only eighteen continentals and some 

 militia under him. He persevered in the defense until 

 he was wounded and had lost half his continentals, when 

 the militia, in peril for the first time, retreated. In the 

 campaigns of 1779 and 1780 Lieutenant- Colonel Laurens 

 was actively engaged. When Sir Henry Clinton landed 

 on the main, in his siege of Charleston, it was the intrepid 

 Laurens who, with a corps of light infantry, briskly at- 

 tacked his advance guards. While during the next year 

 the American cause was low in South Carolina, with 

 Charleston in the hands of the British, military opera- 

 tions were continued, and the value of Laurens' serv- 

 ices was fully recognized. 



When the brighter days came for the colonists, he fell a Martyr 

 a martyr in the struggle for freedom. The British an- 

 nounced their intention to evacuate Charleston in the 

 summer of 1782 ; but before going sent out marauding 

 parties to seize provisions. A considerable party was 

 sent to Combakee Ferry, and Brigadier-General Gist, 

 with about three hundred cavalry and infantry of the 

 Continental army, was detached to oppose them. Lieu- 

 tenant-Colonel Laurens, though he had been confined by 

 illness for several days, hearing of the exxDcdition, rose 

 from his bed and followed General Gist. When the 

 British and American detachments approached within a 

 few miles of each other. Lieutenant- Colonel Laurens, be- 

 ing in advance with a small party of regulars and militia, 

 engaged with a much superior force in expectation of 

 support from the main body in his rear. 



" In the midst of his gallant exertions," says Ramsay, 

 "this all- accomplished youth received a mortal wound. 

 Nature had adorned him with a profusion of her choicest 



Tribute to his 

 Worth 



