The only Continental Congress President ever to be held as a
prisoner of war by a foreign power, Laurens was heralded after he
was released as "the father of our country," by no less a personage
than George Washington.
He served as vice-president of South Carolina in 1776. He was
then elected to the Continental Congress. He succeeded John Hancock
as President of the newly independent but war beleaguered United
States on November 1, 1777. He served until December 9, 1778 at
which time he was appointed Ambassador to the
Netherlands.
Unfortunately for the cause of the young nation, he was captured
by an English warship during his cross-Atlantic voyage and was
confined to the Tower of London until the end of the war. After the
Battle of Yorktown, the American government regained his freedom in
a dramatic prisoner exchange; Henry Laurens for Lord
Cornwallis.
Please remember to leave no trace