~ General Marquis de Lafayette ~

• General Lafayette was born in Auvergne, France September 6, 1757 and died in Paris May 20, 1834.  He arrived at Georgetown, S. C. on his own ship June 13, 1777, was commissioned a Major General July 31, 1777, a commission he held until November 1783.  General Lafayette was the last surviving General Officer of the Revolutionary War.  Wounded at Brandywine in September 1777, he served at Valley Forge the winter of 1777-1778.
• After the war he served with distinction in France.  Returning to America in 1824 for a triumphal tour and received unprecedented honors, Masonic and otherwise on this trip.
• The Lafayette Trowel:  The most valued museum piece owned by the S. C. Grand Lodge is the "Lafayette Trowel."  The Marquis de Lafayette came to Camden, S. C. in 1825 to lay the cornerstone for a Baron DeKalb monument.  The stone was laid with a silver trowel composed of Mexican silver coins and is still used for ceremonies in the state.