John Laurens facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
John Laurens
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Portrait miniature by Charles Willson Peale, 1780
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| Born | October 28, 1754 |
| Died | August 27, 1782 (aged 27) Combahee River, near Beaufort, South Carolina, U.S.
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| Buried | |
| Allegiance |  United States of America |
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Branch
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Continental Army |
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Service years
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1777–1782 |
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Rank
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 Lieutenant colonel |
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Conflicts
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| Spouse |
Martha Manning
(m. 1776) |
| Children | 1 |
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| Signature |  |
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John Laurens was an American officer and diplomat from South Carolina during the American Revolutionary War. He is best remembered for his bravery and his work to recruit enslaved people as soldiers in exchange for their personal liberty. During the war, he worked as a close military helper to General George Washington. He became famous for speaking out boldly against the cruel practice of slavery in America.
In the year 1779, Laurens gained approval from the Continental Congress for an inspiring new plan. He wanted to gather three thousand enslaved men into an army unit and grant them freedom for their service. Leaders in his home state opposed the idea and voted it down. Laurens continued serving bravely until he was killed during the Battle of the Combahee River in August 1782.
Contents
The Early Life and Education of John Laurens
John Laurens was born in the bustling southern port city of Charleston, South Carolina, on October 28, 1754. His parents were named Henry Laurens and Eleanor Ball Laurens. Both families were very wealthy planters who grew huge fields of rice. His ancestors came from France, and young John learned to speak French fluently. He was the oldest of five children who lived through childhood.
John and his two younger brothers received lessons at home from private teachers. In May 1770, their mother sadly passed away. After her death, their father took the boys across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe for their studies. His sisters, named Martha and Mary Eleanor, stayed behind in Charleston with their uncle James. In those days, Henry Laurens ran a very rich trading business that made money from slave trading. John grew up around this terrible system, but he soon decided that it was deeply wrong.
In October 1771, the Laurens boys moved to the huge city of London. John lived and studied in Europe between the ages of 16 and 22. He spent two great years in Geneva, Switzerland, living with a family friend and studying many subjects. John loved the natural world, science, and medicine. Later in life, scholars made him a member of the famous American Philosophical Society.
His father wanted him to become a lawyer rather than a doctor. John respected his father and returned to London in August 1774 to study legal matters. In November 1774, he entered the legal school at the Middle Temple. His father sailed back to America, leaving John behind to care for his younger brothers in England.
Military Service in the Revolutionary War
Joining General Washington's Military Family
Laurens sailed back home and arrived in Charleston in April 1777 during the American Revolutionary War. He traveled with his father to Philadelphia, where Henry Laurens began serving in the famous Continental Congress. John wanted to join the Continental Army to fight for American freedom. His father realized he could not stop him and helped him get a respected role.
In August 1777, General George Washington invited young John to join his personal staff as a volunteer aide-de-camp. An aide was a trusted assistant who carried secret messages, wrote official letters, and helped organize large troop movements. Washington called his group of young aides his official military family. Laurens immediately accepted the great honor and began his loyal work for the general.
During his service, Laurens became fast friends with two brilliant young officers named Alexander Hamilton and the Marquis de Lafayette. The three men became nearly inseparable and worked closely side by side. Laurens quickly earned a reputation for being fearless, daring, and sometimes very reckless in danger. He saw his first major action on September 11, 1777, at the hard Battle of Brandywine during the fierce Philadelphia campaign. Lafayette joked that it was not Laurens's fault that he was not injured, because he ran straight into every fight.
A few weeks later, on October 4, 1777, Laurens fought with amazing boldness at the Battle of Germantown. American soldiers attacked British forces in the morning fog north of Philadelphia. A large group of British soldiers hid inside a thick stone home called Chew's House and fired down on the street. Laurens teamed up with a brave French volunteer named the chevalier Duplessis-Mauduit to break inside. They carried burning straw straight to the front door under heavy gunfire, but a bullet hit Laurens in the shoulder. Laurens tied his uniform sash into a sling and kept helping his men.
Washington officially rewarded Laurens on October 6, 1777, by making him a lieutenant colonel among Washington's aides-de-camp. That winter, Washington made his headquarters at the historic Emlen House in Camp Hill before moving his camp. The army soon fought the snowy Battle of White Marsh before setting up their cold winter huts. Laurens spent the difficult winter of 1777 to 1778 encamped with his fellow soldiers at Valley Forge.
In June 1778, the army marched across New Jersey to battle British redcoats at the famous Battle of Monmouth. During the heat of the fight, a cannonball killed the horse Laurens was riding while he scouted for Baron von Steuben. Laurens leaped to his feet unhurt and kept helping the soldiers organize their lines. Later that year, Laurens stood up for Washington when another officer named General Charles Lee spoke insults against Washington. Laurens challenged Lee, and both officers resolved the argument with pistols on the field.
The Courageous Plan to Enlist Black Soldiers
As British troops moved their main forces south, Laurens noticed how unfair American society was toward enslaved people. He argued that Americans could never truly claim to love freedom while holding millions of human beings in chains. He believed that Black and white people were born with the exact same abilities and natural human rights. This modern idea was very rare among wealthy southern planters during the 1700s.
In 1778, Laurens asked his wealthy father to let him have forty enslaved workers from their family estate. Laurens wanted to give them uniforms, teach them army discipline, and grant them complete freedom for serving their country. His father hesitated because other planters strongly hated the concept. John refused to quit and took his bold idea directly to the national leaders.
In March 1779, the Continental Congress voted to approve his daring plan to recruit a brigade of 3,000 Black soldiers. They sent Laurens south to convince the leaders in South Carolina to set these men free. Laurens was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives and spoke with great passion about equality. Powerful men like Governor John Rutledge and General Christopher Gadsden completely rejected his proposal every time. Laurens brought the bill back to the floor in 1780 and 1782, but fearful plantation owners voted against it repeatedly.
Battles Across the Southern States
In 1779, British armies marched toward Charleston to force the valuable southern port to give up without a fight. Governor Rutledge suggested that South Carolina might stop fighting and become neutral if the British left them alone. Laurens became angry at this idea and insisted that Americans must stand together and fight for total liberty. He rushed to the front lines to defend his home state.
On May 3, 1779, Colonel William Moultrie led American forces against General Augustine Prevost, who crossed the muddy Savannah River. Moultrie had sent a small group of guards to watch a crossing near the winding Coosawhatchie River. When the British arrived, Laurens volunteered to guide those guards safely back to the main base. Instead of pulling back slowly, Laurens crossed the river and attacked the much larger enemy force. The British held the higher ground and fired down upon the Americans. Laurens took a painful bullet wound in his arm, and his second-in-command hurried the surviving soldiers away to safety.
A high-ranking leader named Thomas Bee wrote a quick letter telling everyone that Laurens was recovering nicely from his wound. Later that autumn, Laurens led an infantry regiment during a difficult attack under General Benjamin Lincoln. The soldiers tried to push the British out of Savannah, Georgia, during the fierce Siege of Savannah. The attack failed, but Laurens continued to show total devotion to the fight for American independence.
Imprisonment and a Secret Mission to France
In May 1780, the British captured the walled city of Charleston and trapped thousands of soldiers inside. Laurens was captured as a prisoner of war along with the rest of the American southern army. The British sent him north to Philadelphia and placed him on strict parole inside Pennsylvania. While waiting for his exchange, Laurens visited his father, who was preparing to sail to Europe to borrow money for the war. Sadly, a British warship captured the older Laurens at sea and locked him inside the scary Tower of London.
Laurens was officially freed during a prisoner swap in November 1780, and he wrote directly to George Washington. He asked for permission to join the fighting in the south, and Washington praised his dedication to the cause. Congress had an even bigger task for the brave young officer. They selected Laurens to travel to Europe as an important special diplomat. Laurens wanted Alexander Hamilton to go instead, but leaders insisted that Laurens had the best skills and French language training.
In March 1781, Laurens traveled across the ocean with the famous writer Thomas Paine to reach the city of Paris. They met with the wise elder statesman Benjamin Franklin, who had served as the American minister in France for years. Laurens spoke directly with King Louis XVI at the royal palace. He told French leaders that America needed immediate naval help and money to win their shared fight against Britain.
Laurens spoke so persuasively that King Louis agreed to provide huge warships and millions of silver coins called livres. Laurens also secured important extra supplies and loans from leaders in the Dutch Republic. The French ships that Laurens secured sailed straight to Virginia, which changed the entire war. Meanwhile, his captured father in London was eventually traded for the British general Charles Cornwallis.
Great Victory at the Siege of Yorktown
Laurens returned to America in August 1781 with ships filled with silver, gunpowder, and supplies for the troops. He hurried to Virginia to join Washington for the decisive Siege of Yorktown. On October 1, 1781, Laurens took command of an infantry battalion after their leader died. General Washington ordered a night attack on October 14 against British earthworks. Laurens worked closely alongside his dear friend Alexander Hamilton to storm a fortified position called Redoubt Number 10.
The allied troops swept over the walls using unloaded muskets with bayonets and captured the redoubt quickly. The trapped British army realized they could not win and asked to discuss surrender terms on October 17. Washington chose Laurens to represent the American army in drawing up the formal surrender rules. A French officer named Louis-Marie, Vicomte de Noailles joined him to represent General Rochambeau.
The officers gathered inside the quiet Moore House on October 18, 1781, to negotiate terms with two British officers. General Charles Cornwallis agreed to their terms and officially surrendered his entire army the following day. This massive American victory broke the British will to continue large battles in North America.
The Final Skirmish and Untimely Death
After the great victory at Yorktown, Laurens traveled back south to South Carolina to keep fighting until the peace was signed. He served under General Nathanael Greene outside Charleston. Laurens took charge of a secret group of scouts and spies near Wappoo Creek. His network gathered vital intelligence about British movements while guarding secret lines of communication.
In late August 1782, Laurens became very sick in bed with a dangerous fever, likely caused by malaria. While resting, he heard that British soldiers had left Charleston to steal rice and supplies from nearby farms. Laurens could not stand to stay in bed while enemies roamed the countryside. He jumped out of bed, wrote a quick note to General Greene, and rode away to fight against doctor's orders.
On August 26, Laurens reached American soldiers led by General Mordecai Gist near the Combahee River. Gist ordered a small unit to march down the riverbank to guard an earthwork fort at Chehaw Point. Laurens asked to lead fifty brave infantrymen from Delaware along with a small cannon. The soldiers marched through the dark night and rested briefly at a local plantation house before daybreak.
As dawn arrived on August 27, 1782, Laurens rode his horse down the road near the river. More than one hundred British soldiers had hidden in the tall grass along the path to set a surprise trap. When the hidden soldiers sprang up and fired, Laurens refused to fall back. He shouted an order to charge straight into the enemy lines. Laurens was struck by a bullet and died instantly in the field at only 27 years old. The tragic Battle of the Combahee River was one of the very last clashes of the entire Revolutionary War.
His good friend, the Polish engineer Colonel Tadeusz Kościuszko, hurried from North Carolina to take over Laurens's spy group for the last weeks of the war. Friends buried Laurens at the plantation near the river where he spent his final evening. Later, his father brought his remains home to be buried at the Mepkin Plantation. In the twentieth century, publisher Henry Luce and his wife Clare Boothe Luce donated this beautiful land to monks known as the Trappists. Today, visitors can walk through the peaceful gardens of Mepkin Abbey near Moncks Corner, South Carolina, where his stone marker sits.
Family and Personal Life
While living as a legal student in London, Laurens met a kind young woman named Martha Manning. Her father had worked closely with John's father for years as a trusted business agent. John and Martha were married in London on October 26, 1776. Laurens cared for her, but he felt an overwhelming duty to help his homeland fight for its independence. In December 1776, he boarded a ship back to America, while Martha stayed behind in England where it was safe.
In early 1777, Martha gave birth to their only child, a daughter named Frances Eleanor Laurens, whom everyone called Fanny. The baby had a severe leg injury early in life, but caring doctors helped her recover through surgery. Martha sadly died when Fanny was still very young, leaving the little girl an orphan. In 1785, family friends brought eight-year-old Fanny across the sea to South Carolina. She was raised with great care by John's sister, Martha Laurens Ramsay, and lived a long, happy life until she was 83 years old.
Tributes and Historical Memory
When news of the young hero's death reached his companions, they were devastated with grief. His closest friend Alexander Hamilton wrote a heartbreaking letter expressing his deep sorrow to General Nathanael Greene. Hamilton wrote that America had lost a citizen whose heart truly loved freedom and that he had lost a cherished companion. General Greene announced to his entire army that the nation had lost one of its bravest officers and finest citizens.
General George Washington remembered Laurens with deep respect and fond memories. Washington stated that no man possessed a greater love of country than Laurens. Washington noted that his only real flaw was that he was so brave that it bordered on rash behavior. Historians admire Laurens today because he stood up for human equality centuries ahead of his time. He recognized that all people deserve liberty and freedom under the law.
Places across the United States are named to honor his memory:
- Laurens County, Georgia, was officially named in honor of John Laurens.
- The town of Laurens, South Carolina, and Laurens County, South Carolina, honor both John Laurens and his father.
Images for kids
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A miniature portrait of John Laurens painted by Charles Willson Peale in 1780.
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Washington's military headquarters at Emlen House where John Laurens served in late 1777.
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Engraving of Lieutenant Colonel John Laurens made by H. B. Hall.
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John Laurens and Alexander Hamilton depicted in John Trumbull's painting of the British surrender at Yorktown.
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The historic London church marriage record for John Laurens and Martha Manning from 1776.
See also
In Spanish: John Laurens para niños
