LAURENS, Henry (1724-1792), American statesman, was born at Charleston, South Carolina, in 1724, of Huguenot ancestry. After receiving a good education, he entered a counting-house in London by way of preparation for commercial pursuits, in which he engaged, after his return to Charleston, with such success as to amass rapidly a large fortune. He accepted ardently the advanced views of individual rights then prevalent in the colony, and was several times engaged in stubborn contests with the crown judges, in which he resisted their alleged arbitrary and oppressive rulings, not only by all legal means at his command, but in occasional pamphlets, the vigour and legal acumen of which attracted much attention. He retired from active business in 1771, and spent the next three years in Europe in travel, and in superintending the education of his sons in England. In 1774 he united with thirty-seven other Americans in a petition to parliament against the passing of the Boston Port Bill, in the hope of averting war. Becoming convinced that a peaceful settlement was impracticable, he returned to Charleston at the close of 1774, to take part with his fellow colonists in the impending struggle. He was soon made president of the South Carolina council of safety, and in 1776 a delegate from that colony to the general continental congress at Philadelphia, of which body he was president during 1777-78. Throughout these years he was a steadfast and influential promoter of the colonial cause, and a trusted friend of Washington. In 1778 he undertook a mission as minister plenipotentiary to Holland, in furtherance of secret negotiations for a commercial treaty which had been some time in progress; but, while on the way, he was captured by a British frigate, and taken to London. On the ...evidence of his papers, which he had vainly attempted to destroy, war was declared upon Holland by Great Britain, and Laurens was closely imprisoned in the Tower. During his imprisonment of nearly fifteen months, his health became greatly enfeebled, yet he steadily refused opportunities for procuring release by abandoning his patriotic principles. Having been set free late in 1781, he was appointed by congress one of the commissioners for negotiating the peace; and, proceeding to Paris with Franklin and Jay, he signed with them, on November 30, 1782, the preliminaries of the treaty. Failing health obliged him to return to Charleston, South Carolina, where he passed his remaining years in retirement, much respected and beloved by his countrymen. He died in December 1792, and, in accordance with the directions of his will, his body was burned, and the bones and ashes were carefully collected and buried. The most valuable of his papers and pamphlets have been published by the South Carolina Historical Society.
LAURENS, John (1756-1782), an American revolutionary officer of distinguished bravery, son of Henry Laurens noticed above, was born at Charleston, South Carolina, in 1756. He was educated in England, and on his return to America in 1777, in the height of the revolutionary struggle, he joined Washington’s staff. He soon gained his commander’s confidence, which he reciprocated with the most devoted attachment, and was entrusted with the delicate duties of a confidential secretary, which he performed with much tact and skill. He was present in all Washington's battles, from that of the Brandywine to Yorktown, and his gallantry on every occasion has gained him the title of “the Bayard of the Revolution.” Laurens displayed bravery even to rashness in the storming of the Chew mansion at Germantown; at Monmouth, where he saved Washington’s life by rushing between him and danger, and was himself severely wounded; and at Coosahatchie, where, with a handful of men, he defended a pass against a large English force under General Prevost, and where he was again wounded. In command of a body of light infantry at the storming of Savannah, he was among the first to penetrate the English lines, and again distinguished himself at the siege of Charleston in 1780. After the capture of Charleston by the English, he rejoined Washington, and was selected by him as a special envoy to appeal to the king of France for supplies for the relief of the American armies, which had been brought by prolonged service and scanty pay to the verge of dissolution. The more active co-operation of the French fleets with the land forces in Virginia, which was one result of his mission, brought about the unexpected overwhelming of Cornwallis at Yorktown. Laurens lost no time in rejoining the army, and at Yorktown was at the head of the American storming party which captured the first redoubt, and received the sword of Colonel Campbell, its commander. Laurens was designated with Count de Noailles to arrange the terms of a surrender, which occurred October 19,1781, and virtually ended the war, although desultory skirmishing, especially in the south, attended the months of delay before peace was formally concluded. In one of these trifling affairs in July 1782, on the Combahee Ferry, Laurens exposed himself needlessly and was killed. Washington lamented deeply the death of Laurens, then in his twenty-seventh year, saying of him, “He had not a fault that I could discover, unless it were intrepidity bordering upon rashness.”
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