John Laurens - 1781–82

1781–82

In March 1781 Laurens gained French assurances that their navy would support American operations that year. He also arranged a loan and supplies from the Dutch before returning home in May. Laurens was reported to have told the French that without aid for the Revolution, the Americans might be forced by the British to fight against France. He returned home in time to see the French fleet arrive and to join Washington at the siege of Yorktown. He was given command of a battalion of light infantry on October 1, 1781, when its commander was killed. He led the battalion under Lt-Col. Alexander Hamilton in the storming of redoubt redoubt No. 10. Young Laurens was the principal spokesman for negotiating General Cornwallis's surrender.

Laurens returned to South Carolina and served General Nathanael Greene by creating and operating a network of spies that tracked British operations in and around Charleston. In August 1782, he learned of a British force movement to gather supplies and left his post to join Mordecai Gist in an attempt to intercept them. He was killed in the Battle of the Combahee River when he was shot from the saddle. Gravely wounded, Laurens was succeeded in his command by his friend and fellow opponent of slavery, Tadeusz Kosciuszko, a Polish nobleman.