Revolutionary War Continental Army Officer, US Diplomat. He joined General George Washington's staff as volunteer aide, served in every battle General Washington was in, including Battles of Brandywine, Monmouth, Germantown, Savannah, and Charleston. He helped plan for siege of Yorktown. British troops surrendered on October 17, 1781, and Washington appointed Laurens as the American commissioner for drafting formal terms of the British surrender. On October 18, 1781, Laurens and the French commissioner negotiated terms with two British representatives, and the articles of capitulation were signed by General Cornwallis the following day. On August 27, 1782, at the age of 27, Laurens was shot from his saddle during the Battle of the Combahee River, as one of the last casualties of the Revolutionary War. Laurens died in what General Greene described sadly as "a paltry little skirmish" with a foraging party, only a few weeks before the British finally withdrew from Charleston.
Bio by: Jan
Family Members
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Henry Laurens
1725–1792
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Eleanor Delamere Ball Laurens
1731–1770
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Martha Weatherell Manning Laurens
1757–1781 (m. 1776)
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Eleanor Laurens
1751–1751
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Ann Elizabeth Laurens
1752–1752
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Henry Laurens
1753–1758
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Eleanor Laurens
1755–1764
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Elias Laurens
1758–1762
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Martha Laurens Ramsay
1759–1811
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Henry Laurens
1763–1821
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James Laurens
1765–1775
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Samuel Laurens
1767–1767
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Mary Eleanor Laurens Pinckney
1770–1794
Flowers
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