Book Of Stuff

70

John Laurens met an ignominious end on August 17, 1882 in a minor skirmish against British forces who were foraging for rice outside of Charleston, South Carolina. The Revolution was all but over, and only six months before John Laurens had the honor of representing the American forces when he accepted Cornwallis' surrender at Yorktown. But his death, caused by foolhardily charging a much larger force, was one that was not a surprise to those who knew him. General Nathaniel Greene, his commanding officer in South Carolina, summed up his death with, "The love of military glory made him seek it upon occasions unworthy his rank."

I was very eager to read Gregory D. Massey's biography of Colonel John Laurens, John Laurens and the American Revolution, when I learned that Barton College carried it in their collection. Luckily for us, the Wilson County Public Library has a partnership with Barton that allows holders of Wilson County library cards to check out books at their library. I was always interested in what life events and philosophic influences created this scion of South Carolina who found contradictions in the revolutionary cause he championed in that it was for the rights of humanity yet allowed slavery to exist. And what caused him to repeatedly seek his own death in battle through reckless behavior. Massey's book was a succinct but erudite account of the life and the creation of the sometimes overlooked Revolutionary War hero and strong opponent of slavery.

The French Huguenot Laurens family settled in Charleston in 1715 and by the time John was born in 1754 the family was very wealthy. John's father, Henry (a.k.a asshole), was a rice planter, a successful merchant and had married Eleanor Ball, who was of a prestigious low-country dynasty. John and his siblings were tutored at home and when he came of age he travelled to Geneva, Switzerland to study medicine and then to London to study law. While in London, Laurens married Martha Manning (he had gotten her pregnant), a daughter of a business associate of his father's. But the war intervened and without seeking permission from his father (nor for his marriage) he returned to America, leaving his new wife and unborn daughter in order to join the war effort. He would never see his wife again and showed very little concern for her or his daughter in his correspondence with his father. When Laurens returned from Europe he became one of General Washington's aid-de-camps alongside Alexander Hamilton. They both became fast friends and some scholars have even suggested it was a homosexual relationship and Laurens' reckless behavior was a result of unobtainable happiness. Some of the passages in their letters are very suggestive "I wish my dear Laurens...to convince you that I love you." But the author dismisses that notion saying "In an age of sensibility, men typically expressed themselves with affection and effusiveness." Modeling their bearing after figures from the classical world they valued their male relationships far above their ones with the fairer sex and this was certainly manifest in Laurens lack of communication with his wife and daughter.