John Laurens and the American Revolution , livre ebook
207
pages
English
Ebooks
2016
Vous pourrez modifier la taille du texte de cet ouvrage
Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne En savoir plus
Découvre YouScribe en t'inscrivant gratuitement
Découvre YouScribe en t'inscrivant gratuitement
207
pages
English
Ebook
2016
Vous pourrez modifier la taille du texte de cet ouvrage
Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne En savoir plus
Publié par
Date de parution
13 décembre 2016
Nombre de lectures
0
EAN13
9781611176131
Langue
English
Poids de l'ouvrage
1 Mo
A historical figure's attempts to secure freedom for America and its enslaved population
Winning a reputation for reckless bravery in a succession of major battles and sieges, John Laurens distinguished himself as one of the most zealous, self-sacrificing participants in the American Revolution. A native of South Carolina and son of Henry Laurens, president of the Continental Congress, John devoted his life to securing American independence.In this comprehensive biography, Gregory D. Massey recounts the young Laurens's wartime record —a riveting tale in its own right —and finds that even more remarkable than his military escapades were his revolutionary ideas concerning the rights of African Americans.
Massey relates Laurens's desperation to fight for his country once revolution had begun. A law student in England, he joined the war effort in 1777, leaving behind his English wife and an unborn child he would never see. Massey tells of the young officer's devoted service as General George Washington's aide-de-camp, interaction with prominent military and political figures, and conspicuous military efforts at Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth, Newport, Charleston, Savannah, and Yorktown. Massey also recounts Laurens's survival of four battle wounds and six months as a prisoner of war, his controversial diplomatic mission to France, and his close friendship with Alexander Hamilton. Laurens's death in a minor battle in August 1782 was a tragic loss for the new state and nation.
Unlike other prominent southerners, Laurens believed blacks shared a similar nature with whites, and he formulated a plan to free slaves in return for their service in the Continental Army. Massey explores the personal, social, and cultural factors that prompted Laurens to diverge so radically from his peers and to raise vital questions about the role African Americans would play in the new republic.
Publié par
Date de parution
13 décembre 2016
Nombre de lectures
0
EAN13
9781611176131
Langue
English
Poids de l'ouvrage
1 Mo
John Laurens and the American Revolution
Portrait of John Laurens
John Laurens and the American Revolution
Gregory D. Massey
The University of South Carolina Press
2000 University of South Carolina
Cloth edition published by the University of South Carolina Press, 2000
Paperback edition published by the University of South Carolina Press, 2015
Ebook edition published in Columbia, South Carolina, by the University of South Carolina Press, 2016
www.sc.edu/uscpress
25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
The Library of Congress has cataloged the cloth edition as follows:
Massey, Gregory De Van.
John Laurens and the American Revolution / Gregory D. Massey.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-57003-330-7 (alk. paper)
1. Laurens, John, 1754-1782. 2. United States-History-Revolution, 1775-1783. 3. Soldiers-United States-Biography. 4. United States. Continental Army-Biography. I. Title.
E207.L37 M38 2000
973.3 092-dc21 99-050753
ISBN 978-1-61117-612-4 (paperback)
ISBN 978-1-61117-613-1 (ebook)
Front cover art frontispiece: Portrait of John Laurens , a miniature painted by Charles Willson Peale in 1780, watercolor on ivory. Privately owned. On deposit at Gibbes Museum of Art/Carolina Art Association, Charleston.
For Van S. Massey, and in memory of Helen P. Massey
Contents
Illustrations
Family Line of John Laurens
Preface
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Note on the Text
Introduction
Chapter 1 An ornament to his country : Early Life in Charleston
Chapter 2 The Voltaire of Carolina: Sojourn in Geneva, October 1771-November 1774
Chapter 3 I hate the Name of the King : Biding Time in England, November 1774-December 1776
Chapter 4 Standing on the verge of Eternity : The War in America, January-December 1777
Chapter 5 Those dear ragged Continentals : Winter at Valley Forge, December 1776-June 1778
Chapter 6 That bravery which becomes freemen : The 1778 Campaign, June-December 1778
Chapter 7 White Pride Avarice : The Limits of Independence in the South Carolina Low Country, January-December 1779
Chapter 8 The greatest and most humiliating misfortune of my life : The Fall of Charleston, January-December 1780
Chapter 9 His inexperience in public affairs : Special Minister to France, December 1780-September 1781
Chapter 10 The single voice of reason : Military Triumph and Political Defeat, September 1781-February 1782
Chapter 11 The Campaign is become perfectly insipid : The South Carolina Low Country, February-August 1782
Chapter 12 The loss is remediless : The Family of John Laurens, 1782-1860
Epilogue
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Illustrations
Portraits
John Laurens frontispiece
Henry Laurens as President of the Continental Congress
Maps
South Carolina low country
The siege of Newport, July-August 1778
The siege of Savannah, September-October 1779
The siege of Charleston, February-May 1781
Family Line of John Laurens
Preface
History involves historians examining surviving sources and then selecting evidence and using it to write narratives that illuminate the past, describing it while never quite definitively capturing it. So much of the past remains unknowable, lost to us because of the lack of sources, lost to us also because we can not read the minds and discern the motives of those who left behind written traces of their lives. So it is with John Laurens. In his short, tempestuous, and exciting life, he left behind tangible evidence of his actions and motivations in his correspondence, and the historian has access also to the observations of his contemporaries, but our knowledge of him, as of any historical figure, will always remain provisional. When I was working on this book nearly two decades ago, I wanted to write a narrative that would engage the reader in Laurens s exciting life. Thinking it would improve the book s readability, I made a conscious decision to write decisively about this very decisive and impulsive historical figure, which meant that I often resisted using qualifiers such as maybe or perhaps, particularly in assessing his motivations, and in deciphering what factors influenced his repeated reckless behavior. In retrospect, I realize that the choice to make decisive statements sometimes drained the book of one of history s most mysterious and enduring qualities: that so much of our knowledge of the past is provisional and ultimately unknowable. And I issue now a disclaimer that did not appear in the book s first edition: My arguments about the factors that influenced Laurens to be impetuous in public and private life are more conjectural than my language makes them appear. I believe that I come close to capturing the tension between aspirations and achievements that so shaped Laurens s choices, but ultimately he, like any figure of the past, will always remain slightly beyond the historian s grasp.
Revision is an essential part of the historical process. Not surprisingly, historians sometimes revise their own views or wish they could revise things they have written. If I had the opportunity for a do-over, there are three areas of my biography of John Laurens that I would change. In chronological order they are the presentation of the John Laurens-Alexander Hamilton relationship, the account of the siege of Savannah, and the assessment of Laurens s diplomatic mission to France. In retrospect, I should have been equivocal rather than decisive in asserting that the Laurens-Hamilton friendship was platonic. Whether or not their relationship was homosocial or homosexual is a matter of debate that can not be definitively resolved. I wish I had read in its entirety the Count d Estaing s journal of the siege of Savannah. It is reprinted in Benjamin Kennedy, Muskets, Cannon Balls, Bombs: Nine Narratives of the Siege of Savannah (Savannah: Beehive Press, 1974), a book I discovered after my own work was published. Upon reading the full journal, including d Estaing s description of Laurens s Continentals fleeing at the first musket volley fired by the British, I realized that accounts of Laurens s self-destructive behavior on that day were more explicable, as his personal honor had been deeply wounded. Finally, the publication of volumes 34 and 35 of Barbara B. Oberg, et al., eds., The Papers of Benjamin Franklin (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999-2000), provides evidence that Laurens s mission to France played a decisive, contingent role in French naval planning for the 1781 campaign. Laurens, in other words, deserves more credit for the French naval cooperation that led to the victory at Yorktown than I gave him in this book.
These points aside, I am pleased that the University of South Carolina Press is releasing a paperback edition of this book and hope it will introduce new readers to the Laurens family, one of the enduringly fascinating families of the era of the American Revolution, and to John Laurens, an exciting, flawed, but ultimately attractive and tragic figure.
Acknowledgments
Much of the historian s craft involves long hours of individual labor. On occasion, fortunately, the moments of solitude are punctuated by collaboration with others. It is a pleasure to extend appreciation to the people who helped me bring this project to completion.
Robert M. Weir directed this study in its original form as a doctoral dissertation. His historical imagination and resourceful intellect focused my attention on questions I otherwise might have overlooked. It is a testimony to Professor Weir s talents as a scholar that after extensive research, involving repeated efforts to find holes in his own essay on John Laurens-I wanted to avoid the appearance of merely parroting that work-that this book corroborates the principal conclusions in his exploratory essay. I would like to thank other scholars at the University of South Carolina: Owen Connelly, who commented on the dissertation; Ronald Maris, who provided insights into selfdestructive behavior; Kendrick Clements, who read the sections on revolutionary diplomacy; and Samuel Smith, who allowed me to cite his unpublished work on Henry Laurens s religious views.
Without the assistance of the staff of the Papers of Henry Laurens, this study would not have been possible. I owe more than I can express to David Chesnutt, Jim Taylor, and Peggy Clark, who provided me access to their archives-and coffee room-and read an earlier draft of the manuscript and saved me from numerous errors. Two people I met at the Laurens Papers project deserve special mention. The late George C. Rogers Jr. allowed me to use his extensive research files and library; in addition, he read and commented on multiple drafts of the manuscript. George s civility and generosity, his enthusiasm for history and zest for life, will ever inspire those who were fortunate enough to have known him. Martha King read more drafts of this study than anyone else. On several occasions she directed me to John Laurens documents that I had not previously uncovered. Martha s editorial pen and historical sensitivity immeasurably improved the quality of this book and made me a better historian.
Several individuals helped turn an unwieldy dissertation into a book. My colleagues at the Naval Historical Center s Early History Branch, where I spent ten months as a National Historical Publications and Records Commission fellow, read the dissertation and offered useful suggestions for revision. Special thanks is owed to Michael Crawford, who went beyond the call of duty and provided translations of French documents. More recently, Daphene Kennedy, professor emeri
