Battle of Wambaw

Lieutenant Colonel John Laurens, son of former Continental Congress president Henry Laurens and one of Washington's most trusted aides, was killed at the Combahee River area of South Carolina on August 27, 1782 — one of the last American officers to die in the Revolutionary War, and one of its most tragic losses. Laurens had returned to South Carolina to continue fighting as peace negotiations dragged on in Paris.

Laurens commanded a small force of Continental light infantry operating in the low country. Despite warnings to be cautious — the war was nearly over and fighting was largely pointless — Laurens pressed forward aggressively on a patrol near the Combahee Ferry. He led his small command into an ambush by a much larger British force.

Laurens was shot from his horse and killed instantly. He was 27 years old. Alexander Hamilton, his closest friend and fellow aide to Washington, wrote a moving tribute: 'I know the intention was pure... he might have lived to be an ornament and a service to his country.' Washington himself expressed profound grief at the news. Many historians have speculated that Laurens, an ardent opponent of slavery who had proposed arming South Carolina's enslaved population, might have become one of the most important voices against slavery in the early republic had he survived.

The meaninglessness of his death so close to formal peace added to the tragedy. The cessation of hostilities came only months later.