What did I see in the revolution: South Carolinets who deserves more recognition – the daily newspaper of South Carolina

It was great to see John Lawrence on the stage of Greenville Center the other day.

For a man who has been dead for 243 years, he looked great.

Lawrence, a South Carolina hero from the Revolutionary War, occupies an important place as a hero in the Lynn-Manuel Blockbast Miranda Hamilton.

However, I am not sure that the real life laurel plays a prominent place in the hearts of the southern Carolini. He is often transferred to a “footnote” in the revolution, says his biographer.

And that’s a pity. The man was exceptional.

Lawrence, born in Charleston in 1754, was Lieutenant Colonel in the Continental Army and Assistant De-Lager (Special Assistant) of General George Washington.

Washington told Lawrence: “No man owned more than Amor Patria (the love of the country). In a word, he had no fault. “

Washington trusted him to the extent he appointed Lawrence as a US Commissioner to prepare official conditions for the British show after the decisive battle at Jortown.

Lawrence was reckless in battle.

After the battle of Brandivin, the Marquis de Lafayette gave up Lawrence: “It is not his fault that he was not killed or wounded. He did everything he needed to get one or the other. “

Abominable

Perhaps the most impressive thing is that Lawrence was also a cruel cancel of a brutal slave South Carolina.

In Hamilton, Lawrence (played by Nathan Heidel, 22), rapes on stage: “But we will never be really free/until those in slavery have the same rights as you and me.”

This closely follows Lawrence’s own real -life words: “We, the Americans, at least in the southern colonies, we cannot fight good grace, for freedom, until we take care of our slaves.”

Lawrence spoke against slavery 80 years before the Civil War, when 60% of the population in South Carolina were enslaved by colored people. This jumped up to 90% in some parts of the low country, according to historian Robert Alison.

Lauren’s own father, Henry Lawrence, was a slave and partner at the largest slave trading establishment in North America.

In 1779, John Lawrence received approval from the continental Congress for his plan to recruit a 3,000 slaves in South Carolina, promising them freedom in exchange for the battle. However, conservative South Carolina leaders rejected the plan.

Elected in the House of Representatives of the National Assembly, Lawrence tried to implement his plan three more times, but this was extremely opposed by state leaders.

In other words, unusual intestines were needed to allow John Lawrence to openly advocate for the freedom of blacks, not just agree with the colonial popular opinion in South Carolina.

What could be

“John Lawrence was the most arrogant opponent of slavery in this group of brothers (other revolutionaries),” Miranda says in his book Hamilton: The Revolution.

Some claim that Lawrence was the most thoughtful and fashionable of the revolutionaries and founders, of course, including Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Hamilton, Madison and the others.

“Lawrence spoke to us more clearly than other men from the American Revolution, whose names are far more familiar,” writes his biographer Gregory D. Massi in 2003.

“Lawrence believed that blacks shared a similar nature with whites, which included a natural right to freedom. To this extent, at least his beliefs make it our contemporary, man worthy of more attention than the footnote that is in most stories of the American Revolution. “

“Footnote” really: there is no one statue of Lawrence throughout the state of South Carolina.

Lawrence deserves only a passing reference to the authoritative South Carolina of Walter Edgar: History.

If Lawrence is just an asterisk in the stories of the revolution, it is probably because he had the misfortune to be killed at only 27 years of age before he could get the higher office he seemed to be destined, like his good friend Hamilton.

On August 27, 1782, Lawrence was shot dead from his saddle during the Battle of the Copai River in South Carolina. He was one of the last victims of the Revolutionary War.

“For me, his death is the biggest” what-Aco “in American history,” Miranda writes. “A voice for an emancipation from a surviving veteran of the revolutionary war and a beloved Washington: we will never understand what it might be.”

I think Miranda decided to include Lawrence in his musical, winner of the Pulitzer Award for the same reason, who wrote about Hamilton: he believed Lawrence, like Hamilton, was neglected by history.

Hamilton and Lawrence were also the best friends. Some speculate that they are lovers. They wrote attached letters to each other at a time when it was not uncommon for men to express such feelings.

It is true, of course, that Lawrence County and the Lawrence City in the state bear the name of his family. There are streets named after Lawrence and his father in Charleston, Greenville, Aiken and Beaufort.

But I hope John Lawrence will win a prominent place in the South Carolina holiday in 2026 on the 250th anniversary of the Revolutionary War. We need to do a lot more to honor this character from South Carolina.

By the way, the Hamilton musical continues in the center of peace until February 16.

In times of chaos and deep division in modern Washington, Hamilton confirms the basic American values ​​of the pulsating rhythm of rap and hip-hop.

Spending time with revolutionaries such as Hamilton and Lawrence offers a breath of patriotism and inspiration to Gale-Force.