sep 3, 1780 - Henry Laurens captured by British

Description:

In the 1779, Henry Laurens, the ambitious and irascible delegate was sent as ambassador to the Netherlands to seek further financial assistance for the War against Britain. Early 1780 he took up the post successfully negotiating Dutch support. On his return trip to Amsterdam that fall, off the banks of Newfoundland, the Continental packet Mercury carrying Laurens was waylaid by the British frigate Vestal, and he and his incriminating papers were captured. The documents revealed that the Dutch were aiding the Americans. At the time, England was looking for an excuse to go to war with the Netherlands (“the Fourth Dutch War”) and they used this opportunity. Henry Laurens was sent to the Tower of London where he remained a prisoner until exchanged for Lord Cornwallis who was captured at Yorktown in October of 1781.

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