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Cornwallis ordered to the Chesapeake. Takes Post at Yorktown and Gloucester, and Fortifies them.

Sketch of Cornwallis.

As we have observed (page 213), the allies crossed the Hudson and marched southward to co-operate with La Fayette in Virginia.

On the arrival of nearly three thousand troops, many of them Hessians, to re-enforce him in New York, a Sir Henry Clinton countermanded his orders in which he had dia Aug. 11, 1781. rected Cornwallis to send a portion of his army northward. The letter reached the earl at Portsmouth before the transports left Hampton Roads. It also contained expressions of surprise that his lordship should have left the vicinity of Williamsburg without consulting his commander-in-chief; and he was directed to take some strong position on the Chesapeake, in order to carry on his harassing warfare in Virginia and Maryland. Corn

CORNWALLIS.1

(From an English Print.)

wallis accordingly sent his engineers to view,
first Old Point Comfort, near Hampton, and
then Yorktown and Gloucester. The latter
places appeared to be the most eligible for
offensive and defensive operations, and for
the protection of any co-operative fleet that
might be sent to the Chesapeake. A part
of Cornwallis's army accordingly proceeded
up the York River in transports and boats,
and took possession of these posts on the first
of August. On the twentieth, the b 1780.

evacuation of Portsmouth was com-
pleted; and on the twenty-second, the whole
army of the earl, about seven thousand
strong, was concentrated at York and Glou-
cester. Cornwallis immediately commenced
fortifying both points. He constructed a
line of works completely around Yorktown,
and also extended a line of intrenchments
across the peninsula of Gloucester, in the
rear of that little town. Besides the works

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in close proximity to Yorktown, he constructed some field works at a considerable distance, to impede the approach of an enemy.' All this time La Fayette was within a few miles of the earl, but neither party dared strike a blow. The marquis did not feel sufficiently strong to attack Cornwallis, and the latter was unwilling to impede the progress in fortify. ing Yorktown, by engaging his troops in other enterprises.

While Washington was uncertain what course to pursue, he received dispatches from Count De Barras,' the successor of Ternay at Newport, bearing the agreeable intelligence

1 Charles Cornwallis, son of the first Earl of Cornwallis, was born at Culford Hall, in Suffolk, in 1738. He was educated at Westminster and St. John's College, Cambridge. He entered the army in 1759, and succeeded to the title and estates of his father in 1761. He was the most competent and energetic of all the British generals sent here during the war, but the cruelties exercised by his orders at times, during the southern campaigns, have left an indelible stain upon his character. Soon after the close of the war, he was appointed Governor General of the East Indies, which, office he held six years. During that time he conquered the renowned Tippoo Sultan, for which service he was created a marquis, and made master of the ordnance. He was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland from 1798 to 1801, and was instrumental in restoring peace to that country, then distracted by rebellion. He signed the treaty of Amiens in 1802, and in 1804 was again appointed Governor General of India. He died in October the succeeding year at Ghazepore, in the province of Benares, at the age of sixty-seven years.-See Georgian Era, London, 1833.

The works, which surrounded the village, consisted of seven redoubts and six batteries on the land side, connected by intrenchments. On the river bank was also a line of batteries; one near the church was a grand battery, with eleven pieces of cannon, which commanded the passage of the river between York and Gloucester. The outworks consisted of three redoubts on the margin of the ravine, southwest of the town, one a little eastward of the road to Hampton, two on the extreme right, near the river, and the fusileers' redoubt on the extreme left, near the river. Cornwallis's head-quarters were at the house of Governor Nelson. 3 Barras, in his dispatches to Washington, said, that as the Count De Grasse did not require him to form a junction with his fleet in the Chesapeake, but left him at liberty to undertake any other enterprise, he

Southern Campaign. De Grasse in the Chesapeake. Sketch of De Grasse. Cornwallis's Attempt to Escape into Carolina. that the Count De Grasse' was to sail from Cape François, in the West Indies, on the thirteenth of August for the Chesapeake, with between twenty-five and twenty-nine sail of the line, and three thousand two hundred land troops under the command of the Marquis St. Simon. De Grasse desired every thing to be in readiness to commence operations when he should arrive, for he intended to return to the West Indies by the middle of October 2 The plan of the southern campaign was, therefore, speedily arranged, and, as we have seen, the allied armies were far on their march toward the head of Elk before Sir Henry Clinton was assured of their real destination."

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COUNT DE BARRAS.

The Count De Grasse, with twenty-eight ships and several brigades, arrived in the Chesa

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a Aug. 31,

1781.

peake at the close of August. a At Cape Henry, an officer sent by La Fayette gave De Grasse full information respecting the situation of the two armies in Virginia. De Grasse immediately dispatched four ships of the line and several frigates to blockade the mouth of the York River, and to convey the land forces commanded by the Marquis De St. Simon (for portrait, see next page), who were destined to join those of La Fayette on the James River. Cornwallis now perceived the imminent peril that surrounded him, and conceived a plan for escaping into North Carolina, but the vigilance of La Fayette prevented his attempting the movement." He could console himself only with the hope that Sir Henry Clinton would send him timely aid.

proposed an expedition against Newfoundland, and expressed a desire to take with him the land forces which had been left at Newport under M. De Choisé. Both Washington and De Rochambeau disapproved of this proposition, and, as soon as he received their remonstrance against it, Barras resolved to proceed to the Chesapeake.

1 François Joseph Paul, Count De Grasse, a native of France, was born in 1723. He was appointed to command a French fleet, to co-operate with the Americans at the beginning of 1781. Although he was the junior in service of Count De Barras, he was made his superior in command, with the title of lieutenant general. His co-operation was much more valuable to the Americans than that of D'Estaing; and in the capture of Cornwallis and his army at Yorktown, he played a very important part. His domestic relations seem to have been very unhappy; his second wife, whom he married after leaving America, proving a very unworthy woman. His life was a burden to him, particularly after losing the favor of his king in consequence of an unfortunate military movement. He died early in 1788, at the age of sixty-five years. Alluding to the unhappiness of his latter days, Washington, in a letter to Rochambeau, April, 1778, on hearing of the death of De Grasse, said, "His frailties should now be buried in the grave with him, while his name will be long deservedly dear to this country, on account of his successful co-operation in the glorious campaign of 1781. The Cincinnati in some of the states have gone into mourning for him."

2 The land troops for this expedition were borrowed from the garrison at St. Domingo, and consisted of detachments from the regiments of Gatinois, Agenois, and Tourraine. There were one hundred artillery, one hundred dragoons, ten pieces of field ordnance, and several of siege artillery and mortars. De Grasse promised to return these troops by the middle of October. 3 See page 214.

The distance between the York and the James River, at Yorktown, is only about six miles, and this gave the Americans a great advantage in the siege that ensued.

5

A Jerseyman named Morgan was for some time employed as a spy in the British camp at Yorktown, by La Fayette. He pretended to be a deserter, and enlisted in the army of Cornwallis. On one occasion that general inquired of Morgan whether La Fayette had many boats. Morgan, according to instructions, told him the marquis had enough to transport his whole army across at a moment's warning. "There!" exclaimed Cornwallis, turning to Tarleton, "I told you this would not do." That expression was an evidence that escape across the James River had been contemplated. Morgan could not be prevailed upon to accept money for his services in La Fayette's behalf, neither would he receive office. He only desired

Naval Battle off the Virginia Capes.

Admirals Hood and Graves proceed against the French Fleet.

French Squadron. Admiral Rodney, commander of the British fleet in the West Indies, at this time was aware that De Grasse had sailed for the American coast, but seems not to have suspected that his whole fleet would proceed to the Continent. He dispatched Sir Samuel Hood after him with only fourteen sail, believing that that number would be quite sufficient to compete with the French squadron. Hood arrived at Sandy Hook on the twentyeighth of August, and informed Admiral Graves, the successor of Arbuthnot, who was lying in New York Bay with seven ships of the line, only five of which were fit for service, that De Grasse was probably on the Virginia coast. Intelligence was received on the same day, that De Barras had sailed for the Chesapeake from Newport with a considerable squadron. Graves immediately prepared for sea, and with the whole fleet, consisting of nineteen sail of the line, proceeded in quest of the French.a Not suspecting the strength of De Grasse, he hoped to fall in with one or the other of the French squadrons and

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Aug. 31, 1781.

defeat it

ST. SIMON.

The French fleet lay in Lynn Haven Bay, just within the Chesapeake, near Cape Henry, on the morning of the fifth

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to sea, desiring more room for conflict than the waters of the Chesapeake afforded. Admiral Graves bore down upon De Grasse, and both fleets, in attempting to gain the weather gage,

stood out in the dine slowly moved eastward, clear of the Capes, upon the broad Atlantic. At four o'clock in the afternoon, a partial action commenced between the van and part of the center of the two fleets, and con

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De Grasse supposed it to be the squadron of De Barras, but being soon undeceived, he prepared for battle. The wind was fair, and the British fleet sailed directly within the Capes for the purpose of attacking the French. De Grasse slipped his cables, and put tinued until sunset. Several ships were considerably damaged, but neither commander could claim a victory. Admiral Graves preserved the weather gage during the night, and intended to have renewed the battle on the following morning; but, having ascertained that several ships of the van division, under Admiral Drake, could not safely be brought into action again without being repaired, he deferred an attack. For five successive days the hostile fleets were in sight of each other, sometimes approaching quite near, but neither party seemed desirous of renewing the contest. At length the Count De Grasse bore away for the Chesapeake, and anchored again in Lynn Haven Bay, within the Capes. There he found De Barras with his squadron, and a considerable land force under M. De Choisé (for portrait, see opposite page), together with fourteen. transports, with heavy artillery and military stores suitable for carrying on a siege. Graves approached the Capes of the Chesapeake, but, finding the entrance blocked up by a force. with which he was unable to contend with a hope of success, he bore away and returned

c Sept. 10.

a favorite gun to be restored to him. Morgan said he believed himself to be a good soldier, but he was not certain that he would make a good officer. These circumstances were related to Mr. Sparks by La Fayette himself, fifty years after their occurrence.

The portraits of the French officers given in this chapter I copied from Trumbull's picture in the Rotunda of the Capitol at Washington, representing the surrender of Cornwallis. Trumbull painted the most of them from life in 1787, at the house of Mr. Jefferson, in Paris, when that statesman was minister there.

Loss in the Naval Action.

March of the Allied Armies.

Arrival of Washington and French Officers at Williamsburg.

to New York, for he began to entertain greater fears of the equinoctial gales on the coast than of the guns of the French ships of the line. The French lost in the action two hundred and twenty men, including four officers killed and eighteen wounded. The English lost ninety killed, and two hundred and forty-six wounded. The Terrible, one of the English ships, was so much damaged, that, after taking out her prisoners and stores, they set fire to and burned her.'

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M. DE CHOISE.

While these events were occurring on the Virginia coast, the allied armies were making their way southward with all possible dispatch, and Sir Henry Clinton, certified of their des tination, was trying to divert their attention from the South, and recall some of their forces by menacing movements at the North. He sent Arnold with a strong force to attack New London, an event which we have considered on pages 42 and 45 inclusive. He also threatened New Jersey, and caused a rumor to go abroad that he was about to proceed with a strong force against the American posts in the Hudson Highlands, which Washington had left in charge of General Heath, with fourteen regiments. These movements and rumors failed to produce their desired effect; and the outrages committed by Arnold at New London and vicinity served only to heighten the exasperation of the patriot army, and nerve it to more vigorous action.

When the allied forces arrived at the head of Elk there were not vessels sufficient to transport them, and a large portion of the American troops, and all of the French, made their way to Baltimore and Annapolis by land. Washington, with Count De Rochambeau and the Marquis De Chastellux,' reached Baltimore on the eighth, a Mount Vernon on the tenth,* a Sept., and Williamsburg on the evening 1781. of the fourteenth. He had ordered the troops that were embarked on the Chesapeake to halt, after learning that the fleet

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1 Marshall, i., 448. Stedman, ii., 398-401. Ramsay, Gordon, Rochambeau's Memoirs. 2 Sir Henry seems not to have suspected the destination of the allies until the second of September, on which day he wrote to Cornwallis, and expressed his belief that they were marching toward Virginia. 3 FRANCIS JOHN, Marquis DE CHASTELLUX, came to America with Rochambeau, bearing the title of major general. He traveled extensively while here, and wrote a journal of his tour. A large portion of it was printed on board one of the ships of the French fleet, before leaving America. Only twenty-four copies were printed for distribution among his most intimate friends. The complete work was translated by an English traveler from the original manuscript, and published in London, with maps and drawings, in 1787. On his return to France, the king made De Chastellux a field-marshal, and the French Academy elected him one of its members. At the close of 1787, he married an accomplished lady, a relative of the Duke of Orleans. This circumstance he communicated to Washington, who, in a playful letter (April, 1788) in reply, said, "I saw, by the eulogium you often made on the happiness of domestic life in America, that you had swallowed the bait, and that you would as surely be taken, one day or another, as that you were a philosopher and a soldier. So your day has at length come. I am glad of it, with all my heart and soul. It is quite good enough for you. Now you are well served for coming to fight in favor of the American rebels, all the way across the Atlantic Ocean, by catching that terrible contagion, domestic felicity, which, like the small-pox or plague a man can have only once in his life." De Chastellux died in 1793. The fortune of himself and wife seems to have been swept away by the storm of the French Revolution, for in 1795 his widow made application to Washington, asking for an allowance from our government to her and her infant son, on account of the services of her husband. The application was unavailing.

This was the first time that Washington had visited his home since he left it to attend the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, in 1775, a period of six years and five months; and he now remained there only long enough to await the arrival of Count De Rochambeau, whom he left at Baltimore.

Arrival of Troops at Williamsburg.

Washington's first Interview with De Grasse.

Approach of the Allied Armies.

of De Grasse had left the Capes to fight Graves, but when he arrived at Williamsburg and found both French fleets in the Chesapeake,' he sent Count Fersen, one of Rochambeau's aids, with ten transports from Barras's squadron, to hasten the troops forward. This was speedily accomplished, and the forces at the head of Elk, and at Annapolis, proceeded by water to the James River.

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COUNT FERSEN.

a Sept.

On the seventeenth, a Washington, accompanied by Rochambeau, De Chastellux, and Generals Knox and Du Portail, proceeded to visit De Grasse on board of his flag-ship, the Ville de Paris, lying off Cape Henry. They sailed in a small vessel called the Queen Charlotte, and arrived on the eighteenth. Satisfactory arrangements were made for an immediate attack upon Cornwallis, as soon as the American troops should reach Williamsburg. While awaiting their approach, information was received that Admiral Digby, with six ships of the line, had arrived at New York as a re-enforcement for Graves. Confident that nothing would be left untried in attempts to relieve Cornwallis, and thinking his situation in the Chesapeake unfavorable for an engagement with the augmented force of the English, now nearly equal to that of his own, De Grasse communicated to Washington his intention to leave a few frigates to blockade the York and James Rivers, and to put to sea with his ships of the line in quest of the British. This communication alarmed Washington, for a superior naval force might enter the Chesapeake in the mean while, and assist Cornwallis in making his escape. He prevailed upon De Grasse to remain, and on the twenty-fifth, the last division of the allied troops having reached Williamsburg, preparations for the siege commenced.

Cornwallis, with the main division of his army, occupied Yorktown. The main body of his troops were encamped on the open grounds in the rear of the town. Lieutenant-colonel Dundas, who did good service at Jamestown, occupied Gloucester, with about seven hundred men, and was joined by Lieutenant-colonel Tarleton and his legion when the siege commenced. The Duke De Lauzun with his legion, the marines from the squadron of Barras, and a brigade of Virginia militia under General Weeden, the whole commanded by the French General De Choisé, were sent to arrest Gloucester.

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On

On the morning of the twenty-eighth, the combined armies, about twelve thousand strong, left Williamsburg by different roads, and marched toward Yorktown. their approach, the British left their field-works, and withdrew to those near the town, the remains of which are mentioned on a preceding page. The American light infantry and a considerable body

DE LAUZUN

Count De Grasse, anxious to accomplish the object of his expedition, and impatient at the delay of the allied armies, had urged La Fayette to co-operate with him in an attack, by land and water, upon York and Gloucester. But the marquis, governed by more prudent counsels, unwilling to hazard the advantage he possessed, refused to make any offensive movement before the arrival of Washington.

* De Grasse refused to comply with the desire of Washington, that he should ascend the river above Yorktown with a few of his vessels. He was unwilling to risk a blockade in so narrow a space. 3 For a sketch of Lauzun, see page 34.

Intelligence from General Clinton at New York induced Cornwallis thus to abandon his field-works,

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