CHAPTER XXIV. — CLOSE OF THE WAR. 1782-1783.
After the surrender of Cornwallis, the combined forces were distributed in different parts of the country, in the manner we have described at the close of the last chapter. Having personally superintended the distribution of the ordnance and stores, and the departure of the prisoners as well as the embarkation of the troops, who were to go northward under General Lincoln, Washington left Yorktown on the 5th of November (1781) for Eltham, the seat of his friend, Colonel Basset. He arrived there the same day, but he came to a house of mourning. His stepson, John Parke Custis, was just expiring when he reached the house. Washington was just in time to be present, with Mrs. Washington and Mrs. Custis, her daughter-in-law, at the last painful moment of the young man's departure to the world of spirits. Mr. Custis had been an object of peculiar affection and care to Washington, who had superintended his education and introduction to public life. He had entered King's college in New York, in 1773, but soon after left that institution and married the daughter of Mr. Benedict Calvert, February 3, 1774. He had passed the winter of 1775 at headquarters in Cambridge with his wife and Mrs. Washington. He had subsequently been elected a member of the House of Burgesses of Virginia, in which office he acquitted himself with honor, and he was now cut off on the very threshold of life being only twenty-eight years of age at the time of his decease. He left a widow and four young children. The two youngest of these children, one less than two and the other four years old, were adopted by Washington, and thenceforward formed a part of his immediate family. During the last year of Mr. Custis' life, Washington, writing to General Greene, took occasion to cite a passage from his correspondence. He says, "I have received a letter from Mr. Custis, dated the 29th ultimo (March, 1781), in which are these words: 'General Greene has by his conduct gained universal esteem, and possesses, in the fullest degree, the confidence of all ranks of people.'" He had just then returned from the Assembly at Richmond. Washington remained for several days at Eltham to comfort the family in their severe affliction, and then proceeded to Mount Vernon, where he arrived on the 13th of November. From this home of his early affections he wrote to Lafayette on the 15th (1781), accounting for his not having joined him in Philadelphia, by the pressure of private and public duties. In this letter, ever attentive to the interests of his country, Washington expresses his views with respect to the next campaign; and as Lafayette, after the expedition with de Grasse to the South was abandoned, had determined to pass the winter in France, Washington takes occasion in this letter to impress upon his mind the absolute necessity of a strong naval force in order to conduct the next campaign to a successful termination. In concluding his letter, Washington says: "If I should be deprived of the pleasure of a personal interview with you before your departure, permit me to adopt this method of making you a tender of my ardent vows for a prosperous voyage, a gracious reception from your prince, an honorable reward for your services, a happy meeting with your lady and friends, and a safe return in the spring to, my dear marquis, your affectionate friend, etc.—