M'Leod's expedition to Monticello was quite as unsuccessful. The governor was entertaining several members of the Legislature, including the speakers of both Houses, and was not aware of the proximity of an enemy, until the invaders were seen coming up the winding road leading to his mansion. His wife and children were hurried off to Colonel Carter's, six miles southward, whither Mr. Jefferson followed on horseback, making his way among the dark recesses of Carter's Mountain. The speaker hurried to Charlottesville to adjourn the Legislature, to meet at Staunton on the seventh, ** and then, with several others, mounted fleet horses and escaped. Mr. Jefferson had not been gone ten minutes when M'Leod and his party rode up and found the mansion deserted. Books, papers, and furniture were untouched by the enemy, and not a particle of the governor's property was destroyed, except a large quantity of wine in his cellar, drank and wasted by a few soldiers, without the knowledge of their commander.
After destroying one thousand new muskets, four hundred barrels of powder, several hogsheads of tobacco, and a quantity of soldier's clothing, Tarleton, with his prisoners, rejoined Cornwallis, who had advanced to Elk Hill, a plantation belonging to Governor Jefferson, near the Point of Fork. There the most wanton destruction of property occurred. They cut the throats of the young horses, carried off the older ones fit for service, slaughtered the
* Observing a delay in the preparation of breakfast, Tarleton impatiently demanded the reason. He was informed by the cook that his subalterns had already devoured two breakfasts. A guard was placed at the kitchen door, and it was not until a third breakfast was cooked that Tarleton was able to obtain his meal.
** The members of the Legislature were terribly frightened, and were not at ease even at Staunton. On the morning when they convened, Colonel Brookes, with a small company of mounted Virginians, rode into Staunton at a rapid pace, bearing a message from Baron Steuben. The members, believing them to be a part of Tarleton's legion, took to their heels, and it was some time before they could be coaxed back to their duties. On the twelfth they elected General Nelson governor of the state.
Cornwallis baffled by La Fayette.—His Retreat toward the Coast.—Detention of the Convention Troops.—Their Parole.
cattle, burned the barns with the crops of the previous year, with all the fences on the plantations near, and captured many negroes. *
One more prize attracted the attention of Cornwallis. At Albemarle Old Court House, above the Point of Pork, the Virginians had collected a large quantity of valuable stores, most of which had been sent from Richmond. The earl determined to capture or destroy them; La Fayette, who, after his junction with Wayne, had moved cautiously through Orange and the upper part of Louisa to Boswell's tavern, near the Albemarle line, resolved to protect them. Tarleton was sent to force La Fayette either to hazard a battle with the whole British army, or abandon the stores. The marquis did neither. He had discovered a rough, unused road, leading directly to the Court House. Early in the evening he set his pioneers at work, and before morning his whole force had traversed the opened way, and, to the astonishment of Cornwallis, were strongly posted upon high ground, between the British forces and the American stores. Again baffled, the earl wheeled his army, and moved toward the eastern coast, closely watched and followed by the vigilant marquis. He entered Richmond on the seventeenth, and evacuated it on the twentieth. Steuben had now joined La Fayette, and Cornwallis, believing the strength of the Americans to be much greater than it really was, hastened to Williamsburg, where, under the protection of his shipping, and re-enforced by troops from Portsmouth, he encamped. ** His subsequent movements, until his surrender at Yorktown, have been noticed in preceding chapters.
Before leaving Virginia, let us consider that important event in the history of the Revolution, the residence of the "Convention Troops" (as Burgoyne's captured army were called), in the vicinity of Charlottesville.
In a note on page 82 of the first volume of this work, I have given briefly the principal reasons why the captive army of Burgoyne was not allowed to go to England on parole. The action of Congress on the subject was technically dishonorable, and not in accordance with the letter and spirit of the convention signed by Gates and Burgoyne. So General Washington evidently thought when he wrote to General Heath respecting the detention of that body, and said, "By this step General Burgoyne will, it is more than probable, look upon himself as released from all former ties, and consequently at liberty to make use of any means to effect an escape." *** The suspected perfidy of the British commander, the fact that the enemy often acted upon the principle that "faith was not to be kept with rebels," and the consideration that these troops, though they might not again "serve against America," would supply the places of soldiers at home who would, partially justified the bad faith of Congress. Having resolved to keep them here, the next consideration was their maintenance. The difficulty of procuring an ample supply of food in New England, and the facilities of a sea-coast for their escape, induced Congress to order them to be sent into the interior of Virginia. Sir Henry Clinton had been applied toSept. 1778 for passports for American vessels to transport fuel and provisions to Boston for the use of the prisoners, but refused. Congress, therefore, directedOct 15 them to be removed to Charlottesville, in Albemarle county, Virginia. Pursuant to this direction, the whole body of captives, English and Germans, after the officers had signed a parole of honor **** respecting
* It is estimated that, during the invasion of the state which we have been considering, thirty thousand slaves were carried off, of whom twenty-seven thousand are supposed to have died of small-pox or camp-fever in the course of six months.—Howison, ii., 270.