Early in August, Washington received from the Count de Barras the information that the Count de Grasse might be expected shortly to reach the Chesapeake with a formidable fleet. Washington now determined to transfer the war to the South; but to deceive Clinton he made his arrangements secretly, and continued his apparent preparations against New York. Cornwallis concentrated the whole British force in Virginia at Yorktown and Gloucester Point by the twenty-second of August. The latter post was held by the 80th Regiment, the Hessian regiment of the Prince Hereditaire, and the Queen's Rangers—the whole under command of the brave and energetic Colonel Dundas, of the artillery. Tarleton, with his cavalry, afterwards passed over to Gloucester Point. La Fayette, in consequence of the movements of the enemy, broke up his camp on the Pamunkey, and drew nearer to Yorktown. Washington, having concerted with the French commanders a plan of operations, with the combined American and French forces, marched for Virginia, the army being put in motion on the nineteenth, and having completed the passage of the Hudson on the twenty-fifth. Sir Henry Clinton did not suspect that the movement was for the South until the third of September.
On the thirtieth of August, De Grasse, with twenty-eight ships of the line and several frigates, arrived from the West Indies, and entered the Chesapeake. At Cape Henry he found an officer despatched by La Fayette with intelligence of the situation of the two armies. On the following day his advanced ships blocked up the mouth of the York. While the French fleet lay at anchor just within the Chesapeake, a squadron was descried early in the morning of September the fifth, consisting of nineteen ships-of-the-line, under Admiral Graves. De Grasse immediately formed his line and put to sea; and a partial engagement occurred. Several ships were damaged, but the result was indecisive. For some days the fleets continued within view of each other, after which De Grasse returned to his moorings within the capes. Here he found[743:A] De Barras with a squadron newly arrived from Rhode Island, bringing artillery and stores proper for carrying on a siege. Graves looking in at the capes found the French fleet too strong for him, and returned to New York. La Fayette made his headquarters at Williamsburg, twelve miles from Yorktown.
On the 8th of September, 1781, the battle of Eutaw Springs, in South Carolina, took place. The British army, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Stuart, being encamped at that place, Greene marched at four o'clock in the morning, to attack the enemy, seven miles distant. Upon approaching them Greene formed his first line of militia under Marion and Pickens. The second was composed of continental infantry and the North Carolina Brigade, commanded by General Sumner, on the right; the Virginians, under Lieutenant-Colonel Campbell, in the centre; the Marylanders, under Colonel Williams, on the left. Lee's legion covered the right flank; South Carolinians, under Colonel Henderson, the left; and Washington's cavalry, with Kirkwood's infantry, formed the reserve. Captain Gaines, with two three-pounders, was attached to the first line, and Captain Brown, with two sixes, to the second.
The British were drawn up across the road obliquely,—in a wood, on the heights near the Eutaw Springs, having their right flank on Eutaw Creek. The flanks were protected by infantry and cavalry; and a body of infantry was held in reserve. The British advanced party was soon driven in. The militia, after maintaining themselves firmly for awhile, were compelled to retire before the advancing enemy, and their place was filled by Sumner's North Carolina Brigade, which, supported by Lee and Henderson on the flanks, went into action with great intrepidity. The British fell back to their first ground. Henderson was disabled by a wound. At Sumner's brigade giving way the British rushed forward in some disorder. Greene directed Williams and Campbell to charge with the bayonet, and Washington to bring up the reserve. Williams charged without firing a musket; but Campbell's regiment, chiefly new levies, returned the enemy's fire as they advanced. Lee now ordered Captain Rudolph, of the legion infantry, to turn the enemy's flank, and give them a raking fire. This being done, the British left was broken, and, driven off the field retreated through their tented camp toward Eutaw Creek, where was a brick house, into which a part of them threw themselves. The Americans pursuing closely, took three hundred prisoners and two pieces of cannon.
Washington charging the enemy's right with his cavalry suffered a heavy loss. He himself had his horse killed, and was wounded and made prisoner. The enemy now rallied, and Greene, finding it impossible to dislodge them, retired. It was an extremely hard-fought battle. The loss of the Americans was five hundred and fifty-five, including sixty officers. One hundred and thirty were killed. Seventeen officers were killed, and four mortally wounded. Among the slain was Lieutenant-Colonel Campbell, who fell while leading the Virginia Brigade on to the charge. This excellent officer, on being told just before he expired, that the Americans were victorious, exclaimed, "Then I die contented." The loss of the British was six hundred and ninety-three, of whom eighty-five were killed on the field. Greene made five hundred prisoners. The combatants were about equal in number, and the question of victory was left undecided. Greene was, as a military leader, esteemed as second only to General Washington.
Henry Lee was born in Westmoreland, Virginia, on the 29th of January, 1756, being son of Colonel Henry Lee[745:A] and Mary Bland, of Jordans. Henry receiving his early education from a private tutor at home, afterwards pursued his studies at the College of New Jersey, under the presidency of Dr. Witherspoon, and graduated there in 1774, in his eighteenth year. While in college, Dr. Shippen predicted his future distinction. In 1776, when twenty years of age, on the nomination of Patrick Henry, he was appointed a captain in Colonel Bland's regiment of cavalry. In September of the following year the regiment joined the main army, where Lee, by his discipline, vigilance, and efficiency, soon won the confidence of Washington, who selected him and his company for a body-guard at the battle of Germantown. While Lee lay near the British lines, a numerous body of cavalry surprised him in his quarters, a stone house, where he had with him but ten men. Yet with these he made a gallant defence, and obliged the enemy to retreat, after having lost four men killed, together with several horses, and an officer with three privates wounded. Of his own party, besides the patrols and quartermaster-sergeant, who were made prisoners out of the house, he had but two wounded. Washington complimented Lee on his gallantry in this little affair, and congress shortly after promoted him to the rank of major with the command of an independent partisan corps of horse. July 19th, 1779, he surprised the British garrison at Paulus Hook, and was rewarded by congress with a gold medal. Early in 1780 Lee, now lieutenant-colonel, with his legion, consisting of cavalry and infantry, joined the army of the South, under General Greene. In his retreat before Cornwallis, Lee's legion formed part of the rear-guard of the American army. During the retreat, Lee charged successfully upon Tarleton's dragoons. After Greene had effected his escape, he detached Lee, with Pickens, to watch the movements of Cornwallis. Lee, with his legion, by a stratagem surprised four hundred armed loyalists under Colonel Pyle, of whom ninety were killed and many wounded.
At the battle of Guilford Lee's legion distinguished itself. When Cornwallis retired to Wilmington, it was by Lee's advice that Greene moved at once into South Carolina. Lee, detached with his legion, joined the militia under Marion. Several forts speedily surrendered. Lee now joined Pickens, for the purpose of attacking Fort Augusta, which was reduced. In the unfortunate assault upon Fort Ninety-Six, Lee was entirely successful in the part of the attack intrusted to his care. At the battle of the Eutaw Springs he bore a distinguished part; and General Greene declared that his services had been greater than those of any other man attached to the Southern army. As a partisan officer he was unsurpassed. He was a soldier, an orator, and a writer; and in his Memoirs has given a graphic picture of the war in the South. He was about five feet nine inches high, well proportioned, of an open, pleasant countenance, and of a dark complexion. His manners were frank and engaging, his disposition generous and hospitable. He was twice married: first to Matilda, daughter of Philip Ludwell Lee, by whom he had a son, Henry, and a daughter, Lucy; and afterwards to Ann, daughter of Charles Carter, of Shirley, by whom he had three sons, Charles Carter, Robert, and Smith, and two daughters, Ann and Mildred. General Henry Lee resided at Stratford. His statue is to be placed on the Richmond Monument. Among the officers of Lee's legion were Armstrong, Rudolph, Eggleston, and Carrington.
Washington, accompanied by Rochambeau and the Marquis De Chastellux, reaching Yorktown on the fourteenth of September, and repairing on board the Ville de Paris, the admiral's ship, arranged the plan of the siege. By the twenty-fifth, the combined army, amounting to twelve thousand men, together with five thousand militia under General Nelson, was concentrated at Williamsburg. The allies advanced upon York and invested it, the Americans forming the right below the town, the French the left above it, and each extending from the borders of the river, so as to completely circumvent the town. General De Choisy invested Gloucester Point with three thousand men. The enemy's communication by water was entirely cut off by ships stationed at the mouth of the river, some ten miles below Yorktown. Cornwallis, some time before this, finding his situation growing so critical, had anxiously solicited aid from Sir Henry Clinton; and it was promised, but never arrived. Washington was assisted during the siege by Lincoln, Steuben, La Fayette, Knox, and others. The French were commanded by General the Count De Rochambeau. On the twenty-ninth the British commenced a cannonade, and during the night abandoned some redoubts, and retired within the town. Colonel Scammel, while reconnoitring the ground just abandoned by the enemy, was surprised by a party of horse, and, after he had surrendered, received a wound from a Hessian, of which he died in a few days, greatly lamented. On the third of October, in a skirmish before Gloucester Point, Tarleton was unhorsed, and narrowly escaped being made prisoner. The British sent out from Yorktown a large number of negroes infected with the small-pox. On the night of the seventh the first parallel was extended two miles in length, and within six hundred yards of the British lines. By the evening of the ninth, several batteries being completed, Washington himself put the match to the first gun, and a heavy fire was opened, and the cannonade continued till the fifteenth. Cornwallis was driven from Secretary Nelson's house.
Upon the breaking out of the Revolution, the Secretary had retired from public affairs. He lived at Yorktown, where he had erected a handsome house. Cornwallis made his headquarters in this house, which stood near the defensive works. It soon attracted the attention of the French artillery, and was almost entirely demolished. Secretary Nelson was in it when the first shot killed one of his negroes at a little distance from him. What increased his solicitude was that he had two sons in the American army; so that every shot, whether fired from the town or from the trenches, might prove equally fatal to him. When a flag was sent in to request that he might be conveyed within the American lines, one of his sons was observed gazing wistfully at the gate of the town by which his father, then disabled by the gout, was to come out. Cornwallis permitted his withdrawal, and he was taken to Washington's headquarters. Upon alighting, with a serene countenance he related to the officers who stood around him what had been the effect of their batteries, and how much his mansion had suffered from the first shot. A red-hot ball from a French battery set fire to the Charon, a British forty-four gun-ship, and two or three smaller vessels, which were consumed in the night. They were enrobed in fire, which ran like lightning over the rigging and to the tops of the masts. A second parallel was completed, and batteries erected within three hundred yards of the enemy's works. The British had two redoubts about three hundred yards in front of their lines, and it was resolved to take them by assault. The one on the left of the enemy bordering the banks of the river was assigned to a brigade of light infantry under La Fayette, the advanced corps being conducted by Colonel Alexander Hamilton, assisted by Colonel Gimat. The attack commenced at eight o'clock in the evening, and the assailants entered the fort with the point of the bayonet, without firing a gun. The American loss was eight killed and thirty wounded. Major Campbell, who commanded the redoubt, was wounded and made prisoner, with about thirty soldiers; the rest escaped. During the assault, the British kept up a fire along their whole line. Washington, Lincoln, and Knox, having dismounted, stood in an exposed position awaiting the result. The other redoubt, on the right of the British, was taken at the same time by a detachment of the French commanded by Baron De Viomenil. He lost about one hundred men killed and wounded. Of the enemy at this redoubt eighteen were killed and forty-five captured, including three officers.
By this time many of the British guns were silenced, and their works were becoming ruinous. About four o'clock in the morning of the sixteenth, Colonel Abercrombie, with four hundred men, made a sortie against two unfinished redoubts occupied by the French; the British, after spiking some cannon, were driven back, with a small loss on each side. One hundred pieces of heavy artillery were now in full play against the enemy, and he had nearly ceased firing. In this extremity, Lord Cornwallis formed a desperate design of attempting to force his way to New York, his plan being to leave his sick and baggage behind, to cross over the York River in the night to Gloucester Point with his effective force, and, overwhelming De Choisy there, his lordship intended to mount his men on captured horses, and, by forced marches, gain the fords of the rivers, and thus make his way through Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Jersey, to New York. Boats were in readiness under other pretexts, at ten o'clock of the night of the sixteenth, and the arrangements were conducted with so much secrecy that the first division arrived at Gloucester Point unperceived, and part of the troops were landed, when a violent storm drove the boats down the river, and it was not till daylight that they returned to York town. The plan being frustrated, the boats were sent to bring back the soldiers, and they were relanded on the south side during the forenoon. At about ten o'clock in the forenoon of the seventeenth, the British beat a parley, and by a flag requested a cessation of hostilities for twenty-four hours, to settle terms for the surrender of the posts. Washington granted a suspension of hostilities for two hours for the reception of his lordship's proposals in writing. These having been received, the suspension was prolonged. The commissioners for adjusting the terms of the capitulation were the Viscount De Noailles and Lieutenant-Colonel Laurens, in behalf of the allies; and Colonel Dundas and Major Ross, in behalf of the British. The place of meeting was Moore's House, at Temple Farm, in the rear of the first parallel. A rough draft of the articles of capitulation was made on the eighteenth, to be submitted to the respective generals. Washington sent a fair transcript of the articles to Lord Cornwallis early on the morning of the nineteenth, together with a letter restricting the interval allowed for signing the capitulation to eleven o'clock, and that for the actual surrender to two o'clock in the afternoon of that day. His lordship acquiesced, and on the 19th of October, 1781, the British army surrendered. At about twelve o'clock the combined army was drawn up along a road in two lines, about twenty yards apart, and extending more than a mile, the Americans on the right, the French on the left. At the head of the American line Washington appeared on horseback, surrounded by his aids and the American staff; at the head of the French line and opposite to Washington was posted Count Rochambeau, surrounded in the same way. At two o'clock the captive army advanced between the allied lines in column, slowly, and in exact order. Profound silence reigned during this scene,[750:A] which recalled to mind the awful vicissitudes of human fortune, awoke commiseration for the captives, and suggested the consequences of this great event. Lord Cornwallis, under the pretext of indisposition, declined being present, and his place was filled by General O'Hara. This gallant officer, mounted on a fine charger, upon reaching the head of the line, mistook Count Rochambeau, on his left, for the commander-in-chief; but quickly discovering his error, flew across the road to Washington, asked pardon for his mistake, apologized for the absence of Lord Cornwallis, and begged to know his further pleasure. Washington courteously referred him to General Lincoln, who had been compelled to surrender at Charleston, for his guidance. Returning to the head of the column, it moved under the guidance of Lincoln to the field selected for laying down the arms. The men manifested their embittered feelings, and Colonel Abercrombie was observed to hide his face when his men threw down their muskets.
