OUR FRENCH ALLIES.
The time had come when the friendship of France for America was to accomplish something. In the summer of 1780 Rochambeau landed at Newport with 6,000 troops, and later they were marched to Washington's camp, near Peekskill and Morristown. Confident that he now had an army that could achieve important results, Washington made preparations to attack Clinton in New York. Rochambeau gave him every help, the allies working together with the utmost cordiality and enthusiasm.
THE YORKTOWN CAMPAIGN.
Clinton was in a constant state of apprehension, for he had good cause to fear the result of the attack that impended. Washington's plan, however, was changed, in the summer of 1781, by the news that a French fleet and a strong force would soon arrive in Chesapeake Bay and shut off Cornwallis from all assistance from Clinton. Washington decided to march southward and capture Yorktown and Cornwallis, meanwhile keeping Clinton under the belief that he meant to attack him. So well was the secret kept that Clinton's suspicions were not aroused until several days after the departure of the allied armies.
De Grasse, the commander of the French fleet, arrived in Chesapeake Bay August 30th. Thus Cornwallis was blocked off from the sea, and enough soldiers were landed to prevent the British commander's escape by land. On the same day Washington and Rochambeau, after making a feint toward Staten Island, began a rapid march through New Jersey to Philadelphia, and thence to Elkton, Maryland. Officers and men were in high spirits, for they knew they were on the eve of great events. The citizens of Philadelphia shared the feeling, and cheered the men as they marched through the streets. On the way southward Washington made a hurried visit to Mount Vernon, which he had not seen since the opening of the war.
Aware of the grave danger threatening Cornwallis, a British fleet made an effort to relieve him, but the more powerful French fleet easily beat it off. The allied armies boarded the waiting ships at Elkton, and, sailing down the Chesapeake to James River, joined Lafayette's force in front of Yorktown.
THE SURRENDER AT YORKTOWN.
The historical siege of Yorktown opened September 30, 1781. The French and American armies were ranged in a half-circle in front of Yorktown. Cornwallis was indignant at the apparent desertion by Clinton, and wrote to him in the middle of September: "This place is in no state of defense. If you cannot relieve me very soon, you must expect to hear the worst." Word came from Clinton that a fleet of twenty-three ships and more than 5,000 troops would sail to his relief about the 5th of October.