At this date, May first, the British troops in Virginia consisted of Arnold’s command of fifteen hundred and fifty-three men, and that of Phillips, of twenty-one hundred and sixty-three men. On the twentieth of May, including the forces of Cornwallis, the entire British force in Virginia did not exceed five thousand effective troops. Arnold, Phillips, and Simcoe made numerous excursions, destroying property, burning buildings, and leaving marks of desolation upon Williamsburg, Petersburg, Osborne, Hanover Court-House, Chesterfield Court-House, and elsewhere.
Lafayette’s command was almost ubiquitous, harassing the enemy at every point, so that they could hardly make an expedition without being compelled to abandon portions of the property plundered, and return to their fortified positions with the loss of some men and horses, every time. So soon as Lafayette learned that Cornwallis proposed to move northward from Wilmington to Virginia, and unite his command with those of Phillips and Arnold, he made an effort to reach Halifax Court-House, and cut him off; but the shorter route enabled Phillips to defeat Lafayette’s movement.
On the eighth of May, he wrote to Washington: “There is no fighting here, unless you have naval superiority; or, an army mounted on race-horses. Phillips’ plan against Richmond has been defeated. He was going to Portsmouth. Now, it appears that I have business with two armies, and this is rather too much. Each is more than double, superior to me. We have no boats, few militia, and no arms. I will try and do for the best. Nothing can attract my sight from the supplies and reënforcements destined to General Greene’s army. I have forbidden every department to give me anything that may be thought useful to General Greene. When General Greene becomes equal to offensive operations, this quarter will be relieved. I have written to General Wayne [who had been ordered to report to Lafayette, with the Pennsylvania line, ordered south by Congress, on account of their mutiny] to hasten his march; but unless I am hard pressed, I shall request him to go southward.” Washington thus replied to this letter: “Your determination to avoid an engagement, with your present force, is certainly judicious. General Wayne has been pressed both by Congress and the Board of War, to make as much expedition as possible.”
On the eighteenth of May, pursuant to orders of General Greene, assigning him to sole command in Virginia, and instructing him to report only to Washington, Lafayette established his headquarters between the Pamunkey and Chickahominy rivers, equally covering Richmond and other important points in the State; and sent General Nelson with militia towards Petersburg. On the twenty-sixth of May, Cornwallis received reënforcements under General Leslie, and notified General Clinton of his own intention to “dislodge Lafayette from Richmond.” General Clinton’s letter of the twentieth had contained the following postscript: “Pray send Brigadier-General Arnold here, by the first opportunity, if you should not have particular occasion for his services.” Cornwallis replied: “I have consented to the request of General Arnold to go to New York; he conceived that your Excellency wished him to attend you, and his present indisposition renders him unequal to the fatigue of service.”
In view of the great effort on the part of Washington to arrest Arnold, it is well to consider some incidents that disclose Arnold’s true position in the British army. In none of his expeditions in Virginia did he face Continental troops. He attempted to open a correspondence with Lafayette, and threatened to send any prisoners he might capture, to the West Indies; but Lafayette never acknowledged a communication, simply forwarding them to Washington. Among papers of General Phillips which came to light upon his decease, was a letter from Clinton showing that Phillips’ assignment to duty, on the eleventh of April, was “for the security of Arnold and the troops under his command, and for no other purpose.” The reader, familiar with the Burgoyne campaign, will remember the brilliant and explosive burst of Arnold into the British lines, near Bemis Heights. General Phillips, then serving under Burgoyne, was one of the severest sufferers by that assault; and the relations of the two officers, in Virginia, were of the most constrained character. Upon the death of Phillips an attempt was made on the part of Arnold to conceal the knowledge of that fact; and some direct correspondence of Arnold with London officials had disturbed Clinton, so that he desired to have him under his immediate control. The departure of Arnold from Virginia resolved the Virginia campaign into a series of spirited marches, counter-marches, skirmishes and sharp encounters, which ultimately drove Cornwallis behind the intrenchments at Yorktown; and there he was securely inclosed, until all things could be prepared for the presence of the American Commander-in-Chief.
On the thirty-first of May, Washington wrote to Lafayette, and thus closed his letter: “Your conduct upon every occasion meets my approbation, but in none more than in your refusing to hold a correspondence with Arnold.”
CHAPTER XXXIII.
NEW YORK AND YORKTOWN THREATENED.—CORNWALLIS INCLOSED BY LAFAYETTE.
On the twenty-first day of May, 1781, which proved to have been that of the arrival of Cornwallis at Yorktown, Washington held a conference with Count de Rochambeau and General Chastellux at Wethersfield, Conn., as to the details of the approaching summer campaign. As one result of this interview, Count de Rochambeau requested Count de Grasse, then in the West Indies, to coöperate for a while with Count de Barras, and close the port of New York. The French fleet could not be very well spared from the West India Station, for the reason that while coöperating with the Americans, and on a foreign coast, it had neither accessible docks nor other means of refitting and supply, in case of disaster. Pending the disposition of this matter, the immediate junction of the two armies was definitely settled.
The American army, with an effective force of a little less than forty-six hundred men, was ordered to Peekskill-on-the-Hudson. The Count de Rochambeau, with the Duke de Lauzun, marched from Newport and took post at Ridgebury, Conn., near Salem, on the road to Danbury, fifteen miles back from Long Island Sound.
Two British posts, just out of New York, one at Morrisania, where Delancey’s Rangers had a station, and from which constant incursions were made into Winchester county; and the other at the north end of Manhattan Island, not far from Fort Washington, were designated as the first objects of assault. Clinton had sent a considerable foraging force into New Jersey, and it was supposed likely that he might regard the posts named as not in danger of attack, or leave them lightly garrisoned. Sheldon’s Dragoons and a division under the Duke de Lauzun were to attempt the first of the expeditions, and General Lincoln was intrusted with the other. Washington advised Governor Clinton of his plan, so that he might concentrate the New York militia at the proper moment; and signal guns, as well as beacon-fires, had been arranged to give notice of success.