"During the night of the fourteenth these redoubts were included in the second parallel, and by five o'clock the next afternoon some howitzers, which had been placed in them, were opened upon the British works.
"The situation of Cornwallis was now becoming dangerous. Beleaguered on all sides by a superior force, his strongest defenses crumbling or passing into the possession of the besiegers, and no tidings from General Clinton to encourage him, the British commander was filled with the gloomiest apprehensions.
"Knowing that the town would be untenable when the second parallel should be completed, he sent out a detachment under Lieutenant-Colonel Abercrombie, to make a sortie against the two almost completed batteries guarded by French troops. They made a furious assault at about four o'clock in the morning and were successful; but the guards at the trenches soon drove the assailants back, and their enterprise was fruitless of advantage.
"Cornwallis, confident that he could not maintain his position, determined to make a desperate effort at flight. His plan was to leave the sick and his baggage behind; cross over to Gloucester, and, with his detachment there, disperse the French troops; mount his infantry on horses taken from the duke's legion, and others that might be seized in the neighborhood; by rapid marches gain the forks of the Rappahannock and the Potomac, and, forcing his way through Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, form a junction with the army in New York.
"This was a most hazardous undertaking, but his only alternative was flight or capture. Boats were accordingly prepared, and at ten o'clock on the evening of the sixteenth a portion of his troops were conveyed across to Gloucester. So secretly was the whole movement performed that the patriots did not perceive it, and had not a power mightier than man interposed an obstacle, Cornwallis's desperate plan might have been successfully accomplished.
"The first body of troops had scarcely reached Gloucester Point when a storm of wind and rain, almost as sudden and fierce as a summer tornado, made the passage of the river too hazardous to be again attempted. The storm continued with unabated violence until morning, and Cornwallis was obliged to abandon his design. The troops were brought back without much loss, and now the last ray of hope began to fade from the vision of the earl."