Naturally the Marquis de Chastellux and his friends, fresh from the world of Marie Antoinette, where pleasure was always the first aim, had many a laugh at the people of this new world. But with the laugh there always went respect and admiration.
So Lafayette passed the time until the campaign of 1781 opened. He wrote often to his wife, and sent her a long letter by his friend Colonel Laurens, when the latter went on a mission to the court of France. Another child had been born to the Marquis and Adrienne, a son, who was given the name of George Washington. “Embrace our children,” wrote Lafayette, “thousands of times for me. Although a vagabond, their father is none the less tender, less constantly thoughtful of them, less happy to hear from them. My heart perceives, as in a delicious perspective, the moment when my dear children will be presented to me by you, and when we can kiss and caress them together. Do you think that Anastasie will recognize me?” And, as he could never write without thinking of the brave army he commanded, he added, “Only citizens could support the nakedness, the hunger, the labors, and the absolute lack of pay which constitute the conditions of our soldiers, the most enduring and the most patient, I believe, of any in the world.”
In January, 1781, word came to Washington’s headquarters that General Benedict Arnold had landed in Virginia with a good-sized army, was laying waste the country, and had already destroyed the valuable stores collected at Richmond. If Arnold’s campaign should succeed the result would be to place all the Southern States in the hands of the enemy. Let him defeat the few American troops in Virginia and he could march to join the English General Cornwallis, who was pressing General Greene very hard in the Carolinas.
Indeed Cornwallis already appeared to hold the south in his grasp. He had beaten the small contingents of American troops in that country, and at the battle of Camden, in South Carolina, Lafayette’s old companion, the Baron de Kalb, had fallen in battle. It was of the utmost importance, therefore, to defeat or capture Arnold, who had been rewarded for his treason by being made a general in the British army, and Washington at once planned to send a detachment from his main army against Arnold by land, and a naval force to Chesapeake Bay to cut off his escape by sea. The French admiral ordered a ship-of-the-line and two frigates to the Chesapeake, and Washington placed twelve hundred light infantry under Lafayette with instructions to aid the fleet. This command, of the greatest importance, showed the confidence and trust that the commander-in-chief felt in the military ability of the Frenchman.
Lafayette marched rapidly south and reached the Head of the Elk on March second, three days earlier than had been expected. Here he embarked his troops on small boats and descended to Annapolis. Seeing no signs of the French squadron, he concluded that they had been delayed by adverse winds, and, leaving his army at Annapolis, he went with a few officers to consult with Baron Steuben and seek his aid. He secured some companies of militia at Williamsburg, near the York River, and proceeded to the camp of General Muhlenberg, near Suffolk, to have a look at Benedict Arnold’s defenses at Portsmouth.
Meantime a large fleet appeared in Chesapeake Bay. Lafayette, and Arnold also, thought that this must be the French squadron, but the American commander soon received word that the ships were English. It turned out that the first French squadron had found there was too little water in the bay for them, and had sailed back to Newport, while a second squadron had been driven off by the English. The result was that General Arnold’s forces were relieved from danger, and the enemy reinforced by two new regiments under General Phillips, who now took command of all the English armies in Virginia.
Washington’s orders to Lafayette had been that he was to try to capture Arnold, and that if the French fleet should be defeated he should march his men back to headquarters without further risk. So he now sent his militia to Williamsburg and forwarded orders to Annapolis to have the troops prepared for immediate departure. When he reached Annapolis he found there were great difficulties in the way of transporting his men to Elk. There were very few horses or wagons or small boats for crossing the ferries, and the port was blocked by English ships. He had resort to a clever stratagem. He put two eighteen-pounders on a small sloop, which, with another ship under Commodore Nicholson, sailed out toward the enemy vessels, firing their guns as if about to attack. The two English ships on guard withdrew a considerable distance down the bay, and then Lafayette embarked his troops on his own boats and got them out of the harbor and up the bay to Elk. They reached there safely during the night, followed by Lafayette and Nicholson in the sloop.
When Washington heard of General Phillips’ arrival in Virginia his anxiety was great. The situation in the south was extremely perilous. General Greene was having all he could do to oppose Lord Cornwallis in North Carolina. Unless strong opposition could be brought against Phillips the latter could quickly overrun Virginia and unite with Cornwallis. In this predicament the commander-in-chief determined to put the defense of Virginia in the hands of Lafayette.
Lafayette heard of this new appointment as soon as he reached Elk. The task was a great one. His men lacked proper equipment and even necessary clothing, and they were much disheartened by the unsuccessful campaign in the south. He borrowed ten thousand dollars from the merchants of Baltimore on his personal security and bought his army food and supplies. Then he told his men that his business was to fight an enemy greatly superior in numbers, through difficulties of every sort, and that any soldier who was unwilling to accompany him might avoid the penalties of desertion by applying for a pass to the North. His men, placed on their mettle, stood by him cheerfully. Immediately Lafayette marched on Richmond, reaching that place a day ahead of General Phillips. And General Phillips was so much impressed by Lafayette’s show of strength that he gave up his intention of seizing Richmond and retreated down the James River.
Cornwallis heard of this, and, vowing that he would defeat “that boy Lafayette,” as he called the Marquis, stopped his campaign against Greene in North Carolina and determined that he would himself take command in Virginia. Cornwallis, a major-general and an officer of great experience, expected an easy task when he sent word to Phillips to await his arrival at the town of Petersburg.