Little original material concerning the operations in Georgia has come to light. It is fortunate, therefore, that Hugh McCall overcame his physical infirmities to such an extent as to enable him to finish the second volume of his History of Georgia. This writer was an active cavalry leader in the defence of his native State. He also fought well on other fields. It should he said, however, that what he wrote of actions in which he did not take part should be received with caution. His work is the basis of all subsequent accounts of the war in Georgia.
Anthony Wayne and his Pennsylvanians did good service in Virginia, and later in Georgia. But the life of Wayne remains to be written.[1054] His letters and reports are scattered here and there through the books. The best account of his career is the one printed by his son in the Casket, a magazine not to be found in every library.
The second volume of Wheeler's Sketches of North Carolina contains many articles by actors in the struggle. But they were mostly written long after the event, as, too, were those in the North Carolina University Magazine. They should not be relied upon unless confirmed.[1055] This is the more regrettable as there is very little original material in print relating to these North Carolina campaigns from a North Carolina point of view. The most labored defence of the "Old North State" is Caruthers' Incidents.[1056] Much of this work seems to be based on good material; but one should be especially careful to separate such portions from those founded on tradition, which must have misled Caruthers in several instances. Of the same general character are Johnson's Traditions;[1057] Logan's Upper Country of South Carolina; Foote's Sketches of Western North Carolina; and C. L. Hunter's Sketches of Western North Carolina (Raleigh, 1877). Such are the main sources of information from the American side so far as the campaigns in the Carolinas and Georgia are concerned. Let us now turn to Virginia.
On his way South, Greene left Steuben[1058] in Virginia to organize and push forward recruits as fast as possible. The gallant Prussian seems to have been ill-suited to the command of raw republican militia; but the American leaders in the State, Muhlenberg, Lawson, and Stevens, aided him as well as they could. It was not until the arrival of Lafayette with his Continentals from the Eastern States that much was done to oppose the enemy. The governor of Virginia, Thomas Jefferson, showed a lamentable lack of energy during Arnold's and Cornwallis's invasions, though the word "imbecility", applied to his conduct by Howison, would seem to be undeserved.[1059] Of course, Jefferson's biographers have defended their hero from these charges,[1060] but Giradin's Continuation of Burk's Virginia,[1061] written in the neighborhood of Monticello, and apparently under Jeffersonian auspices, is the most extensive account of Jefferson's administration from his side.
It was not, however, until the publication of the Virginia State Papers[1062] that the truth concerning the campaigns preliminary to Yorktown could be ascertained. But these two volumes taken in connection with the Nelson Papers have thrown a new light on all these transactions.[1063]
Washington's Writings and Sparks's Correspondence of the Revolution contain much relating to all these operations, though Washington's Journal and his order-books are even more valuable for the Yorktown campaign. Of the commander of the auxiliary troops, the Marquis of Rochambeau, I have found little outside of his well-known Mémoires.[1064] For much of what we know concerning the movements of the French we are indebted to John Austin Stevens, a former editor of the Magazine of American History. His articles, as well as those by other hands, will be mentioned in the Notes.
The papers of the British commanders have been much better preserved. All official documents of popular interest and conducing to the glory of the nation were published, sometimes in full, sometimes in extract, in the governmental organ known as The London Gazette. Thence they were copied, in whole or in part, into the Remembrancer, Gentleman's Magazine, Scot's Magazine, Political Magazine, and often into that portion of the Annual Register known as "Principal Occurrences." Many of them, and many other papers of the greatest importance, were printed in the Parliamentary Register, or Debrett's Debates, as it is often called.
The Sackville Papers, forming the third appendix to the Ninth Report of the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts,[1065] contain much of very great value; but many of the most important papers therein printed have been accessible in other forms. Soon after the surrender at Yorktown, the House of Lords appointed a committee to inquire into the conduct of the Yorktown campaign. Later, upon their order, many of the letters and papers bearing on this event were printed. They may be found in the Parliamentary Register,[1066] while many were translated into French, and published in a small volume under the title of Correspondance du Lord G. Germain avec les Généraux Clinton, Cornwallis, etc. (Berne, 1782). Most of these documents, however, had been already printed in other places. The surrender induced Cornwallis[1067] and Clinton to lay upon the shoulders of each other the responsibility.[1068] The truth seems to be that neither was responsible, since the disaster was due, above all, to the arrival of De Grasse and the consequent transference of the control of the sea from the British to the Allies. For this neither Clinton nor Cornwallis was to blame. The quarrel led to the publication, however, of so many papers of the greatest importance that the historical student can hardly regret its occurrence.
Nor was Clinton on good terms with Mariot Arbuthnot, who had accused Clinton of permitting thievery to go on under his very eyes.[1069] Naturally this want of cordiality made coöperation very difficult. After Clinton's departure Cornwallis was the commander-in-chief in the South; but Colonel Nesbit Balfour, who commanded in the city of Charleston, made separate reports to Germain. He does not seem to have been possessed with a very sanguine disposition, and his reports therefore present a more accurate picture of affairs than do the despatches of Cornwallis himself.