A contemporary type-sketch from the London Magazine. The Political Mag., 1784, p. 20, has a folding plan. The most detailed plan is in Stedman (ii. ch. 44), The position of the English and French fleets immediately previous to the Action on the 5th of Sept., 1781, which is reproduced in Mag. of Amer. Hist., Nov., 1881, p. 367. For the operations in and about the bay, see Carrington's plan in his Battles, p. 596. Contemporary charts of the bay are in the No. Amer. Pilot, nos. 26 and 27; the Neptune Americo-Septentrional, no. 20; and Des Barres's Atlantic Neptune. Graves's despatch on his failure, dated at sea, Sept. 14, is in the Political Mag., ii. 605, with other accounts (p. 620); with further explanations from Clinton and Graves (p. 668). Cf. Ibid. iii. 153. John G. Shea edited in 1864 two contemporary journals as Operations of the French Fleet, etc., with a plan. One of these journals was printed at Amsterdam in 1783 (Murphy Catal., no. 1,386). Cf. Stedman, ii. ch. 44; Chevalier's Hist. de la marine française (Paris, 1877), ch. vii.; Léon Chotteau's Les Français en Amérique, p. 248; Moore's Diary, ii. 476.—Ed.
On June 11th Clinton ordered Cornwallis to seek some defensive position (Parl. Reg., xxv. 160). Four days later he wrote that he should need some of Cornwallis's troops (Parl. Reg., xxv. 175, and Cornwallis's Answer, App. p. 112). This request he repeated on the 19th, and again on the 26th (Parl. Reg., xxv. 177, and Germain Corresp., 187). In this last he announced his purpose of marching on Philadelphia. On the 30th Cornwallis wrote one or two letters questioning the utility of the defensive post he was ordered to occupy (Parl. Reg., xxv. 169, and at greater length in Cornwallis's Answer, App. p. 118). In another letter, dated July 8th, he again questioned the utility of a defensive post. Clinton on his part, in two letters of July 8th and 11th, censured the Virginia commander for repassing the James, and ordered him to occupy Old Point Comfort (Parl. Reg., xxv. 171). Again, in another letter of the same date as the second of these, he reiterates his order to fortify a station in the Chesapeake for the protection of large ships. Admiral Graves also wrote to Cornwallis, urging him to seize and fortify Old Point Comfort (Cornwallis's Answer, App. p. 180). A board of officers was now sent to report on the practicability of holding Old Point Comfort as a station for line-of-battle ships. They reported (Parl. Reg., xxv. 182) that the proposed site was not suitable, and this decision Cornwallis communicated to Graves (Aug. 26th, in the App. to his Answer). He also wrote to Clinton on the next day somewhat bitterly in regard to his criticisms and orders (Corn. Corresp., i. 107). Thinking that his orders required him to fortify Yorktown, he repaired thither, though writing to O'Hara that the position was a bad one on account of the heat, etc. (Corn. Corresp., i. III.). Clinton also wrote three letters at about this time, which Cornwallis did not receive until after his surrender. The first and important one is in Parl. Reg., xxv. 182, while all three are in the Appendix to Cornwallis's Answer, pp. 237, 251, 257. Such are the most important documents bearing on the responsibility[1200] for the disaster at Yorktown.
Cornwallis's official report to Clinton (Yorktown, Oct. 20, 1781) was forwarded by Clinton to Germain on Nov. 15, 1781.[1201] The two commanders kept up a constant correspondence during the siege, and from their letters the details may be gathered. These are all printed in the Appendix to the Parliamentary Register and in numerous other places.
As soon as it was known at New York that Cornwallis was besieged by such superior numbers, every effort was made to relieve him.[1202] The fleet had been so badly cut up during the recent encounter with De Grasse that Graves refused to venture again to sea before extensive repairs had been completed. Consequently, when the relieving fleet arrived off the capes of the Chesapeake the capitulation of Yorktown had been signed. The letters and reports relating to this abortive endeavor will be found in the Parl. Reg., xxv. pp. 190-200. There seems to be no reason to blame Clinton or Graves for this delay.[1203]
The correspondence between the opposing commanders as to the surrender has been often printed, as have the articles.[1204] As late as Oct. 19th Clinton wrote to some one in England giving an account of the operations leading to the siege.[1205] On Oct. 29th Clinton wrote to Germain the first official news concerning the surrender. This letter (London Gazette, Nov. 24-27, 1781, and Remembrancer, xiii. 33) is marked as received on Nov. 27th; but Wraxall, in a well-known passage, says that the first official news of the surrender was received on the 25th.[1206]
The Ninth Rep. of the Hist. MSS. Commission (App. iii. pp. 112-114) contains four letters from "G. Damer" to Lord George Germain, relating to the Virginia campaigns from Phillips's expedition to the end. These letters are of exceeding value and interest. They bear out the assertion so often made in the preceding narrative as to the great want of harmony which prevailed in the higher ranks of the British forces in this country.
Washington's official report[1207] announcing the surrender (Remembrancer, xiii. 60, and innumerable other places) is of far less importance than his order-book and his journal (May to Nov., 1781), which last is in the State Department at Washington (T. F. Dwight in Mag. Am. Hist., vi. 81). The portion on this campaign is in Ibid. (vol. vi. pp. 108-125; vii. 122-133).
YORKTOWN CAMPAIGN.