Williamsburgh, September 30, 1781.
The army has had a very agreeable passage hither, except the grenadiers, chasseurs, and the first American regiments [these sailed from the Head of Elk], who were fourteen days on the water. Judge how inconvenient this must have been to troops crowded into a narrow space, and without any decks over them; while even the officers had nothing but biscuit to live upon. The shores of this Bay, which is formed by the influx of so many great rivers, are far from being lofty, neither are they much cleared of woods, and it is but rarely that you discover any habitations; but the few we saw were very agreeably situated. This country will be, in time, one of the most beautiful in the world.
When our little fleet had sailed up James River, celebrated for the excellent tobacco which grows upon its shores, we disembarked at James-Town, the place where the English first established themselves in Virginia. The troops have already joined the grenadiers, chasseurs, and the three thousand men brought hither by Count de Grasse, consisting of the regiments of Agenois, Gatinois and Touraine, under the command of Mons. de St. Simon, Maréchal de Camp. This General had a little before effected a junction with fifteen hundred or two thousand Americans, commanded by M. le Marquis de la Fayette, who, as you have heard, could never be reduced, notwithstanding the forces of Cornwallis were three or four times his number. I should have mentioned, that M. de la Fayette, in quality of Major-General of an American army, at the age of twenty-four years, found himself at this time superior in command to a French general officer, and continued so until the other detachments of the army were collected into one body under General Washington.
Williamsburg does not contain above a hundred and fifty houses, and is the only town we have yet seen in Virginia worth mentioning not situated on the banks of any river. What makes the situation of this place valuable, is the neighbourhood of James and York rivers, between which grows the best tobacco in the whole State, and for this reason it seems to have been built where it is: I do not think, nevertheless, that it will ever be a place of any great importance; the towns of York, James, Norfolk, and Edenton, being more favourably situated for trade, will undoubtedly eclipse it.
With the most lively satisfaction I contemplated these monuments of the real glory of men, the college and the library; and while I contemplated them, they recalled to my mind places and persons most intimately connected with my heart. The tumult of arms has driven from hence those who had the care of these philosophical instruments, for the Muses, you know, take no pleasure but in the abodes of peace: We could only meet with one solitary professor, of Italian extraction; and I can not but say, his conversation and abilities appeared to be such, that after what he had told us in commendation of his brethren, we could not help regretting their absence.
About Williamsburg and the shores of the bay, the land is covered with trees yielding rozin; the meadows and marshes subsist great numbers of excellent horses, which far exceed those of the other states in point of beauty: vast quantities of hemp are raised here, as well as flax, Indian corn and cotton: the cotton shrubs produce annually, and at the first view we took them for beans in blossom. Silk worms succeed here very well, and it is not improbable but they may at some future time form one of the most considerable branches of trade in this State. The commodity most in demand is tobacco; you well know the character it has, and for common use it may be considered as the best in the world. What the English imported yearly from this State, and from Maryland, might have amounted to about ninety-six thousand hogsheads; but among themselves they did not consume one sixth part of that quantity, and either disposed of the rest among us, or exported it to the north [of Europe]; judge then how valuable this commerce was to that nation. They purchased it here at the very lowest rate, taking it in exchange for their broad-clothes, linen and hard wares, and selling again for ready money what they did not want for their own home consumption, and thus they increased their capital every year to the amount of eight or nine millions. No other of their possessions, not even those in India, ever afforded them so clear a profit. Three hundred and thirty vessels, and about four thousand sailors were constantly employed in this trade: of these the city of Glasgow, in Scotland, owned the greatest part, and by that means supported its flourishing manufactures, which were perhaps more considerable than those of any town in England.
Since the war, the tobacco exportation has been only about forty thousand hogsheads annually; what advantages then would have accrued to the English, could they have sooner made themselves masters of Chesapeake-bay. There are now fifty or sixty vessels collected at York, under the cannon of Cornwallis, sent on purpose to load with this weed, which three fourths and a half of the human race take such supreme delight in chewing, snuffing or smoking.
The army is at present before York. We hear the reports of the cannon very distinctly; and I am now going to join the troops, where I think I shall shortly have something very interesting to impart to you.