From the 9th to the 10th the perfecting of the works was continued, and palisades were set in the ditches of the redoubts.
On the left attempts were made to set fire to the abattis of the redoubt.
Engineers’ Journal of the Siege of York.
Plan of the SIEGE of York Town in Virginia.
This map of the siege of Yorktown appeared in the London edition of Tarleton’s Campaigns, 1787. The cartographer has not been identified, but was probably with the British Army during the siege. The British and allied entrenchments are clearly shown, with the allied encampments in rear of the latter.
7. The Bombardment
Some of the allied batteries were ready to fire by the afternoon of October 9. All movements and activities up to this time had been merely preliminary. The siege of Yorktown now settled into deadly earnest, with a heavy and continuous bombardment of the British position. Additional batteries took up the chorus on the following morning. Surgeon Thacher, of the American Army, in the intervals of caring for the wounded, watched the terrible spectacle.
From the 10th to the 15th, a tremendous and incessant firing from the American and French batteries is kept up, and the enemy return the fire, but with little effect. A red hot shell from the French battery set fire to the Charon, a British 44 gun ship, and two or three smaller vessels at anchor in the river, which were consumed in the night. From the bank of the river, I had a fine view of this splendid conflagration. The ships were enwrapped in a torrent of fire, which spreading with vivid brightness among the combustible rigging, and running with amazing rapidity to the tops of the several masts, while all around was thunder and lightning from our numerous cannon and mortars, and in the darkness of night, presented one of the most sublime and magnificent spectacles which can be imagined. Some of our shells, overreaching the town, are seen to fall into the river, and bursting, throw up columns of water like the spouting of the monsters of the deep. We have now made further approaches to the town, by throwing up a second parallel line, and batteries within about three hundred yards; this was effected in the night, and at daylight the enemy were roused to the greatest exertions, the engines of war have raged with redoubled fury and destruction on both sides, no cessation day or night. The French had two officers wounded, and fifteen men killed or wounded, and among the Americans, two or three were wounded. I assisted in amputating a man’s thigh. The siege is daily becoming more and more formidable and alarming, and his Lordship must view his situation as extremely critical, if not desperate.