abandon fortifications that could not be held, and adopt a design which, at the moment, had every probability of success, appeared alike honourable and judicious since, should he determine to remain in Yorktown, the destruction of the royal army was inevitable; whereas, if an attempt should be made to pass with the greater portion of it through the country, there might undoubtedly be a chance of escape. A plan was therefore submitted to Lord Cornwallis, by which the facilities for transporting a large body of infantry to Gloucester in the night, was demonstrated, as well as the practicability of attaining a distance of one hundred miles from the combined armies, before they could be aware of the removal of the British troops. and the 23rd regiment, were embarked in the boats, for conveyance to Gloucester Point, where the greater portion landed about midnight. A part of the second division had also embarked, when the weather, which had been moderate and calm, suddenly changed to a violent storm of wind and rain, which scattered the boats, and impeded their return to Gloucester. The boats being driven down the river with a portion of the troops, utterly frustrated the design of passing it, by making the intended movement known to the allied commanders; and, as the weather moderated about 2 A.M., orders were transmitted to the commanding officers of the corps that had already landed at Gloucester Point, to recross the river and join the army in Yorktown. As the boats were scattered, and most of them were on the York side, it required some time to row them to Gloucester to bring back the troops: they, however, accomplished the task assigned them, and, soon after daybreak, returned under a heavy fire from the French and American batteries. With this effort ex The obstacles to the successful accomplishment of a retreat were duly considered; and, notwithstanding they were great and manifold, it was determined to make the attempt, since no alternative offered but surrender; and, on the evening of the 16th, Lord Cornwallis sent Lord Cheaton, one of his aides, to Gloucester, with directions to Lieutenant-colonel Tarleton, to pre-pired the last hope of their deliverance. pare artillery and other requisites from his garrison, to accompany the troops, with which his lordship designed to attack Brigadier-general de Choisy before daybreak, no doubt being entertained as to the success of the enterprise. In obedience to the instructions forwarded to Tarleton, the guards of cavalry and infantry at his post were immediately augmented, and many officers were advanced as sentries, to prevent intelligence being conveyed to the enemy. The officers in command of regiments were afterwards informed of the intended movement, that their men, who were to be kept in ignorance of the intention to retreat, might be completely assembled and equipped for the action, as well as for the subsequent hasty march, should they survive it. The spare horses of the garrison were paraded for the convenience of part of the infantry, and the necessary artillery and waggons were prepared. On the Yorktown side of the river, boats were collected under various pretexts, and a number of sailors and boatmen were sent across from Gloucester, to assist the troops in passing over. Shortly before eleven o'clock, on the night of the 16th of October, the first detachment of the army, consisting of the light infantry, great part of the brigade of guards, By this time the effect of the besiegers' fire upon the defences of the garrison, had reduced the greater part of them to ruin. Not a gun could be mounted on them: in many places they were already assailable; and, if the fire against them continued but a few hours longer, it was the opinion of the engineer, and principal officers of the army, that it would be madness to persevere in retaining them with a garrison deficient of ammunition, and exhausted by the fatigue of constant watching and unremitting duty. The time in which relief was expected from New York had elapsed, and there were no signs of succour. Under such circumstances, therefore, Lord Cornwallis succumbed to the necessities of his position; and, in the forenoon of the 17th of October, addressed the following proposition to General Washington: "York, in Virginia, October 17th, 1781. twenty-four hours, and that two officers may be "Sir, I propose a cessation of hostilities for appointed, by each side, to meet at Mr. Moore's house, to settle terms for the surrender of the ports of York and Gloucester.—I have the honour, &c., "To General Washington." "CORNWALLIS." A correspondence immediately ensued between the respective commanders. Gen*Tarleton's Campaigns, p. 434. side-arms, and the officers and soldiers may preserve their baggage and effects, with this reservethat property taken in the country will be reclaimed. "With regard to the individuals in civil capacities, whose interest your lordship wishes may be attended to-until they are more particularly described, nothing definitive can be settled. and be attended by British surgeons particularly charged with the care of them. "Your lordship will be pleased to signify your determination, either to accept or reject the proposals now offered, in the course of two hours from the delivery of this letter, that commissioners may be appointed to digest the articles of capitulation, or a renewal of hostilities may take place. "I have the honour to be, &c., "G. WASHINGTON. "To the Earl Cornwallis, "Commanding his Britannic Majesty's Forces." eral Washington, in acknowledging the receipt of his lordship's letter, said "An ardent desire to save the effusion of human blood, will readily incline me to listen to such terms for the surrender of your posts and garrisons at New York and Gloucester, as are admissible." The general also fur-will be supplied with their own hospital stores; "I have to add, that I expect the sick and wounded ther expressed a wish that his lordship's proposals, in writing, might be sent to the American lines; for which purpose a suspension of hostilities, during two hours from the delivery of the letters, would be granted. Lord Cornwallis, in reply to this, stated that the time allowed would not admit of his entering into details; but that the basis of his proposals would be, that the garrisons of York and Gloucester should be prisoners of war with the customary honours; that, for the convenience of individuals under his command, the British should be sent to Britain, and the Germans to Germany, under engagement not to serve against France, America, or their allies, until released or exchanged. He proposed to give up the arms and public stores, but stipulated for the usual indulgence of sidearms to officers, and of retaining private property both by officers and soldiers. He also proposed that the interests of certain individuals employed in civil capacities under the British authorities, should be attended to. The letter of General Washington, in answer to these propositions, was as follows: 66 Camp, before York, 18th October, 1781. "My Lord,-To avoid unnecessary discussion and delay, I shall at once, in answer to your lordship's letter of yesterday, declare the general basis upon which a definitive treaty of capitulation may take place. The British commander-in-chief in Virginia accepted the conditions proposed, with some trifling modifications; but desired that the Bonetta sloop of war might be left entirely at his disposal, from the hour the capitulation should be signed, to receive an aide-de-camp to convey his despatches to Sir H. Clinton, with such soldiers as he might think proper to send as passengers in her; that the sloop should be manned with fifty men of her own crew, and be permitted to sail, without examination, when the despatches were ready. On his part, he engaged that the ship should be brought back, and delivered to the American authorities, if she escaped the dangers of the sea, and that the crew and soldiers should be accounted for in future exchanges; that she should carry no officer without General Washington's consent, nor public property of any kind; he desired, likewise, that the traders and inhabitants might preserve their property, and that no person might be punished or molested for having joined the British troops. "The garrisons of York and Gloucester, including the seamen, as you propose, shall be received as prisoners of war. The condition annexed, of sending the British and German troops to the parts of Europe to which they respectively belong, is inadmissible. Instead of this, they will be marched to The commissioners appointed to settle such parts of the country as can most conveniently the precise terms of capitulation, on the provide for their subsistence; and the benevolent part of the allies, were the Viscount de treatment of the prisoners, which is invariably Noaille and Lieutenant-colonel Laurens ; observed by the Americans, will be extended to them. The same honours will be granted to the Lieutenant-colonel Dundas and Major Ross surrendering army as were granted to the garrison being named on the part of Lord Cornwallis. In the course of the discussion, the viscount requested the British commissioners to declare, upon honour, the value of their military chest; and it was declared to be worth about £1,800 sterling. The "The artillery, arms, accoutrements, military French nobleman, with the characteristic chest, and public stores of every denomination, shall generosity and thoughtlessness of his nation, be delivered, unimpaired, to the heads of the depart-generosity observed that the sum was so trifling, that of Charlestown. "The shipping and boats in the two harbours, with all their guns, stores, tackling, furniture, and apparel, shall be delivered, in their present state, to an officer of the navy, appointed to take charge of them. ments to which they respectively belong. "The officers shall be indulged in retaining their it was not worth bringing into the account, Most Christian Majesty in America; and his Excellency the Count de Grasse, Lieutenantgeneral of the naval armies of his Most Christian Majesty, Commander of the Order of St. Louis, Commander-in-chief of the naval army of France, in the Chesapeake, on the one part: and the Right Honourable Earl Cornwallis, Lieutenant-general of his Britannic Majesty's forces, commanding the garrisons of York and Gloucester; and Thomas Symonds, Esquire, commanding his Britannic Majesty's naval forces in York River, in Virginia, on the other part. ARTICLE I.-The garrison of York and Gloucester, including the officers and seamen of his Brisurrender themselves prisoners of war to the comtannic majesty's ship, as well as other mariners, to bined forces of America and France. The land troops to remain prisoners to the United States; the navy to the naval army of his most Christian majesty. and proposed to leave it to the disposal of Lord Cornwallis; but Laurens, with the prudent sagacity of his countrymen, demurred to this mode of disposing of £1,800; and observed to his colleague, that though it was natural enough for a subject of one of the greatest monarchs in the world to think such a sum a very inconsiderable affair; yet, for his part, being a subject of an infant state, struggling with infinite inconveniences, and where money was very rare, he could not but deem it a very considerable sum; and he therefore insisted that it should be accounted for. This was accordingly done; and the amount paid into the hands of the American quartermaster-general was £2,113 6s. sterling, estimating the dollar at 4s. 8d. As a great ART. II.-The artillery, army, accoutrements, number of negroes were included among military chest, and public stores of every denominathe property to be given up by the British, tion, shall be delivered, unimpaired, to the heads of and there would have been a manifest departments appointed to receive them. incongruity in the Americans stipulating for their return to bondage, while themselves were avowedly fighting to establish their own freedom, the intention to repossess them was covered under general terms, in the following passage:-"It is understood that any property, obviously belonging to the inhabitants of these states, in the possession of the garrison, shall be subject to be reclaimed."* Although the proposition of Lord Cornwallis-which was intended to screen from punishment such of the native or other inhabitants of Yorktown as had joined the British authorities, and were then in the place was rejected by General Washington, the same purpose was, in effect, accomplished in another form, by the permission granted to send the Bonetta sloop of war to New York without being searched, and with as many soldiers on board as the British general should think fit, so that they were accounted for in any future exchange, as, by such opportunity, he was enabled to send off such of the inhabitants as were amenable to punishment; and this measure was accordingly resorted to. The following articles of capitulation were drawn up by the respective commissioners. Granted. Granted. ART III-At twelve o'clock this day, the two redoubts on the left flank of York to be delivered; the one to a detachment of American infantry; the other to a detachment of French grenadiers. to a place to be appointed in front of the park, at Granted. The garrison of York will march out two o'clock precisely, with shouldered arms, colours cased, and drums beating a British or German march. They are then to ground their arms, and main until they are dispatched to the places of return to their encampments, where they will re their destination. Two works on the Gloucester side will be delivered at one o'clock to a detachment of French and American troops appointed to possess them. The garrison will march out at three swords drawn, trumpets sounding, and the infantry o'clock in the afternoon, the cavalry with their in the manner prescribed for the garrison of York. They are likewise to return to their encampment until they can be marched off. ART. IV. Officers are to retain their side-arms. Both officers and soldiers to keep their private property of every kind, and no part of their baggage, or papers, to be at any time subject to search or inspection. The baggage and papers of officers and soldiers taken during the siege, to be likewise pro cured for them. Granted. It is understood that any property, obviously belonging to the inhabitants of those states, in the possession of the garrison, shall be subject to be reclaimed. ART V.-The soldiers to be kept in Virginia, Maryland, or Pennsylvania, and as much by regiments as possible, and supplied with the same rations of provisions as are allowed to soldiers in the service of America. A field-officer from each nation-to wit, British, Anspach, and Hessiau, and Articles of Capitulation settled between his Excellency other officers on parole, in the proportion of one to General Washington, Commander-in-chief of the fifty men, to be allowed to reside near their recombined forces of America and France; his spective regiments; to visit them frequently, and Excellency the Count de Rochambeau, Lieutenant-be witnesses of their treatment, and that their general of the armies of the King of France, officers may receive and deliver clothing, and other Grand Cross of the Royal and Military Order of necessaries for them, for which passports are to be St. Louis, commanding the auxiliary troops of his granted when applied for. Gordon: vol. iv., p. 196. Granted. ART. VI. The general, staff, and other officers, not employed as mentioned in the above articles, and who choose it, to be permitted to go on parole to Europe, to New York, or any other maritime ports at present in the possession of the British forces, at their own option, and proper vessels to be granted by the Count de Grasse, to carry them, under flags of truce, to New York, within ten days from this date, if possible, and they to reside in a district to be agreed upon hereafter, until they embark. The officers of the civil department of the army and navy to be included in this article. Passports to go by land, to be granted to those to whom vessels cannot be furnished. Granted. Done in the Trenches, before Yorktown, in Vir G. WASHINGTON. ART. VII.- Officers to be allowed to keep sol-ginia, October 19th, 1781. diers as servants, according to the common practice of the service. Servants not soldiers are not to be considered as prisoners, and are to be allowed to attend their masters. Granted. LE COMPTE DE ROCHAMBEAU. The army of Lord Cornwallis, thus surrendered, consisted of about 7,000 men; and the event produced, as well may be supposed, the greatest excitement throughout the continent. It was justly considered as decisive of the issue of the struggle. The successive steps in the whole transactionbeginning with the first movement of the combined armies. from the vicinity of New ART. VIII.-The Bonetta sloop of war to be equipped and navigated by its present captain and crew, and left entirely at the disposal of Lord Cornwallis, from the hour that the capitulation is signed; to receive an aide-de camp to carry despatches to Sir Henry Clinton: and such soldiers as he may think proper to send to New York, to be permitted to sail without examination, when his despatches are ready. His lordship engages, on his part, that the ship shall be delivered to the order of Count de Grasse, if she escapes the dangers of the sea: that she shall not carry off any public stores. Any part of the crew that may be deficient on her return, and the sol-York, and extending to the complete indiers passengers, to be accounted for on her delivery. Granted. ART. IX. The traders are to preserve their property, and to be allowed three months to dispose of or remove it; and those traders are not to be considered prisoners of war. vestment of the British camp at Yorktown -were taken with such rapidity and judgment, the combinations so skilfully arranged, and the result so speedily secured, that the imaginations of men were dazzled, The traders will be allowed to dispose of their and the hearts of the friends of the Ameeffects, the allied army having the right of pre-rican cause were filled with admiration and emption. The traders to be considered as prisoners of war on parole. ART. X.-Natives or inhabitants of different parts of this country, at present in York or Gloucester, are not to be punished on account of having joined the British army. This article cannot be assented to, being altogether of civil resort. ART. XI.-Proper hospitals to be provided for the sick and wounded. They are to be attended by their own surgeons on parole, and they are to be furnished with medicine and stores from the American hospitals. The hospital stores now in York and Gloucester, shall be delivered for the use of the British sick and wounded. Passports will be granted for procuring their further supplies from New York, as occasion may require, and proper hospitals will be furnished for the reception of the sick and wounded of the two garrisons. ART. XII.-Waggons to be furnished to carry the baggage of the officers attending the soldiers, and to surgeons, when travelling on account of the sick, attending the hospitals at public expense. They are to be furnished if possible. ART. XIII.—The shipping and boats in the two harbours, with all their stores, guns, tackling, and apparel, shall be delivered up in their present state to an officer of the navy, appointed to take posses gratitude. Dr. Franklin, who received the intelligence while at Paris, in writing to Washington upon the subject, says—“ All the world agree that no expedition was ever better executed. It has made a great addition to the military reputation you had already acquired, and heightened the glory that surrounds your name, and that must accompany it to our latest posterity."* By a sort of poetic retribution, General Lincoln had his full share in all the operations of the army before Yorktown, as the senior of the American major-generals on the ground, and was thanked by name, in connection with Lafayette and Steuben, in which the commander-in-chief congratu a general order of the 20th of October; in lated the army on the glorious event of the preceding day, and tendered to all ranks awaken a feeling of joy in all hearts, he his thanks in the warmest language. To commanded that those of the army who * Upham's Life of Washington, vol. ii., p. 60. The important and crowning event of the year, and, as yet, of the war, was announced to congress by the following des patch from General Washington : were under arrest, should be pardoned and | and their soiled and ragged clothing, might set at liberty; and the order concluded be unfavourably contrasted with the neater with the following direction, expressive of and more soldierly appearance of the French. the deep religious feeling that influenced Yet, under such circumstances, the personal his own grateful heart for the benefit con- disadvantages of a raw militia should rather ferred upon his beloved country :-"Divine be looked upon as an enhancement of the service shall be performed to-morrow in the triumph they had gained. I was struck different brigades and divisions. The com- with many indications of the fact, how mander-in-chief recommends that all the much more keen, at that moment, was the troops that are not upon duty, do assist at animosity between the English and Ameit with a serious deportment, and that sen- ricans, than between the English and sibility of heart which the recollection of French. Thus the English officers, when the surprising and particular interposition they laid down their arms, and were passof Providence in our favour claims." The ing along the enemy's lines, courteously wound inflicted upon the soldierly spirit saluted every French officer, even of the of General Lincoln by his surrender at lowest rank-a compliment which they Charleston in the preceding year, was now withheld from every American, even of the healed by a success which he had ably as- highest."† sisted to achieve, and the crowning incidents of which were peculiarly gratifying to his feelings, as Lord Cornwallis was obliged to accept precisely the same terms of capitulation that he had aided in imposing upon Lincoln at Charleston. Besides this, the duty of conducting the vanquished enemy, on this great occasion, to the field where they were to lay down their arms, was also delegated to General Lincoln; and by his arrangements, the British troops were treated with a delicate consideration for their altered circumstances that was highly honourable to him, both as a soldier and a gentleman. That this feeling was shared in by Washington, is evidenced by the simple fact, that when the British troops were about to march out of their works, to lay down their arms, the general said to the soldiers drawn up near him"My boys, let there be no insults over a conquered foe. When they lay down their arms, don't huzza; posterity will huzza for you.' At two o'clock in the afternoon of the 19th of October, 1781, the British force in Yorktown marched out pursuant to the terms of the capitulation, to lay down their arms before the American and French troops drawn out in line to receive their submission; and the scene which ensued is thus described by the Abbé Robin, military chaplain of the Count de Rochambeau :"The two lines of the allied army were drawn out for upwards of a mile; the Americans having the right. The disproportion of heights and ages in their men, *War of Independence, p. 344. Lord Mahon's History of England, vol. vii., p. 181. 66 "To the President of Congress. "Head-quarters, New York, 19th October, 1781. Sir, I have the honour to inform congress that a reduction of the British army, under the command of Lord Cornwallis, is most happily effected. The unremitted ardour, which actuated every officer and soldier in the combined army on this occasion, has principally led to this important event at an earlier period than my most sanguine hopes had induced me to expect. "The singular spirit of emulation which animated the whole army from the first commencement of our operations, has filled my mind with the highest pleasure and satisfaction, and given me the happiest presages of success. "On the 17th instant, a letter was received from sioners to consult on terms for the surrender of the Lord Cornwallis, proposing a meeting of commisposts of York and Gloucester. This letter (the first that had passed between us) opened a correspondence, a copy of which I do myself the honour the definitive capitulation, which was agreed to, to enclose. That correspondence was followed by and signed on the 19th; a copy of which I here transnit, and which I hope will meet with the approbation of congress. I should be wanting in feelings of gratitude, did I not mention, on this occasion, with the warmest sense of acknowledgment, the very cheerful and able assistance which I have received, in the course of our operations, from his excellency the Count de Rochambeau. Nothing could equal the American officers, whose ardour could not suffer zeal of our allies, but the emulating spirit of the their exertions to be exceeded. "The very uncommon degree of duty and fatigue which the nature of the service required from the officers of engineers and artillery of both armies, obliges me particularly to mention the obligations I am under to the commanding and other officers of those corps. "I wish it were in my power to express to congress how much I feel myself indebted to the Count |
