Laying down of Arms. Loss of both Armies.

Washington's expressed Approbation of Officers.

Disposition of Prisoners.

When Wilson gave the order for the British captains to advance two paces, to deliver up their colors, and the American sergeants to advance two paces to receive them, the former hesitated, and gave as a reason that they were unwilling to surrender their flags to noncommissioned officers. Hamilton, who was at a distance, observed this hesitation, and rode up to inquire the cause. On being informed, he willingly spared the feelings of the British captains, and ordered Ensign Wilson to receive them himself, and hand them to the American sergeants. This scene is depicted in the engraving.

When the colors were surrendered, the whole royal army laid down their arms. It was an exceedingly humiliating task for the captives, for they had been for months enjoying victories under their able commander, and had learned to look upon the rebels with profound contempt.' After grounding their arms and laying off their accoutrements, they were conducted back to their lines, and guarded by a sufficient force until they commenced their march for permanent quarters in the interior of Virginia and Maryland.'

The loss of the British on this occasion was one hundred and fifty-six killed, three hundred and twenty-six wounded, and seventy missing. The whole number surrendered by capitulation was a little more than seven thousand, according to the most reliable authorities, making the total loss between seventy-five and seventy-eight hundred. The combined army employed in the siege consisted of about seven thousand regular American troops, more than five thousand French, and four thousand militia; a total of over sixteen thousand men. Their loss during the siege, of killed and wounded, was only about three hundred. The artillery, and military stores and provisions surrendered, were very considerable. There were seventy-five brass, and one hundred and sixty iron cannons; seven thousand seven hundred and ninety-four muskets; twenty-eight regimental standards (ten of them English, and eighteen German); a large quantity of cannon and musket-balls, bombs, carriages, &c., &c. The military chest contained nearly eleven thousand dollars in specie."

a Oct. 20, 1771.

On the day succeeding the surrender, a Washington, in general orders, expressed his great approbation of the conduct of both armies. Among the generals whom the commander-in-chief particularly named were Count De Rochambeau, Du Portail, and other distinguished French officers; and Generals Lincoln, Knox, La Fayette, and Steuben, of the American army. He also spoke warmly of Governor Nelson, and expressed his gratitude to him for his essential aid. Joy pervaded all hearts, and that there might be none

known in the history of the Mohawk Valley. One of his exploits I have related on page 252, volume i. Young Wilson became attached to the army at the age of twelve years. His commission as ensign (which I have seen) is dated June ninth, 1781, four months previous to the surrender at Yorktown. At the close of the war, he became a member of the Society of the Cincinnati, and from his certificate I made the copy printed on page 128. He settled in Central New York when it was a wilderness; was magistrate many years; and for some time was postmaster at Manlius, in Onondago county. He died in the year 1811, leaving a widow, who still survives him, and four children, all of whom are now dead. The late James Gregg Wilson, one of the proprietors of the Brother Jonathan newspaper, was his last surviving child. The statement in the text respecting his participation in the surrender of the colors at Yorktown I received from his relatives, and have no reason to doubt its truth. It is also corroborated by an eye-witness who lived to the age of ninety-eight, and knew Wilson from his boyhood until his death.

1 Dr. Thatcher, who was present, says that he saw many of the soldiers, with sullen countenances, throw down their guns on the pile with violence, as if determined to render them unfit for further service. By order of General Lincoln, this conduct was checked, and they were made to lay them down in an orderly

manner.

The British prisoners were marched, some to Winchester, in Virginia, and some to Fort Frederick, and Fredericktown, in Maryland. The latter portion were guarded by militia, commanded by General Philip Van Cortlandt, and many serious quarrels between them and their custodians occurred. They were finally removed to Lancaster, in Pennsylvania, and guarded by Continental troops. Cornwallis and other British officers went by sea to New York on parole. Arrangements were finally made for the exchange of most of them.

3 An estimate made soon after the surrender, made the total loss of the British eleven thousand eight hundred. In that estimate was included two thousand sailors, one thousand eight hundred negroes, and one thousand five hundred Tories. 1 Ramsay, Gordon, Marshall, Stedman, Robin, Thacher, Botta, Sparks. Brigadiers Du Portail and Knox were each promoted to the rank of major general; and Colonel Govion, and Captain Rochefontain, of the corps of engineers, were each advanced a grade, by brevet.

5

A Jubilee for Prisoners.

Intelligence of the Surrender at Philadelphia.

Proceedings of Congress.

Rochambeau.

excluded from a participation in the general thanksgiving, the commander-in-chief ordered that all those who were under arrest or confinement should be immediately set at liberty;' and as the next day was the Sabbath, he closed his orders by directing divine service to be performed in the several brigades on the morrow.

ROCHAMBEAU.2

The surrender of Cornwallis with so large a portion of the British army in America secured the Independence of the United States. The strong arm of military oppression, moved by governmental power, was paralyzed, and the king and his ministers, from the hour when intelligence of the event reached them, abandoned all hopes of subduing the rebellion and preserving the integrity of the realm. The blow of disseverance had fallen; war could no longer subserve a useful purpose; humanity and sound policy counseled peace. Great was the exultation and joy of the Americans as the intelligence went from lip to lip throughout the confederation. Lieutenant-colonel Tilghman, one of Washington's aids-de-camp, rode express to Philadelphia to carry the dispatches of the chief announcing the joyful tidings to Congress. It was midnight when he entered the city. a Thomas M Kean was then president of the Continental Congress, and resided in High Street, near Second. Tilgh- 1781. man knocked at his door so vehemently, that a watchman was disposed to arrest him as a disturber of the peace. M Kean arose, and presently the glad tidings were made known. The watchmen throughout the city proclaimed the hour, adding "and Cornwallis is taken!" That annunciation, ringing out upon the frosty night air, aroused thousands from their beds. Lights were seen moving in almost every house; and soon the streets were thronged with men and women all eager to hear the details. It was a night of great joy in Philadelphia, for the people had anxiously awaited intelligence from Yorktown. The old State House bell rang out its notes of gladness, and the first blush of morning was greeted with the booming of cannons.

a Oct. 23,

Congress assembled at an early hour, and the grave orators of that august body could hardly repress huzzas while Secretary Thompson read the letter from Washington announcing the capitulation of Cornwallis. On motion of Edmund Randolph, Congress resolved to

b Oct. 24.

go in procession at two o'clock the same dayb to the Dutch Lutheran Church, "and return thanks to Almighty God for crowning the allied armies of the United States and France with success." A committee was appointed, to whom were referred the letters of Washington, and who were instructed to report resolutions of thanks to the armies and their officers, and to recommend appropriate honors. The committee reported on the twenty-ninth, and Congress resolved that their thanks should be presented to Washington, Rochambeau, and De Grasse, and the officers and soldiers under their respective commands; that a marble column should be erected at Yorktown in commemoration of the

1 Thatcher, 281.

4

2 JEAN BAPTISTE DONATIEN DE VIMEUR, the Count De Rochambeau, was born at Vendôme in 1725, and entered the army at the age of sixteen years. In 1746 he became aid-de-camp to Louis Philippe, duke of Orleans, and was afterward appointed to the command of the regiment of La Marche. He was wounded at the battle of Lafeldt, where he distinguished himself. He fought bravely at Creveldt, Minden, Corbach, and Clostercamp. He was made lieutenant general in 1779, and in 1780 came to America with a strong force. After assisting in the capture of Cornwallis at Yorktown, and remaining several months in America, he returned to France, and was raised to the rank of field-marshal by Louis XVI. During the French Revolution, he was appointed to the command of the army of the North. He was superseded, and suffered the persecutions of calumny, but a decree of approbation was passed in 1792. He then retired to his estate near Vendôme. Under the tyranny of Robespierre, he was arrested, and narrowly escaped death. In 1803 Bonaparte granted him a pension, and the cross of grand officer of the Legion of Honor. He died in 1807, at the age of sixty-one. His Memoirs were published in 1809.

3 The committee consisted of Edmund Randolph, Elias Boudinot, Joseph Varnum, and Charles Carroll. 4 Journals of Congress, vii., 162

Awards of Congress to Officers.

General Rejoicings.

Proceedings in Parliament.

Lord North's Agitation.

event; that two stands of colors taken from Cornwallis should be presented to Washington in the name of the United States; that two pieces of the field ordnance captured at York should be presented to each of the French commanders, Rochambeau and De Grasse; and that the Board of War should present to Lieutenant-colonel Tilghman, in the name of the United States, a horse properly caparisoned, and an elegant sword. Congress also issued a proclamation appointing the thirteenth day of December for a general thanksgiving and prayer throughout the confederacy, on account of this signal mark of Divine favor. Legislative bodies, executive councils, city corporations, and many private societies, presented congratulatory addresses to the commanding generals and their officers; and from almost every pulpit in the land arose the voice of thanksgiving and praise, accompanied

BRITISH FLAG.2

the alleluiahs of thousands of worshipers at the altar of the Lord of Hosts. The king and his ministers were sorely perplexed when the intelligence reached them." Parliament assembled on the twenty-seventh of November; its first business was a consideration of the news of the disasters in America, which reached ministers officially on Sun

day, the twenty-fifth.a Violent debates ensued, and Fox even went so far as a Nov., 1781. to intimate that Lord North was in the pay of the French. The minister indignantly repelled the insinuation, and justified the war on the ground of its justice, and the proper maintenance of British rights. Upon this point he was violently assailed by Burke, who exclaimed, "Good God! are we yet to be told of the rights for which we went to war! Oh, excellent rights! Oh, valuable rights! Valuable you should be, for we have paid dear at parting with you. Oh, valuable rights! that have cost Britain thirteen provinces, four islands, one hundred thousand men, and more than seventy millions [three hundred and fifty millions of dollars] of money!" The younger Pitt distinguished himself in this debate, and was a powerful aid to the opposition. On the thirtieth of November, that party proposed the bold measure (last adopted during the Revolution of 1688) of not granting supplies until the ministers should give a pledge to the people that the war in America should cease. This motion, however, was lost by a vote of nearly two to one. Several conflicting propositions were made by both parties, but without any definite result,

The marble for this column, like many other monuments ordered by the Continental Congress, is yet in the quarry. It was proposed to have it "ornamented with emblems of the alliance between the United States and his most Christian majesty, and inscribed with a succinct narrative of the surrender of Earl Cornwallis," to Washington, Rochambeau, and De Grasse.-Journals, vii., 166.

2 This is a representation of one of the flags surrendered at Yorktown, and presented to Washington. I made this sketch of the flag itself, then in the Museum at Alexandria, in Virginia. It belonged to the seventh regiment. The size of the flag is six feet long, and five feet four inches wide. The ground is blue; the central stripe of the cross red; the marginal ones white. In the center is a crown, and beneath it a garter with its inscription, "Honi soit qui mal y pense," inclosing a full-blown rose. These are neatly embroidered with silk. The fabric of the flag is heavy twilled silk.

3 Sir N. W. Wraxall, in his Historical Memoirs of his Own Times (page 246), has left an interesting record of the effect of the news of the surrender of Cornwallis upon the minds of Lord North and the king. The intelligence reached the cabinet on Sunday, the twenty-fifth of November, at noon. Wraxall asked Lord George Germain how North "took the communication ?" "As he would have taken a cannon-ball in his breast," replied Lord George; "for he opened his arms, exclaiming wildly, as he paced up and down the apartment during a few minutes, 'Oh! God, it is all over!' words which he repeated many times, under emotions of the deepest consternation and distress." Lord George Germain sent off a dispatch to the king, who was then at Kew. The king wrote a calm letter in reply, but it was remarked, as evidence of unusual emotion, that he had omitted to mark the hour and minute of his writing, which he was always accustomed to do with scrupulous precision. Yet the handwriting evinced composure of mind.

4 He referred to disasters in the West Indies, and the loss of Minorca in the Mediterranean.

Designs upon Southern British Ports. St. Clair's Success. Washington's Journey to Philadelphia.

Localities at Yorktown.

and on the twentieth of December, Parliament adjourned to the twenty-first of Jan

uary.a

a 1782.

Although the British power in America was subdued, it still had vitality. The enemy yet held important posts in the Southern States, and Washington resolved to profit by the advantage he now possessed, by capturing or dispersing the royal garrisons at Wilmington, Charleston, and Savannah. For this purpose, he solicited the aid of Count De Grasse in an expedition against Charleston. He repaired on board the Ville de Paris, and held a personal conference with the admiral. To the urgent solicitations of Washington, De Grasse replied that "the orders of his court, ulterior projects, and his engagement with the Spaniards, rendered it impossible for him to remain on the coast during the time which would be required for the operation." He also declined conveying troops to the South for re-enforcing General Greene, but he consented to remain a few days in Chesapeake Bay, to cover the transportation of the Eastern troops and of the ordnance, to the head of Elk. These, under the command of General Lincoln, were embarked on the second of November, and from the head of Elk proceeded by land to winter quarters in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and on the Hudson River. On the fourth, St. Simon embarked his troops, and on that day the French fleet sailed out of the Chesapeake for the West Indies. Before it sailed, Washington presented Count De Grasse with two beautiful horses, as a token of his personal esteem.

b 1782.

The French army remained in Virginia (Rochambeau having his head-quarters at Williamsburg), ready to co-operate with the Americans North or South. There they remained until the next summer,b when they joined the Continental army on the Hudson.' They proceeded to New England in the autumn, and early in December embarked at Boston for the West Indies. General St. Clair, with a body of troops, was sent to reenforce General Greene at the South. He was directed to march by the way of Wilmington, and dislodge the enemy there. This he effected, and at the close of 1781 there was not a hostile foot except those of resident Tories and prisoners of war, in all Virginia or North Carolina.

c Nov. 5, 1781.

When Washington had completed all his arrangements, he left Yorktown,c and hastened to Eltham, the seat of Colonel Bassett, to the bedside of Mr. Custis, the only son of Mrs. Washington. He arrived in time to see him die, and stayed there a few days to mingle his grief with that of the afflicted widow. Mr. Custis was a member of the Virginia Legislature, and was then only twenty-eight years of age.' From Eltham, Washington proceeded to Philadelphia by way of Mount Vernon, receiving and answering various public addresses on the way. On the day after his arrival in Philadelphia, he went to the State House, and on being introduced into the hall of Congress by two members, he was greeted by a congratulatory address by the president. He remained some time in Philadelphia, and was regarded with reverence by all classes.

d Nov. 27.

We will here close the chronicle, visit the historical localities about Yorktown, and then ride down to Hampton, near Old Point Comfort.

In company with Mr. Nelson, I rode to "Moore's House," where the commissioners of the two armies met to agree upon terms of capitulation. On our way we visited the site of the two redoubts (K and L, on the map) captured respectively by the Americans and French. The visible lines of the one assailed by the French cross the road leading to Moore's house. On each side of the way the embankments are quite prominent. The remains of the other one, on the river bank, are noticed and delineated on page 519. In the fields farther south, crossing the Hampton road, and extending almost to the old Jamestown road along which the American division of the allied armies approached Yorktown, might be seen a ridge, the remains of the second parallel. In a southwesterly direction, about a

1 The order and discipline of the French army while on this march, and the deputation of Quakers who met Rochambeau at Philadelphia, are noticed on page 55.

* Mr. Custis left four infant children. Washington adopted the two younger, a son and daughter. The son still survives; the respected George Washington Parke Custis, Esq., of Arlington House, Virginia.