CHAPTER XXXIII.NEW YORK AND YORKTOWN THREATENED.—CORNWALLIS INCLOSED BY LAFAYETTE.
On the twenty-first day of May, 1781, which proved to have been that of the arrival of Cornwallis at Yorktown, Washington held a conference with Count de Rochambeau and General Chastellux at Wethersfield, Conn., as to the details of the approaching summer campaign. As one result of this interview, Count de Rochambeau requested Count de Grasse, then in the West Indies, to coöperate for a while with Count de Barras, and close the port of New York. The French fleet could not be very well spared from the West India Station, for the reason that while coöperating with the Americans, and on a foreign coast, it had neither accessible docks nor other means of refitting and supply, in case of disaster. Pending the disposition of this matter, the immediate junction of the two armies was definitely settled.
The American army, with an effective force of a little less than forty-six hundred men, was ordered to Peekskill-on-the-Hudson. The Count de Rochambeau, with the Duke de Lauzun, marched from Newport and took post at Ridgebury, Conn., near Salem, on the road to Danbury, fifteen miles back from Long Island Sound.
Two British posts, just out of New York, one at Morrisania, where Delancey’s Rangers had a station, and from which constant incursions were made into Winchestercounty; and the other at the north end of Manhattan Island, not far from Fort Washington, were designated as the first objects of assault. Clinton had sent a considerable foraging force into New Jersey, and it was supposed likely that he might regard the posts named as not in danger of attack, or leave them lightly garrisoned. Sheldon’s Dragoons and a division under the Duke de Lauzun were to attempt the first of the expeditions, and General Lincoln was intrusted with the other. Washington advised Governor Clinton of his plan, so that he might concentrate the New York militia at the proper moment; and signal guns, as well as beacon-fires, had been arranged to give notice of success.
General Lincoln left Peekskill with eight hundred men, on the morning of the first of June, proceeded to Teller’s Point; there took boats, and with muffled oars rowed down Tappan Bay by night, hugging the eastern shore. On the morning of the second, he reached Dobb’s Ferry, without being discovered by the enemy. At three o’clock, on the morning of the second, Washington started, without baggage, and leaving all tents standing; passed through Tarrytown, reaching Valentine’s Hill, four miles above King’s Bridge, by sunrise of the third, where he gained a good position for the support of either expedition.
When General Lincoln crossed the Hudson, at Fort Lee, he at once noticed that the British expedition into New Jersey had returned and reoccupied the post near Fort Washington; and that a British man-of-war had anchored in the stream, near the shore just below that fort. A surprise of Fort Washington became impossible. He had, however, before leaving Peekskill, been supplied with alternate instructions, anticipating this very emergency. It had been Washington’s real purpose, now that the French army was immediately within his control, to draw Clinton, if possible, into a general engagement;and the entire French force awaited his signal for the movement. So soon as Lincoln discovered the British camp, he recrossed the Hudson and landed his troops just above Spuyten Duyvil Creek, near old Fort Independence; and then moved to high ground near King’s Bridge, so as to act in concert with the Duke de Lauzun and cut off any detachment which might attempt to cross the Harlem to support Delancey. Meanwhile the Duke de Lauzun had only reached East Chester, after a hot march over very rough country, and was several hours later than the hour designated for the assault. The troops of Lincoln were discovered by a large foraging force of fourteen hundred men which was sweeping over the country from right to left, in search of cattle and other supplies, and a sharp skirmish ensued. The Duke de Lauzun, hearing the firing, pressed forward with forced step to join in the action. Washington also moved rapidly to the front, and at his appearance the British fell back rapidly to New York. During the afternoon, after carefully reconnoitering the position, Washington also retired to Valentine’s Hill, and then to Dobb’s Ferry, as if entirely withdrawing his troops; but, on the sixth, he was joined by Rochambeau, and on the seventh, the American camp was fully established. Its right rested on the Hudson, covered by earthworks, and its left crossed Saw Mill River. (See Map, “Hudson River Highlands.”) The French army occupied the hills still farther eastward, as far as the river Bronx.
Washington at once made an effort to force General Clinton to fight for the possession of New York. Pickets were ostentatiously posted. Letters, designed to fall into Clinton’s hands, were written, and as early as the sixth, Clinton captured some of these “confidential” papers and enclosed them to Lord Cornwallis, saying: “I am threatened with a siege. Send me two thousand troops; the sooner they come, the better.”
The agitation in New York is described by contemporary writers as “most intense and universal.” It was kept under all possible control; but the coast-guards were doubled, so that no stray boats might pass unchallenged, by night or day, and mounted couriers constantly passed and repassed, to furnish the speediest possible information at British headquarters of any hostile advance. The report published in slips, that “brick ovens were to be erected in New Jersey, opposite Staten Island, to supply bread rations, daily, for thirty thousand men,” was encouraged by Washington, and was accepted as true by the country near by, and generally at the north, New Jersey included.
When the camps were fully established, and guns were disposed for their best effect, Washington, accompanied by Count de Rochambeau and Generals de Boville and Du Portail, crossed to Jersey Heights, and with a small escort of one hundred and fifty Jersey troops, examined all the New York outposts, as far down as the ocean. Neither was this a mere sham—hollow in substance. The projected attack upon New York was a deliberate alternative; to compel Clinton to withhold reënforcements from the Southern army so that Cornwallis could be overpowered and captured; or, if he ventured to aid that officer, he must lose New York.
This reconnoissance in New Jersey was known to Sir Henry Clinton, and he might have been very thankful to General Washington for information that some of “his [Clinton’s] stores were inadequately guarded”; that “at some posts the small garrisons were doing no watchful guard duty”; and that there was “no serious difficulty whatever in seizing or destroying all the stores on Staten Island, without material loss or risk.”
A second reconnoissance of the entire British front, from King’s Bridge down the Hudson, and along HellGate channel, occurred on the evening of July 21st. This was no feeble “feeling of the enemy.” Five thousand choice troops took part in the investigation of the British position. General Chastellux commanded one division, and General Lincoln commanded the second. As early as the eighth of the month, Sir Henry Clinton wrote to Lord Cornwallis, as follows: “As your lordship is now so near, it will be unnecessary for you to send your despatches to the minister; you will therefore be so good as to send them to me in the future.”
It is a fact that Cornwallis was encouraged by the British War Office and the Ministry to write directly to those departments. He stood high in esteem; and, as will appear under his name in the Index, was subsequently honored, although captured at Yorktown. The letter of the eighth, thus referred to, was followed by letters on the eleventh, thirteenth, and nineteenth of June, with similar appeals for reënforcements; and these appeals were forwarded by special couriers or fast frigates. Then came the allied parade of the twenty-second. The troops reached King’s Bridge at daybreak. Lauzun’s lancers in their brilliant uniform, and Sheldon’s Light Corps, scoured the vicinity of Morrisania, and the dragoons went as far as Throgg’s Neck. The royalist refugees fled to islands, vessels, and the woods. This demonstration lasted during the twenty-second and twenty-third of June. Then Washington and Rochambeau, escorted by French dragoons, examined all advance posts, passing directly within range of fire from both vessels and picket posts. There was no pretence of secrecy in this inquisitive inquiry as to the British strength and British positions. It was a bold, deliberate challenge of the garrison to retire if they so desired, or to fight if they preferred battle. On the twenty-third, the troops resumed their places in the quiet camp.
On the twenty-sixth, Clinton called upon Cornwallis for “three more regiments,” to be sent from Carolina, writing: “I shall probably want them, as well as the troops you may be able to send me from the Chesapeake, for such offensive and defensive operations as may offer in this quarter.” Cornwallis had previously offered to send two of the Hessian regiments, then in South Carolina, “as they could be spared in the hot summer months,” and Clinton begged him to “renew that offer.”
A brief glance at the Southern Department is necessary in order fully to measure the designs of the American Commander-in-Chief, which, on the surface, seemed to be local in their purpose. The army of Cornwallis, with reenforcements, numbered about seven thousand effective troops when he entered upon his active campaign against Lafayette. It will be remembered that Cornwallis had promised Clinton to drive Lafayette from Richmond. When Lafayette saw that by attempting to hold Richmond he would risk a general action, with the possible loss of Virginia and consequent ruin to Greene’s army at the South, he permitted that city to abide the fate of war, and marched northward to the upper Rappahannock; to effect an union with the forces of Wayne, approaching from the north. He decided to avoid further contest with Cornwallis, unless on terms of his own dictation.
The Assembly of Virginia, quickened to new energy, retired to Charlottesville May 24th. But they authorized the “issue of fifteen millions of bills,” and also the declaration of martial law within twenty miles of any army headquarters. That brought Richmond within the military control of Lafayette. The Burgoyne prisoners were also removed from Charlottesville, over the mountains, to Winchester. The details of the pursuit of Lafayette by Cornwallis, day by day, are full of thrilling interest, but beyond the province of this narrative.
Lafayette in Virginia.
On the twenty-eighth of May, Lafayette wrote as follows to Washington: “The enemy have been so kind as to retire before us. Twice, I gave them a chance of fighting, taking good care not to engage them farther than I pleased, but they continued their retrograde motions. Our numbers are, I think, exaggerated to them, and our seeming boldness confirms the opinion. I thought, at first, Lord Cornwallis wanted to get me as low down as possible, and use his cavalry to advantage. His lordship had, exclusive of the reënforcements from Portsmouth, (said to be six hundred) four thousand men; eight hundred of whom were dragoons, or mounted infantry. Our force is about his; but only one thousand five hundred regulars, and fifty dragoons. One little action more particularly marks the retreat of the enemy. From the place where he first began to retire to Williamsburg, is upwards of one hundred miles. The old arms at the Point of the Fork have been taken out of the water. The cannon was thrown into the river undamaged, when they marched back to Richmond; so that his lordship did us no harm of consequence, but lost an immense part of his former conquests, and did not make any in the State. General Greene only demanded of me to hold my ground, in Virginia. I don’t know but what we shall, in our turn, become the pursuing enemy.”
On the very next day, after this letter was despatched to the American Commander-in-Chief, May twenty-ninth, Cornwallis did, in fact, abandon pursuit. Tarleton, who never lost opportunity to express his appreciation of the tact, skill, and “invariable wisdom of Lafayette’s movements,” states, that “an American patrol was captured; and among letters of Lafayette to Greene, Steuben, and others, was one to Governor Jefferson, urging him to rally militia during his absence, and using this prophetic expression: ‘The British success in Virginia resemblesthe French invasion of Hanover, and is likely to have similar consequences, if the governor and the country would exert themselves, at the present juncture.’”
When Cornwallis halted and moved back towards his base, Tarleton was detached with two hundred and fifty troopers, mounted on the picked stock of the best private stables, taken at will, and attempted to capture Governor Jefferson at Monticello. His report says: “I imagined that a march of seventy miles in twenty-four hours, with the caution used, might perhaps give the advantage of a surprise.” Tarleton charged through the Riviana River, captured seven members of the Legislature and Brigadier-General Scott, and destroyed one thousand arms and four hundred barrels of powder; but the Governor escaped, and the Assembly immediately convened at Staunton, beyond Tarleton’s reach. Then he started down the Riviana to join Simcoe in an attack upon Steuben’s depot of supplies at Elk Island. But Wayne joined Lafayette, and Lafayette proceeded southward. They soon started in pursuit of the retiring column of Cornwallis. The pursued had indeed become the pursuers. Tarleton thus writes: “The Marquis Lafayette, who had previously practised defensive measures with skill and security, being now reënforced by Wayne and about eight hundred continentals and some militia, followed the British as they proceeded down James River. This design, being judiciously arranged and executed with extreme caution, allowed opportunity for the junction of Baron Steuben; confined the small detachments of the King’s troops; and both saved the property and animated the drooping spirits of the Virginians.” On the thirteenth, Tarleton reported his own movements and the waste he had accomplished.
The scouts of Lafayette intercepted the letter, and he published it to the people before Cornwallis himself hadknowledge of its contents. Cornwallis returned to his headquarters, to find despatches fifteen days old awaiting his attention. One contained this extraordinary information: “The Continentals under Lafayette cannot exceed one thousand; and the Pennsylvania Line, under Wayne, are so discontented, that their officers are afraid to trust them with ammunition. Postscript.—This may have, however, since altered.”
On the very day of the receipt of this despatch, Tarleton and Simcoe were actually compelled to cover the picket-lines of Cornwallis with their full force, to prevent Lafayette’s Continentals and the Pennsylvania Line from capturing the supply trains of his command. Cornwallis started for Portsmouth on the fourth. A sharp action at Williamsburg, in which Wayne made a brilliant bayonet charge, and in which Lafayette, having lost a horse, gallantly fought the battle on foot, resulted in a loss of one hundred and eighteen Americans and seventy-five British troops. From Portsmouth, Cornwallis took boats for Yorktown, on the first of August; and on the sixth, Tarleton says: “I threw my horses into deep water, near shore, and landed without loss,” joining Cornwallis on the tenth. Gloucester, opposite Yorktown, was occupied and fortified. Constant skirmishes occurred between Tarleton and Simcoe, of its garrison, and the detachments which Lafayette kept active in the vicinity.
On the eighth, Lafayette wrote to Washington as follows: “We shall act agreeably to circumstances; but avoid drawing ourselves into a false movement, which, if cavalry had command of the river, would give the enemy the advantage of us. His lordship plays so well, that no blunder can be hoped from him, to recover a bad step of ours. Should a fleet come in at this moment, our affairs would take a very happy turn.” On thethirteenth, Lafayette established his headquarters in the forks of the Pamunkey and the Mattaponey. On the twenty-third, he wrote, in part: “In the present state of affairs, my dear general, I hope you will come yourself to Virginia. Lord Cornwallis must be attacked with pretty good apparatus; but when a French fleet takes possession of the Bay, and we form a land force superior to his, that army must sooner or later be forced to surrender, as we may then get what reënforcements we please. I heartily thank you for having ordered me to Virginia. It is to your goodness that I am indebted for the most beautiful prospect which I may ever be able to behold.”
On the thirtieth, Count de Grasse arrived in the Chesapeake with twenty-six sail-of-the-line, besides frigates and transports. On the third of September, Count de St. Simon landed with three thousand two hundred French troops, and was joined by Lafayette at Green Spring on the same day. On the fifth, the allies occupied Williamsburg, about fifteen miles from Yorktown. The Count de Grasse had a limited period for operations on the American coast, and united with the Count de St. Simon to urge an immediate attack upon Yorktown, before its defences could be completed, waiving seniority of rank, and agreeing to serve under Lafayette.
Lafayette thus wrote to Washington: “I am not so hasty as the Count de Grasse, and think that having so sure a game to play, it would be madness, by the risk of an attack, to give anything to chance. Unless matters are very different from what I think they are, my opinion is, that we ought to be contented with preventing the enemy’s forages, with militia; without committing our regulars. Whatever readiness the Marquis de St. Simon has been pleased to express to Colonel Gimât respecting his being under me, I shall do nothing without payingthat deference which is due to age, talents, and experience; but would rather incline to the cautious line of conduct I have of late adopted. I hope you will find we have taken the best precautions to prevent his lordship’s escape. I hardly believe he will make the attempt. If he does, he must give up ships, artillery, baggage, part of the horses, all the negroes; must be certain to lose one-third of his army, and run the greatest risk of losing the whole, without gaining that glory which he may derive from a brilliant defence.” On the eighth, Lafayette wrote: “If you knew how slowly things go on in this country! The governor does what he can; the wheels of government are so rusty, that no governor whatever will be able to set them free again. Time will prove that Governor Jefferson has been too severely charged. We will try, if not dangerous, on so large a scale, to form a good idea of the works; but unless I am greatly deceived, there will be madness in attacking them now, with our force. Marquis de St. Simon, Count de Grasse and General Du Portail agree with me in opinion; but should Lord Cornwallis come out against such a position as we have, everybody thinks he cannot but repent of it; and should he beat us, he must soon prepare for another battle.”
The time had arrived for the presence of the American Commander-in-Chief.