SIEGE AND SURRENDER OF YORKTOWN.
General Lincoln had the honor, on the night of the 6th of October, of
opening the first parallel before Yorktown. It was within six hundred
yards of the enemy; nearly two miles in extent, and the foundations
were laid for two redoubts. He had under him a large detachment of
French and American troops, and the work was conducted with such
silence and secrecy in a night of extreme darkness, that the enemy
were not aware of it until daylight. A severe cannonade was then
opened from the fortifications; but the men were under cover and
continued working. By the afternoon of the 9th the parallel was
completed, and two or three batteries were ready to fire upon the
town. "General Washington put the match to the first gun," says an
observer who was present; "a furious discharge of cannon and mortars
immediately followed, and Earl Cornwallis received his first
salutation."
The cannonade was kept up almost incessantly for three or four days
from the batteries above mentioned, and from three others managed by
the French. The half-finished works of the enemy suffered severely,
the guns were dismounted or silenced, and many men killed. The red-hot
shot from the French batteries northwest of the town reached the
English shipping. The Charon, a forty-four gun ship, and three large
transports, were set on fire by them. The flames ran up the rigging to
the tops of the masts. The conflagration, seen in the darkness of the
night, with the accompanying flash and thundering of cannon, and
soaring and bursting of shells, and the tremendous explosions of the
ships, all presented a scene of mingled magnificence and horror.
On the night of the 11th the second parallel was opened by the Baron
Steuben's division, within three hundred yards of the works. The
British now made new embrasures, and for two or three days kept up a
galling fire upon those at work. The latter were still more annoyed by
the flanking fire of two redoubts three hundred yards in front of the
British works. As they enfiladed the intrenchments, and were supposed
also to command the communication between Yorktown and Gloucester, it
was resolved to storm them both on the night of the 14th; the one
nearest the river by a detachment of Americans commanded by Lafayette,
the other by a French detachment led by the Baron de Viomenil. In the
arrangements for the assault, Lafayette had given the honor of leading
the advance to his own aide-de-camp, Lieutenant-colonel Gimat. This
instantly touched the military pride of Hamilton, who exclaimed
against it as an unjust preference, it being his tour of duty. It was
therefore arranged that Colonel Gimat's battalion should lead the van,
and be followed by that of Hamilton, and that the latter should
command the whole advanced corps.
About eight o'clock in the evening rockets were sent up as signals for
the simultaneous attack. Hamilton, to his great joy, led the advance
of the Americans. The men, without waiting for the sappers to demolish
the abatis in regular style, pushed them aside or pulled them down
with their hands, and scrambled over, like rough bush-fighters.
Hamilton was the first to mount the parapet, placing one foot on the
shoulder of a soldier, who knelt on one knee for the purpose. The men
mounted after him. Not a musket was fired. The redoubt was carried at
the point of the bayonet. The loss of the Americans was one sergeant
and eight privates killed, seven officers and twenty-five
non-commissioned officers and privates wounded. The loss of the enemy
was eight killed and seventeen taken prisoners. Among the latter was
Major Campbell, who had commanded the redoubt.
The French stormed the other redoubt, which was more strongly
garrisoned, with equal gallantry, but less precipitation. They
proceeded according to rule. The soldiers paused while the sappers
removed the abatis, during which time they were exposed to a
destructive fire, and lost more men than did the Americans in their
headlong attack. The abatis being removed, the troops rushed to the
assault. The Chevalier de Lameth, Lafayette's adjutant-general, was
the first to mount the parapet of the redoubt, and received a volley
at arms' length from the Hessians who manned it. Shot through both
knees, he fell back into the ditch, and was conveyed away under care
of his friend, the Count de Dumas. The Count de Deuxponts, leading on
the royal grenadiers of the same name, was likewise wounded. The
grenadiers of the Gatinais regiment fought with true Gallic fire. One
third of them were slain, and among them Captain de Sireuil, a valiant
officer of chasseurs.
The redoubts thus taken were included the same night in the second
parallel, and howitzers were mounted upon them the following day. The
capture of them reduced Lord Cornwallis almost to despair. Writing
that same day to Sir Henry Clinton, he observes, "My situation now
becomes very critical; we dare not show a gun to their old batteries,
and I expect that their new ones will open to-morrow morning.... The
safety of the place is, therefore, so precarious, that I cannot
recommend that the fleet and army should run great risk in endeavoring
to save us," a generous abnegation of self on the part of the
beleaguered commander. Had the fleet and army sailed, as he had been
given to expect, about the 5th of October, they might have arrived in
time to save his lordship; but at the date of the above letter they
were still lingering in port. Delay of naval succor was fatal to
British operations in this war.
The second parallel was now nearly ready to open. Cornwallis dreaded
the effect of its batteries on his almost dismantled works. To retard
the danger as much as possible, he ordered an attack on two of the
batteries that were in the greatest state of forwardness, their guns
to be spiked. It was made a little before daybreak of the 16th, by
about three hundred and fifty men, under the direction of
Lieutenant-colonel Abercrombie. The redoubts which covered the
batteries were forced in gallant style, and several pieces of
artillery hastily spiked. By this time the supporting troops from the
trenches came up, and the enemy were obliged to retreat. The mischief
had been done too hastily. The spikes were easily extracted, and
before evening all the batteries and the parallel were nearly
complete.
At this time the garrison could not show a gun on the side of the
works exposed to attack, and the shells were nearly expended; the
place was no longer tenable. Rather than surrender, Cornwallis
determined to attempt an escape. His plan was to leave his sick and
wounded and his baggage behind, cross over in the night to Gloucester
Point, attack Choisy's camp before daybreak, mount his infantry on the
captured cavalry horses, and on such other as could be collected on
the road, push for the upper country by rapid marches until opposite
the fords of the great rivers, then turn suddenly northward, force his
way through Maryland, Pennsylvania and the Jerseys, and join Sir Henry
Clinton in New York. It was a wild and daring scheme, but his
situation was desperate, and the idea of surrender intolerable.
In pursuance of this design, sixteen large boats were secretly
prepared; a detachment was appointed to remain and capitulate for the
townspeople, the sick and the wounded; a large part of the troops were
transported to the Gloucester side of the river before midnight, and
the second division had actually embarked, when a violent storm of
wind and rain scattered the boats, and drove them a considerable
distance down the river. They were collected with difficulty. It was
now too late to effect the passage of the second division before
daybreak, and an effort was made to get back the division which had
already crossed. It was not done until the morning was far advanced,
and the troops in recrossing were exposed to the fire of the American
batteries.
The hopes of Lord Cornwallis were now at an end. His works were
tumbling in ruins about him, under an incessant cannonade; his
garrison was reduced in number by sickness and death, and exhausted by
constant watching and severe duty. Unwilling to expose the residue of
the brave troops which had stood by him so faithfully, to the dangers
and horrors of an assault, which could not fail to be successful, he
ordered a parley to be beaten about ten o'clock on the morning of the
17th, and despatched a flag with a letter to Washington proposing a
cessation of hostilities for twenty-four hours, and that two officers
might be appointed by each side to meet and settle terms for the
surrender of the posts of York and Gloucester. Washington felt
unwilling to grant such delay, when reinforcements might be on the way
for Cornwallis from New York. In reply, therefore, he requested that,
previous to the meeting of commissioners, his lordship's proposals
might be sent in writing to the American lines, for which purpose a
suspension of hostilities during two hours from the delivery of the
letter, would be granted. This was complied with; but as the proposals
offered by Cornwallis were not all admissible, Washington drew up a
schedule of such terms as he would grant, and transmitted it to his
lordship.
The armistice was prolonged. Commissioners met, the Viscount de
Noailles and Lieutenant-colonel Laurens on the part of the allies;
Colonel Dundas and Major Ross on the part of the British. After much
discussion, a rough draft was made of the terms of capitulation to be
submitted to the British general. These Washington caused to be
promptly transcribed, and sent to Lord Cornwallis early in the morning
of the 19th, with a note expressing his expectation that they would be
signed by eleven o'clock, and that the garrison would be ready to
march out by two o'clock in the afternoon. Lord Cornwallis was fain to
comply, and, accordingly, on the same day, the posts of Yorktown and
Gloucester were surrendered to General Washington as commander-in-chief
of the combined army; and the ships of war, transports and other
vessels, to the Count de Grasse, as commander of the French fleet. The
garrison of Yorktown and Gloucester, including the officers of the navy
and seamen of every denomination, were to surrender as prisoners of war
to the combined army; the land force to remain prisoners to the United
States, the seamen to the King of France.{1} The garrison was to be
allowed the same honors granted to the garrison of Charleston when it
surrendered to Sir Henry Clinton. The officers were to retain their
side arms; both officers and soldiers their private property, and no
part of their baggage or papers was to be subject to search or
inspection. The soldiers were to be kept in Virginia, Maryland, or
Pennsylvania, as much by regiments as possible, and supplied with the
same rations of provisions as the American soldiers. The officers were
to be permitted to proceed, upon parole, to Europe or to any maritime
port on the continent of America in possession of British troops.
{Footnote 1: The number of prisoners amounted to 7,073, of whom 5,950
were rank and file, six commissioned, and twenty-eight
non-commissioned officers and privates, had previously been captured
in the two redoubts, or in the sortie of the garrison. The loss
sustained by the garrison during the siege, in killed, wounded, and
missing, amounted to 552. That of the combined army in killed was
about 300. The combined army to which Cornwallis surrendered, was
estimated at 16,000, of whom 7,000 were French, 5,500 continentals,
and 3,500 militia.--_Holmes' Annals_.}
On the following morning, Washington in general orders congratulated
the allied armies on the recent victory, awarding high praise to the
officers and troops both French and American, for their conduct during
the siege, and specifying by name several of the generals and other
officers who had especially distinguished themselves. All those of his
army who were under arrest were pardoned and set at liberty.
Cornwallis felt deeply the humiliation of this close to all his wide
and wild campaigning, and was made the more sensitive on the subject
by circumstances of which he soon became apprised. On the very day
that he had been compelled to lay down his arms before Yorktown, the
lingering armament intended for his relief sailed from New York. It
consisted of twenty-five ships-of-the-line, two fifty-gun ships, and
eight frigates; with Sir Henry Clinton and seven thousand of his best
troops. Sir Henry arrived off the capes of Virginia on the 24th, and
gathered information which led him to apprehend that Lord Cornwallis
had capitulated. He hovered off the mouth of the Chesapeake until the
29th, when, having fully ascertained that he had come too late, he
turned his tardy prows toward New York.
In the meantime rejoicings spread throughout the Union. "Cornwallis is
taken!" was the universal acclaim. It was considered a death-blow to
the war. Congress gave way to transports of joy. Thanks were voted to
the commander-in-chief, to the Counts De Rochambeau and De Grasse, to
the officers of the allied armies generally, and to the corps of
artillery and engineers especially. Two stands of colors, trophies of
the capitulation, were voted to Washington, two pieces of field
ordnance to De Rochambeau and De Grasse; and it was decreed that a
marble column, commemorative of the alliance between France and the
United States, and of the victory achieved by their associated arms,
should be erected in Yorktown. Finally, Congress issued a
proclamation, appointing a day for general thanksgiving and prayer, in
acknowledgment of this signal interposition of Divine Providence.
Far different was the feeling of the British ministry when news of the
event reached the other side of the Atlantic. Lord George Germain was
the first to announce it to Lord North at his office in Downing
street. "And how did he take it?" was the inquiry. "As he would have
taken a ball in the breast," replied Lord George, "for he opened his
arms, exclaiming wildly as he paced up and down the apartment, 'Oh
God! it is all over!'"