thousand troops~[9] for the land service. He was met at the landing
place of Cape Henry by Colonel Gimat, a Frenchman by birth, commander of
the American battalion, who was charged with despatches from Lafayette;
which explained fully to the admiral his own military position, and that
of the enemy, and conjured him to sail immediately into the Chesapeake;
to drive the frigates into the James River, that the passage might be
kept clear; to blockade the York River; to send two vessels above the
position of Lord Cornwallis, before the batteries on the water-side,
at Yorktown and Gloucester could be put in a proper state. The Count de
Grasse adhered to these proposals, with the exception of not forcing the
batteries with two vessels, which manoeuvre would have made the blockade
of Cornwallis by the land troops still more easy of achievement. The
Marquis de St. Simon landed with three thousand men at James Island.
Lafayette assembled a small corps in the county of Gloucester, led,
himself, the American forces on Williamsburg, where he was met by the
corps of the Marquis de St. Simon, who came to range themselves under
his orders, so that Lord Cornwallis found himself suddenly, as if by
enchantment, blockaded both by sea and land. The combined army, under
the orders of Lafayette, was placed in an excellent situation at
Williamsburg. It was impossible to arrive there except by two difficult
and well-defended passages. Lord Cornwallis presented himself before
them in the hope of escaping, by making a forcible attack; but having
ascertained the impossibility of forcing them, he only occupied himself
with finishing speedily the fortifications of Yorktown; his hopes,
however, declined, when the Count de Grasse, having only left the ships
necessary for the blockade, and having gone out of the harbour to attack
Admiral Graves, forced the English to retire, and returned to his former
station in the bay. The French admiral was, however, impatient to return
to the islands; he wished that Yorktown should be taken by force of
arms. The Marquis de St. Simon was of the same opinion; they both
represented strongly to Lafayette that it was just, after such a long,
fatiguing, and fortunate campaign, that the glory of making Cornwallis
lay down his arms should belong to him who had reduced him to that
situation. The admiral offered to send to the attack not only the
garrisons from the ships, but all the sailors he should ask for.
Lafayette was deaf to this proposal, and answered, that General
Washington and the corps of General Rochambeau would soon arrive, and
that it was far better to hasten their movements than act without them;
and, by making a murderous attack, shed a great deal of blood from a
feeling of vanity and a selfish love of glory; that they were certain,
after the arrival of the succours, of taking the hostile army by a
regular attack, and thus spare the lives of the soldiers; which a good
general ought always to respect as much as possible, especially in a
country where it was so difficult to obtain others to replace those who
fell. General Washington and Count Rochambeau were the first to arrive;
they were soon followed by their troops; but, at the same moment,
the Admiral de Grasse wrote word that he was obliged to return to
the islands. The whole expedition seemed on the point of failing, and
General Washington begged Lafayette to go on board the admiral's ship in
the bay, and endeavour to persuade him to change his mind: he succeeded,
and the siege of Yorktown was begun. The Count de Rochambeau commanded
the French, including the corps of St. Simon; the Americans were divided
in two parts; one, under Major-general Lincoln, who had come from the
north with some troops; the other, under General Lafayette, who had been
joined by two more battalions of light infantry, under the orders of
Colonel Hamilton. It became necessary to attack two redoubts. One
of these attacks was confided to the Baron de Viomenil, the other to
General Lafayette. The former had expressed, in a somewhat boasting
manner, the idea he had of the superiority of the French in an attack
of that kind; Lafayette, a little offended, answered, "We are but young
soldiers, and we have but one sort of tactic on such occasions, which
is, to discharge our muskets, and push on straight with our bayonets."
He led on the American troops, of whom he gave the command to Colonel
Hamilton, with the Colonels Laurens and Gimat under him. The American
troops took the redoubt with the bayonet. As the firing was still
continued on the French side, Lafayette sent an aide-de-camp to the
Baron de Viomenil, to ask whether he did not require some succour from
the Americans;~[10] but the French were not long in taking possession
also of the other redoubt, and that success decided soon after the
capitulation of Lord Cornwallis, (19th October, 1781.) Nor must the
mention of an action be omitted here which was honourable to the
humanity of the Americans. The English had disgraced themselves
several times, and again recently at New London, by the murder of some
imprisoned garrisons. The detachment of Colonel Hamilton did not for an
instant make an ill use of their victory; as soon as the enemy deposed
their arms, they no longer received the slightest injury. Colonel
Hamilton distinguished himself very much in that attack.~[11]
Lord Cornwallis had demanded, in the capitulation, the permission
of marching out with drums beating and colours flying; the Count de
Rochambeau and the French officers were of opinion that this request
ought to be granted; the American generals did not oppose this idea;
Lafayette, recollecting that the same enemy had required General
Lincoln, at the capitulation of Charlestown, to furl the American
colours and not to play an English march, insisted strongly on using
the same measures with them in retaliation, and obtained that these
two precise conditions should be inserted in the capitulation. Lord
Cornwallis did not himself file out with the detachment. The Generals,
Washington, Rochambeau, and Lafayette, sent to present him their
compliments by their aides-de-camp. He retained Lafayette's
aide-de-camp, young George Washington, and told him that having made
this long campaign against General Lafayette, he wished, from the value
he annexed to that general's esteem, to give him a private account of
the motives which had obliged him to surrender. He told him several
things which have since been found in his discussion with General
Clinton. Lafayette went the next day to see him. "I know," said Lord
Cornwallis, "your humanity towards prisoners, and I recommend my poor
army to you." This recommendation was made in a tone which implied that
in Lafayette alone he felt real confidence, and placed but little in
the Americans. Lafayette therefore replied, "You know, my lord, that
the Americans have always been humane towards imprisoned armies;" in
allusion to the taking of General Burgoyne at Saratoga.~[12] The English
army was in fact treated with every possible mark of attention.
Although the French troops held in every respect the place of auxiliary
troops, yet the Americans always yielded them every preference in
their power relating to food or any other comfort. It is a singular
circumstance that when the troops of the~[13] the young general,
although a Frenchman, took upon himself to order that no flour should
be delivered to the American troops until the French had received their
full provision for three days. The Americans had therefore seldom any
thing but the flour of Indian corn. He gave the horses of the gentlemen
of that country to the French hussars, and the superior officers
themselves were obliged to give up theirs: yet not one murmur escaped
as to that preference, which the Americans felt ought to be shewn to
foreigners who came from such a distance to fight in their cause.~[14]
The news of the capture of Yorktown was carried to France by a French
frigate, who made the voyage in eighteen days. The English were thrown
into consternation at that news, which occasioned the downfall of the
ministry of Lord North. It was felt in London, as in the rest of all
Europe, that the decisive check the English had received, had completely
settled the final issue of the conflict, and from that period nothing
was thought of but to acknowledge the independence of the United States
on favourable terms for Great Britain.
Generals Washington and Lafayette wished to take advantage of the
superiority of the Count de Grasse in order to attack Charlestown, and
the English who remained in the southern states. Lafayette was to take
his light infantry, as well as the corps of St. Simon, and land on the
Charlestown side, to co-operate with General Greene, who still commanded
in Carolina. It is evident that this project would have been successful.
It has since become known that Lord Cornwallis, when he saw Lafayette
enter into a canoe to go on board the fleet of the Count de Grasse,
said to some English officers, "He is going to decide the loss of
Charlestown." But the admiral refused obstinately to make any operation
upon the coast of North America.~[15]
General Lafayette afterwards repaired to congress. To him, who was then
but four-and-twenty, the happy issue of that campaign was as flattering
a success as it had been decisive to the American cause. He received
the instructions of congress, in relation to the affairs of the United
States in Europe; and embarked at Boston in the frigate _the Alliance_.
He reached France in twenty-three days. The reception he met with, and
the credit he enjoyed both at court and in society were constantly and
usefully employed in the service of the cause he had embraced.
Footnotes:
1. These Memoirs are extracted from the American Biography of M. de
Lafayette, written by himself, which we have designated under the name
of Manuscript, No. 1. We have completed them by extracts of Manuscript,
No. 2, which contains observations on the historians of America.
2. It was settled that that corps of six thousand men, commanded by
Lieutenant-General Rochambeau, was to be completely under the orders of
the American commander-in-chief, and was only to form a division of
his army. The order of service was regulated in such a manner that the
French were only to be looked upon as auxiliaries, keeping the left of
the American troops, and the command belonging, when there was equality,
of rank and age, to the American officers. In a word, the advantages to
be derived by the government, the general, and the American soldiers,
were stipulated beforehand in such a manner as to prevent all future
discussions. (Manuscript, No. 2.)
3. Upon one of these banners a cannon was painted, with this device:
_Ultima ratio_, suppressing the word _regum_, which is used in Europe;
upon another, a crown of laurel united to a civic crown, with the
device--_No other_. And thus with the other emblems.--(Note de M. de
Lafayette.)
4. West Point, a fort on a tongue of land which advances upon the
Hudson, and governs its whole navigation, is such an important position
that it is called by an historian the Gibraltar of America. Arnold had
been entrusted with its command, and his treachery, if it had proved
successful, and been even attended with no other result but that of
yielding up this fort to the enemy, would have inflicted a deadly wound
upon the cause of the United States. He had entered, during eighteen
months, into a secret relation with Sir Henry Clinton, who confided
the whole charge of that affair to an aide-de-camp, Major André. Arnold
failed at an appointment for the first interview with André the 11th
September, at Dobb's Ferry. A second one was proposed on board the sloop
of war the _Vulture_, which Clinton sent for that purpose, on the 16th,
to Teller's Point, about fifteen or twenty miles below West Point.
General Washington, who was repairing, with M. de Lafayette, to the
Hartford conference, crossed the Hudson the 18th, and saw Arnold, who
shewed him a letter from Colonel Robinson, on board the _Vulture_, which
stated that that officer requested a rendezvous with him to converse
upon some private affairs. Washington told him to refuse the rendezvous.
Arnold then made arrangements for a private interview. Major André
quitted New York, came on board the sloop, and from thence proceeded,
with a false passport, to Long Clove, where he saw Arnold, the night of
the 21st. They separated the next morning. André, on his return to New
York, was taken at Tarry Town, by three of the militia, and conducted to
the post of North Castle, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Jameson, who
gave notice of this event, on the 23d, to his superior officer, General
Arnold. The latter received the letter on the 25th, the same day on
which he expected General Washington on his return from Hartford. He
fled immediately; a few minutes after the general-in-chief arrived, and
he received, only four hours later, the despatches which apprised him
of the plot--(Washington's, Writings, vol. vii. Appendix No. 7.) and
Mac-Henry, lieutenant-colonels, the one aid-de-camp to Washington, the
other to Lafayette, had gone on before to request Mrs. Arnold not to
wait breakfast for them. They were still there, and Arnold with them,
when he received the note: he turned pale, retired to his own room, and
sent for his wife, who fainted. In that state he left her, without any
one perceiving it: he did not return into the drawing room, but got
upon his aide-de-camp's horse, which was ready saddled at the door, and
desiring him to inform the general that he would wait for him at West
Point, hurried to the bank of the river, got into his canoe, and was
rowed to the _Vulture_. The general, when he learnt on his arrival that
Arnold was at West Point, fancied that he had gone to prepare for his
reception there, and without entering into the house, stepped into a
boat with the two generals who accompanied him. When they arrived at the
opposite shore, they were astonished at finding they were not expected:
the mystery was only explained on their return, because the despatches
of Lieutenant-Colonel Jameson had arrived in the interim.
An historian has spoken of the generosity with which Mrs. Arnold was
treated. It is, in truth, highly honourable to the American character
that, during the first effervescence of indignation against her husband,
she was able to go to Philadelphia, take her effects, and proceed with
a flag of truce to New York, without meeting with the slightest insult.
The same historian (Mr. Marshall) might have added that, the very
evening of Arnold's evasion, the general, having received from him a
very insolent letter, dated on board the _Vulture_, ordered one of his
aides-de-camp to tell Mrs. Arnold, who was in an agony of terror, that
he had done everything he could to seize her husband, but that, not
having been able to do so, he felt pleasure in informing her that her
husband was safe.~[5]
5. General Arnold is the only American officer who ever thought of
making use of his command to increase the fortune. The disinterestedness
of those soldiers, during a period of revolution, which facilitates
abuses, forms a singular contrast with the reproach of avidity that
other governments, who have not shown the same moderation themselves,
have thought proper to make against the citizens of the United States.
The generals and American officers have almost all of them fought at
their own expense; the affairs of many of them have been ruined by their
absence. Those who had professions lost the power of exercising them.
It has been proved, by accounts exacted in France during times of
terror and proscription, that Lafayette had spent in the service of the
American revolution, independent of his income, more than seven hundred
thousand francs of his capital. The conduct of Washington was even
more simple, and according to our opinion, more praiseworthy: he would
neither accept the profit of emolument, nor the pride of sacrifice;
he was paid for all necessary expenses, and, without increasing his
fortune, only lessened it, from the injury it unavoidably received from
his absence. Whilst all the American officers conducted themselves with
the most patriotic disinterestedness, and all the pretensions of the
army were satisfied with the compensation of seven years pay, we can
only quote the single example of the traitor Arnold, who endeavoured to
draw the slightest pecuniary advantage from circumstances. Some grants
of lands have been made by the southern states to Generals Greene and
Wayne, and Colonel Washington, but only since the revolution. The shares
of the Potomac, given also since the revolution to General Washington,
were left by him in his will for the foundation of a college: in a word,
we may affirm, that delicacy and disinterestedness have been universal
in the American army. (Note of M. de Lafayette.)
6. The writings of that period give an account of the revolt of the
soldiers of Pennsvlvania; the complaints of most of them were well
founded. When General Saint Clair, Lafayette, and Laurens, repairing
from Philadelphia to head quarters, stopped at Princetown, as they had
been desired to do by the council of state of Pennsylvania, they found a
negotiation begun by General Wayne, and Colonels Stewart and Butler, who
were all three much beloved by the Pennsylvanian soldiers; committees
arrived from the congress and state, to arrange the affair, not in
a military, but in a civil manner: they remained but a few hours at
Princetown, and the business was soon settled in the same manner in
which it was commenced. But when the soldiers of the Jersey line wished
to imitate the revolt of the Pennsylvanians, General Washington stifled
it in its birth by vigorous measures. But it should be added that the
sufferings and disappointments of that brave and virtuous army were
sufficient to weary the patience of any human being: the conduct of
the continental troops, during the revolution, has been, in truth, most
admirable.
7. Mr. Marshall relates the affair of Jamestown. There were no militia
present, except the riflemen, who were placed in advance in the wood.
They threw down successively three commandants of the advance post,
placed there by Cornwallis, that what was passing behind might not be
seen. This obstinacy in covering the position excited the suspicion of
Lafayette, in spite of the unanimous opinion that a rear guard was alone
remaining there. As soon as he saw, from the projecting tongue of land,
that those who had crossed over were placed in such a manner as to
appear numerous, he returned with all possible haste; but General Wayne
had yielded to the temptation. He fortunately perceived his error,
and being a good and brave officer, came forward with much gallantry;
fortunately, also, Lafayette had only placed the Pennsylvanians in
advance, and had left the light infantry in a situation to offer them
some assistance. The first half of his continental troops retired upon
the other half, and the whole were placed in such a manner that Lord
Cornwallis feared an ambuscade, and the more so, observes Mr. Marshall,
as he had always been deceived as to the real force of Lafayette's
army.--(Manuscript, No. 2.)
8. James Moody rendered an ill service to those who employed him, by
seizing the letter-bag in the Jerseys. Among the letters, those in which
General Washington informed Lafayette of the project respecting New
York, contained friendly and confidential communications, written in
the General's own hand, which could not leave the slightest doubt in
any person's mind: they may be found in the publications of the Generals
Clinton and Cornwallis, which contain also Lafayette's intercepted
letters. But the enemy did not take those in which General Lafayette
gave an account to General Washington of his manoeuvres, of his hopes,
and of all that determined the commander-in-chief to adopt the project
on Virginia, nor Washington's answers to that effect; so that when
the combined troops made their first march towards the south, General
Clinton still remained deceived, owing to the singular chance of the
capture of the letter-bag by Moody.--(Manuscript, No. 2.)
9. The entreaties of Count de Rochambeau contributed much towards
persuading the Count de Grasse to bring his whole fleet, to land there
the three thousand two hundred men, who joined, on their arrival, the
army of Lafayette, and to repair immediately to Cape Henry, in Virginia.
This is one more obligation which the common cause of the allies owes to
General Rochambeau, who, from his talents, experience, moderation, and
his subordination to the general-in-chief, respect for the civil power,
and maintenance of discipline, proved that the King of France had made
an excellent choice for the command of the auxiliary corps sent to the
United States. (Note of M. de Lafayette.)
10. The French were much struck on this occasion by the extreme coolness
of one of the officers whom Lafayette sent to the Baron de Viomenil,
from a secret feeling of pleasure, perhaps, in marking how much the
present comparison stood in favour of the American troops. However this
might be, Major Barber received a contusion in his side, but would
not allow his wound to be dressed until he had executed his
commission.--(Manuscript, No. 2.)
11. The humanity of the American soldiers in that assault has been
attested by all historians. The following letter must be quoted:--
TO THE EDITOR OF THE EVENING POST.
_New York, August_ 10, 1802.
Sir,--Finding that a story, long since propagated, under circumstances
which it was expected would soon consign it to oblivion, (and by which
I have been complimented at the expense of Generals Washington and
Lafayette,) has of late been revived, and has acquired a degree of
importance by being repeated in different publications, as well in
Europe as America, it becomes a duty to counteract its currency and
influence by an explicit disavowal.
The story imports, in substance, that General Lafayette, with the
approbation or connivance of General Washington, ordered me, as the
officer who was to command the attack on a British redoubt, in the
course of the siege of Yorktown, to put to death all those of the enemy
who should happen to be taken in the redoubt, and that, through motives
of humanity, I forbore to execute the order.
Positively, and unequivocally, I declare, that no such order or similar
order, was ever by me received, or understood to have been given, nor
any intimation or hint resembling it.
It is needless to enter into an explanation of some occurrences on the
occasion alluded to, which may be conjectured to have given rise to the
calumny. It is enough to say, that they were entirely disconnected with
any act of either of the generals who have been accused.
With esteem, I am, sir, your most obedient servant,
A. HAMILTON.
The circumstance alluded to in this letter has been related in the Life
of Hamilton, published by his son. A short time before the taking
of Yorktown, a Colonel Scammell, surprised by the English whilst
reconnoitring, had been taken prisoner and dangerously wounded. When the
redoubt was taken, and Colonel Campbell, who commanded, advanced to give
himself up, a captain, who had served under Scammell, seized a bayonet,
and was on the point of striking him; Hamilton turned aside the blow,
and Campbell exclaimed, "I place myself under your protection," and was
made prisoner by Laurens. (The Life of A. Hamilton, vol. i., chap. 14.)
12. Lord Cornwallis affected being indisposed, in order that he might
not march out at the head of his troops: they passed between two rows
of the American and French army, commanded by General O'Hara, and
surrendered their arms at the order of General Lincoln. Each of the
generals, Washington, Rochambeau, and Lafayette, sent as aide-de-camp
to offer their compliments to Lord Cornwallis. He retained Lafayette's
aide-de-camp, Major Washington, the nephew of General Washington, to
tell him how anxious he was that the general against whom he had made
this campaign should be convinced that he only surrendered from the
impossibility of defending himself any longer. The American, French, and
English generals visited each other, and everything passed with every
possible mark of attention, especially towards Lord Cornwallis, one
of the most estimable men of England, who was considered their best
general. O'Hara having said one day, at table, to the French generals,
affecting not to wish to be overheard by Lafayette, that he considered
it as fortunate not to have been taken by the Americans alone, "General
O'Hara, probably," replied Lafayette, "does not like repetitions." He
had, in, fact, been taken with Burgoyne, and has since been taken for
the third time at Toulon.--(Manuscript, No. 2.)
13. Marqius de St. Simon joined those of Lafayette.
14. See at the end of the volume a precise account of this whole
campaign in Virginia, edited by M. de Lafayette--(Part, No. 1.)
15. General Lafayette was to have taken two thousand Americans and
St. Simon's corps, who, landing near Charlestown, on the sea side, and
co-operating with the troops of General Greene, would have secured the
capture of the capital of Carolina, and of all the English who were
remaining south of New York. Lowering their demands, they then requested
that Lafayette should take the five thousand men who were at Wilmington,
and who were so much struck by the dangers they had encountered, that
they did not retain that post. At length, they contented themselves with
asking the admiral to conduct General Wayne and his detachment, which
were sent to reinforce Greene's army. He would not do so. It has also
since become known, that when Lafayette, returning from his last visit
to the admiral, landed at Yorktown, Lord Cornwallis, who was still
there, said to his officers, "I lay a bet that he has been making
arrangements for our ruin at Charlestown." The English acknowledged that
the expedition could not fail; but the Count de Grasse did not think he
ought to lose more time upon the North American coast, before returning
to the defence of the West Indies.--(Manuscript, No. 2.)
CORRESPONDENCE.
1779-1781.
TO COUNT DE VERGENNES~[1]
Paris, 24th February, 1779.
SIR,--A desire to render an exact obedience to the orders of the king,
impels me to take the liberty of importuning you to let me know what is
my duty. The prohibition which the Marshal de Noailles has put upon
me, makes no exception as to one, whom I do not think, nevertheless,
I should be forbidden to visit. Dr. Franklin was to have met me at
Versailles this morning, if I had been there, to communicate to me some
affairs of importance, as he said. I have informed him of the cause
that detained me at Paris; but I did not think I ought to refuse an
interview, which might not be wholly useless to the king's interests. He
is coming to-morrow morning, and I trust you will add to your kindnesses
that of directing me how to conduct myself in this matter.