By the 7th of September Marquis Lafayette was holding the neck of the
peninsula of York. A more daring man than Cornwallis would have tried
a fall with this army, but he waited for a fleet to relieve him, and
behold! none came save that of De Grasse. By September 26 sixteen
thousand men were added to those of the marquis, and lay about
Williamsburg. Our quiet old hawk had my lord in his clutches, and meant
no long delay.
Not to be in advance of the army, his Excellency, who left Philadelphia
before us, lingered a few days on the way to visit the home he had not
seen for six long years, and we of the staff followed him the day after.
Both in town and on the march through Delaware I was occupied as I had
never been in my life. The French marched with us, and to keep things
straight duplicate orders in both tongues were needed, and there were
notes, letters, and despatches to be done into French or English. An
aide who spoke French fluently was apt to be in the saddle whenever his
pen was not in use.
The life was to me of advantage, because I came daily into contact with
officers, young and old, who had seen the finest company in Europe, and
from whom there was much to learn. It is Chastellux, I think, who has
said that Mr. Washington possessed the charm of such manners as were
rare among our officers. With these gentlemen, our allies, the way
of doing every little act of the life of society seemed to have been
studied and taught, until these gracious and amiable forms were become,
as one may say, a part of the man.
No wonder they found us clumsy fellows. Too many of our gentry were
not in the war, or were opposed to it. Many regiments were strangely
officered, and this, as Graydon says in his memoirs, was especially the
case as to the New England troops. But a man with no manners and with
brutal habits may fight as well as a marquis.
Now toward the close of the war, if we were still as to looks but
a Falstaffian contingent, the material in men and officers had been
notably sifted, and was in all essential ways fit for the perilous
service to which we were about to address ourselves.
At Mount Vernon we camped--we of the staff--in and out of the house,
and were bountifully fed, nor did I ever see his Excellency more to
advantage than here. He personally looked after our wants, and lost
for a time much of the official reserve with which he guarded himself
elsewhere.
At table after dinner he was in the habit of asking one of his aides to
propose toasts for him. The day before we left, as we were about to
rise from table, Colonel Tilghman said, “One more toast, with your
permission, Excellency,” and cried out, “My Lord Cornwallis, and may he
enjoy the hospitalities of our army.”
Our host laughed as he rarely did, saying, “We must first catch our
fish, Mr. Tilghman.”