Life and Times of Washington Part 25

The officers and soldiers were allowed to retain their private property.

Such officers as were not required to remain with the troops were permitted to return to Europe or to reside in any part of America not in possession of the British troops.

Dr. Thacher, who was present during the whole siege, thus describes the surrender: "At about 12 o'clock the combined army was arranged and drawn up in two lines, extending more than a mile in length. The Americans were drawn up in a line on the right side of the road, and the French occupied the left. At the head of the former the great American commander, mounted on his n.o.ble courser, took his station, attended by his aides. At the head of the latter was posted the excellent Count Rochambeau and his suite. The French troops, in complete uniform, displayed a n.o.ble and martial appearance; their band of music, of which the timbrel formed a part, is a delightful novelty, and produced, while marching to the ground, a most enchanting effect. The Americans, though not all in uniform nor their dress so neat, yet exhibited an erect, soldierly air and every countenance beamed with satisfaction and joy.

The concourse of spectators from the country was prodigious, in point of numbers nearly equal to the military, but universal silence and order prevailed. It was about 2 o'clock when the captive army advanced through the line formed for their reception. Every eye was prepared to gaze on Lord Cornwallis, the object of peculiar interest and solicitude, but he disappointed our anxious expectations. Pretending indisposition, he made General O'Hara his subst.i.tute as the leader of his army. This officer was followed by the conquered troops in a slow and solemn step, with shouldered arms, colors cased, and drums beating a British march. Having arrived at the head of the line, General O'Hara, elegantly mounted, advanced to his Excellency, the Commander-in-Chief, taking off his hat and apologizing for the nonappearance of Earl Cornwallis. With his usual dignity and politeness, his Excellency pointed to Major-General Lincoln for directions, by whom the British army was conducted into a s.p.a.cious field, where it was intended they should ground their arms. The royal troops, while marching through the line formed by the allied army, exhibited a decent and neat appearance as respects arms and clothing, for their commander opened his store and directed every soldier to be furnished with a new suit complete prior to the capitulation. But in their line of march we remarked a disorderly and unsoldierlike conduct; their step was irregular and their ranks frequently broken. But it was in the field, when they came to the last act of the drama, that the spirit and pride of the British soldier was put to the severest test.

Here their mortification could not be concealed. Some of the platoon officers appeared to be exceedingly chagrined when giving the word, 'Ground arms!' and I am a witness that they performed this duty in a very unofficerlike manner and that many of the soldiers manifested a sullen temper, throwing their arms on the pile with violence, as if determined to render them useless. This irregularity, however, was checked by the authority of General Lincoln. After having grounded their arms and divested themselves of their accoutrements, the captive troops were conducted back to Yorktown and guarded by our troops until they could be conducted to the place of their destination."

Congress bestowed its thanks freely and fully upon the Commander-in-Chief, Count de Rochambeau, Count de Gra.s.se, and the various officers of the different corps, and the brave soldiers under their command. Two stands of colors, trophies of war, were voted to Washington and two pieces of cannon to Rochambeau and de Gra.s.se, and it was also voted that a marble column to commemorate the alliance and the victory should be erected in Yorktown. On the day after the surrender the general orders closed as follows: "Divine service shall be performed tomorrow in the different brigades and divisions. The Commander-in-Chief recommends that all the troops that are not upon duty do a.s.sist at it with a serious deportment and that sensibility of heart which the recollection of the surprising and particular interposition of Providence in our favor claims." A proclamation was also issued by Congress appointing the 13th of December as a day of thanksgiving and prayer, on account of this signal and manifest favor of Divine Providence in behalf of our country.

The news of Cornwallis' surrender was received throughout the country with the most tumultuous expressions of joy. The worthy New England Puritans considered it, as Cromwell did the victory at Worcester, "the crowning mercy." It promised them a return of peace and prosperity. The people of the middle States regarded it as a guarantee for their speedy deliverance from the presence of a hated enemy. But to the southern States it was more than this. It was the retributive justice of Heaven against a band of cruel and remorseless murderers and robbers, who had spread desolation and sorrow through their once happy homes. It is a.s.serted in Gordon's "History of the War" that wherever Cornwallis' army marched the dwelling-houses were plundered of everything that could be carried off. The stables of Virginia were plundered of the horses on which his cavalry rode in their ravaging march through that State.

Millions of property, in tobacco and other merchandise and in private houses and public buildings, were destroyed by Arnold, Philips, and Cornwallis in Virginia alone. The very horse which Tarleton had the impudence to ride on the day of the surrender was stolen from a planter's stable, who recognized it on the field and compelled Tarleton to give it up and mount a sorry hack for the occasion.

It was computed at the time that 1,400 widows were made by the war in the single district of Ninety-Six. The whole devastation occasioned by the British army, during six months previous to the surrender at Yorktown, amounted to not less than 3,000,000 sterling, an immense loss for so short a time, falling, as it did, chiefly on the rural population. No wonder that they a.s.sembled in crowds to witness the humiliation of Cornwallis and his army. To them it was not only a triumph, but a great deliverance. Well might the Virginians triumph.

The return of their favorite commander, a son of the soil, had speedily released their State from ravage and destruction and restored them to comparative peace and repose.

On the very day of Cornwallis' surrender, Clinton sailed from New York with reinforcements. He had been perfectly aware of Cornwallis' extreme peril and was anxious to relieve him, but the fleet had sustained considerable damage in the battle with de Gra.s.se and some time was necessarily spent in repairing it. During that interval four ships-of-the-line arrived from Europe and two from the West Indies. At length Clinton embarked with 7,000 of his best troops, but was unable to sail from Sandy Hook till the 19th (1781), the day on which Cornwallis surrendered. The fleet, consisting of twenty-five ships-of-the-line, two vessels of fifty guns each, and eight frigates, arrived off the Chesapeake on the 24th (October, 1781), when Clinton had the mortification to be informed of the event of the 19th. He remained on the coast, however, till the 29th, when, every doubt being removed concerning the capitulation of Cornwallis, whose relief was the sole object of the expedition, he returned to New York.

While Clinton continued off the Chesapeake, the French fleet, consisting of thirty-six sail-of-the-line, satisfied with the advantage already gained, lay at anchor in the bay without making any movement whatever.

Washington, considering the present a favorable opportunity for following up his success by an expedition against the British army in Charleston, wrote a letter to Count de Gra.s.se on the day after the capitulation, requesting him to unite his fleet to the proposed armament and a.s.sist in the expedition. He even went on board the admiral's fleet to thank him for his late services in the siege and to urge upon him the feasibility and importance of this plan of operations. But the orders of his court, ulterior projects, and his engagements with the Spaniards put it out of the power of the French admiral to continue so long in America as was required. He, however, remained some days in the bay in order to cover the embarkation of the troops and of the ordnance to be conveyed by water to the head of the Elk. [5]

Some brigades proceeded by land to join their companions at that place.

Some cavalry marched to join General Greene, but the French troops, under Count Rochambeau, remained in Virginia to be in readiness to march to the south or north, as the circ.u.mstances of the next campaign might require. On the 27th the troops of St. Simon began to embark, in order to return to the West Indies, and early in November Count de Gra.s.se sailed for that quarter.

Part of the prisoners were sent to Winchester in Virginia and Fredericktown, Maryland, the remainder to Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Lord Cornwallis and the princ.i.p.al officers were paroled and sailed for New York. During their stay at Yorktown, after the surrender, they received the most delicate attentions from the conquerors. Dr. Thacher, in his "Military Journal," notices particularly some of these attentions: "Lord Cornwallis and his officers," he says, "since their capitulation, have received all the civilities and hospitality which is in the power of their conquerors to bestow. General Washington, Count Rochambeau, and other general officers have frequently invited them to entertainments, and they have expressed their grateful acknowledgments in return. They cannot avoid feeling the striking contrast between the treatment which they now experience and that which they have bestowed on our prisoners who have unfortunately fallen into their hands. It is a dictate of humanity and benevolence, after sheathing the sword, to relieve and meliorate the condition of the vanquished prisoner.

"On one occasion, while in the presence of General Washington, Lord Cornwallis was standing with his head uncovered. His Excellency said to him, politely, 'My lord, you had better be covered from the cold.' His lordship, applying his hand to his head, replied, 'It matters not, sir, what becomes of this head now.'" The reader will not have failed to notice that the capture of Cornwallis was effected solely by the able and judicious strategy of Washington. It was he that collected from different parts of the country the forces that were necessary to enclose that commander and his. .h.i.therto victorious army as it were in a net, from which there was no possibility of escape. It was he who, by personal influence and exertion, brought de Gra.s.se to renounce his expected triumphs at sea and zealously a.s.sist in the siege by preventing Cornwallis from receiving any aid from British naval forces. It was he who detained de Gra.s.se at a critical moment of the siege, when he was anxious to go off with the chief part of his force and engage the British at sea. In short, it was he who provided all, oversaw all, directed all, and having, by prudence and forethought, as well as by activity and perseverance, brought all the elements of conquest together, combined them into one mighty effort with glorious success.

It was the second siege on a grand scale which had been brought to a brilliant and fortunate conclusion by the wisdom and prudence as well as the courage and perseverance of Washington. In the first he expelled the enemy and recovered Boston uninjured, freeing the soil for a time from the presence of the enemy. In the second, he captured the most renowned and successful British army in America and dictated his own terms of surrender to a commander who, from his marquee, had recently given law to three States of the Union.

1. Footnote: Dr. Thacher, in his Military Journal, has an entry: "July 7th. Our army was drawn up in a line and reviewed by General Rochambeau, with his Excellency, General Washington, and other general officers.--July 10th. Another review took place in presence of the French amba.s.sador from Philadelphia, after which the French army pa.s.sed a review in presence of the general officers of both armies." Speaking of the French army, Dr. Thacher says: "In the officers we recognize the accomplished gentlemen, free and affable in their manners. Their military dress and side-arms are elegant. The troops are under the strictest discipline, and are amply provided with arms and accoutrements, which are kept in the neatest order. They are in complete uniform--coats of white broadcloth, trimmed with green, and white under-dress, and on their heads they wear a singular kind of hat or chapeau. It is unlike our c.o.c.ked hats, in having but two corners instead of three, which gives them a very novel appearance."

2. Footnote: The amount was $20,000 in specie, to be refunded by Robert Morris on the 1st of October. On the 31st of August, Dr. Thacher says: "Colonel Laurens arrived at headquarters, camp, Trenton, on his way from Boston to Philadelphia. He brought two and a half millions of livres in cash, a part of the French subsidy,--a most seasonable supply, as the troops were discontented and almost mutinous for want of pay."

3. Footnote: Lafayette (letter to Washington, 16th October, 1781) says "Your Excellency having personally seen our dispositions, I shall only give you an account of what pa.s.sed in the execution. Colonel Gimat's battalion led the van, and was followed by that of Colonel Hamilton, who commanded the whole advanced corps. At the same time a party of eighty men, under Colonel Laurens, turned the redoubt. I beg leave to refer your Excellency to the report I have received from Colonel Hamilton, whose well-known talents and gallantry were, on this occasion, most conspicuous and serviceable. Our obligations to him, to Colonel Gimat, to Colonel

[missing footnote text]

4. Footnote: The whole number of prisoners, exclusive of seamen, was over 7,000, and the British loss during the siege was between five and six hundred. The army of the allies consisted of 7,000 American regular troops, upward of 5,000 French, and 4,000 militia. The loss in killed and wounded was about 300. The captured property consisted of a large train of artillery--viz., 75 bra.s.s and 69 iron cannon, howitzers, and mortars; also a large quant.i.ty of arms, ammunition, military stores, and provisions fell to the Americans. One frigate, 2 ships of twenty guns each, a number of transports and other vessels, and 1,500 seamen were surrendered to de Gra.s.se.

5. Footnote: On his departure, the Count de Gra.s.se received from Washington a present of two elegant horses as a token of his friendship and esteem.

CHAPTER XXIV.

CLOSE OF THE WAR. 1782-1783.

After the surrender of Cornwallis, the combined forces were distributed in different parts of the country, in the manner we have described at the close of the last chapter. Having personally superintended the distribution of the ordnance and stores, and the departure of the prisoners as well as the embarkation of the troops, who were to go northward under General Lincoln, Washington left Yorktown on the 5th of November (1781) for Eltham, the seat of his friend, Colonel Ba.s.set.

He arrived there the same day, but he came to a house of mourning. His stepson, John Parke Custis, was just expiring when he reached the house.

Washington was just in time to be present, with Mrs. Washington and Mrs.

Custis, her daughter-in-law, at the last painful moment of the young man's departure to the world of spirits. Mr. Custis had been an object of peculiar affection and care to Washington, who had superintended his education and introduction to public life. He had entered King's college in New York, in 1773, but soon after left that inst.i.tution and married the daughter of Mr. Benedict Calvert, February 3, 1774. He had pa.s.sed the winter of 1775 at headquarters in Cambridge with his wife and Mrs.

Washington. He had subsequently been elected a member of the House of Burgesses of Virginia, in which office he acquitted himself with honor, and he was now cut off on the very threshold of life being only twenty-eight years of age at the time of his decease. He left a widow and four young children. The two youngest of these children, one less than two and the other four years old, were adopted by Washington, and thenceforward formed a part of his immediate family. During the last year of Mr. Custis' life, Washington, writing to General Greene, took occasion to cite a pa.s.sage from his correspondence. He says, "I have received a letter from Mr. Custis, dated the 29th ultimo (March, 1781), in which are these words: 'General Greene has by his conduct gained universal esteem, and possesses, in the fullest degree, the confidence of all ranks of people.'" He had just then returned from the a.s.sembly at Richmond. Washington remained for several days at Eltham to comfort the family in their severe affliction, and then proceeded to Mount Vernon, where he arrived on the 13th of November. From this home of his early affections he wrote to Lafayette on the 15th (1781), accounting for his not having joined him in Philadelphia, by the pressure of private and public duties. In this letter, ever attentive to the interests of his country, Washington expresses his views with respect to the next campaign; and as Lafayette, after the expedition with de Gra.s.se to the South was abandoned, had determined to pa.s.s the winter in France, Washington takes occasion in this letter to impress upon his mind the absolute necessity of a strong naval force in order to conduct the next campaign to a successful termination. In concluding his letter, Washington says: "If I should be deprived of the pleasure of a personal interview with you before your departure, permit me to adopt this method of making you a tender of my ardent vows for a prosperous voyage, a gracious reception from your prince, an honorable reward for your services, a happy meeting with your lady and friends, and a safe return in the spring to, my dear marquis, your affectionate friend, etc.--

"WASHINGTON."

Washington had given Lafayette leave to proceed to Philadelphia, where he obtained from Congress permission to visit his family in France for such a period as he should think proper. Congress at the same time pa.s.sed resolutions doing justice to the zeal and military conduct of Lafayette. Among them were the following:

"Resolved, that the Secretary of Foreign Affairs acquaint the ministers plenipotentiary of the United States, that it is the desire of Congress that they confer with the Marquis de Lafayette, and avail themselves of his information relative to the affairs of the United States.

"Resolved, that the Secretary of Foreign Affairs further acquaint the minister plenipotentiary at the court of Versailles, that he will conform to the intention of Congress by consulting with and employing the a.s.sistance of the Marquis de Lafayette in accelerating the supplies which may be afforded by his most Christian majesty for the use of the United States."

Lafayette was also commended by Congress to the notice of Louis XVI in very warm terms. Having received his instructions from Congress and completed his preparations, he went to Boston, where the American frigate Alliance awaited his arrival. His farewell letter to Congress is dated on board this vessel, December 23, 1781, and immediately after writing it he set sail for his native country.

Before proceeding to Philadelphia Washington visited Alexandria, where he was honored with a public reception and an address from a committee of the citizens, in replying to which he was careful to remind them, when referring to the late success at Yorktown, that "a vigorous prosecution of this success would, in all probability," procure peace, liberty, and independence. He also visited Annapolis, where the Legislature was in session. A vote of thanks was pa.s.sed by that body (22d November, 1781), and in replying to it Washington also reminded the legislators of Maryland that the war was by no means finished, and that further exertions were required to be made by the States.

The splendid success of the allied arms in Virginia, and the great advantages obtained still further south, produced no disposition in Washington to relax those exertions which might yet be necessary to secure the great object of the contest. "I shall attempt to stimulate Congress," said he in a letter to General Greene, written at Mount Vernon, "to the best improvement of our late success, by taking the most vigorous and effectual measures to be ready for an early and decisive campaign the next year. My greatest fear is that viewing this stroke in a point of light which may too much magnify its importance they may think our work too nearly closed and fall into a state of languor and relaxation. To prevent this error I shall employ every means in my power, and, if unhappily we sink into this fatal mistake, no part of the blame shall be mine."

On the 27th of November (1781) Washington reached Philadelphia, and Congress pa.s.sed a resolution granting him an audience on the succeeding day. On his appearance the President addressed him in a short speech, informing him that a committee was appointed to state the requisitions to be made for the proper establishment of the army, and expressing the expectation that he would remain in Philadelphia, in order to aid the consultations on that important subject.

The Secretary of War, the financier, Robert Morris, and the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Robert R. Livingston, a.s.sisted at these deliberations, and the business was concluded with unusual celerity.

A revenue was scarcely less necessary than an army, and it was obvious that the means for carrying on the war must be obtained either by impressments or by a vigorous course of taxation. But both these alternatives depended on the States, and the government of the Union resorted to the influence of Washington in aid of its requisitions.

But no exertions on the part of America alone could expel the invading army. A superiority at sea was indispensable to the success of offensive operations against the posts which the British still held within the United States. To obtain this superiority Washington pressed its importance on the Chevalier de la Luzerne, the minister of France, and commanding officers of the French troops, as he had on Lafayette when he was about to return to his native country.

The first intelligence from Europe was far from being conciliatory. The Parliament of Great Britain rea.s.sembled in November (1781). The speech from the throne breathed a settled purpose to continue the war, and the addresses from both houses, which were carried by large majorities, echoed the sentiment.

In the course of the animated debates which these addresses occasioned, an intention was indeed avowed by some members of the administration to direct the whole force of the nation against France and Spain, and to suspend offensive operations in the interior of the United States until the strength of those powers should be broken. In the meantime the posts then occupied by their troops were to be maintained.

This development of the views of the administration furnished additional motives to the American government for exerting all the faculties of the nation to expel the British garrisons from New York and Charleston.

The efforts of Washington to produce these exertions were earnest and unremitting, but not successful. The State Legislatures declared the inability of their const.i.tuents to pay taxes. Instead of filling the Continental treasury some were devising means to draw money from it, and some of those which pa.s.sed bills imposing heavy taxes directed that the demands of the State should be first satisfied, and that the residue only should be paid to the Continental receiver. By the unwearied attention and judicious arrangements of Robert Morris, the minister of finance, the expenses of the nation had been greatly reduced. The bank established in Philadelphia, and his own high character, had enabled him to support in some degree a system of credit, the advantages of which were incalculably great. He had, through the Chevalier de la Luzerne, obtained permission from the King of France to draw for half a million of livres monthly, until 6,000,000 should be received. To prevent the diversion of any part of this sum from the most essential objects, he had concealed the negotiation even from Congress, and had communicated it only to Washington; yet after receiving the first installment it was discovered that Dr. Franklin had antic.i.p.ated the residue of the loan and had appropriated it to the purposes of the United States. At the commencement of the year 1782 not a dollar remained in the treasury, and although Congress had required the payment of 2,000,000 on the 1st of April not a cent had been received on the 23d of that month, and so late as the 1st of June (1782) not more than $20,000 had reached the treasury. Yet to Robert Morris every eye was turned, to him the empty hand of every public creditor was stretched for, and against him, instead of the State governments, the complaints and imprecations of every unsatisfied claimant were directed. In July (1782), when the second quarter annual payment of taxes ought to have been received, Morris was informed by some of his agents, that the collection of the revenue had been postponed in some of the States, in consequence of which the month of December would arrive before any money could come into the hands of the Continental receivers. In a letter communicating this unpleasant intelligence to Washington, he added: "With such gloomy prospects as this letter affords I am tied here to be baited by continual clamorous demands; and for the forfeiture of all that is valuable in life, and which I hoped at this moment to enjoy, I am to be paid by invective. Scarce a day pa.s.ses in which I am not tempted to give back into the hands of Congress the power they have delegated, and to lay down a burden which presses me to the earth. Nothing prevents me but a knowledge of the difficulties I am obliged to struggle under. What may be the success of my efforts G.o.d only knows, but to leave my post at present would, I know, be ruinous. This candid state of my situation and feelings I give to your bosom, because you, who have already felt and suffered so much, will be able to sympathize with me."

Fortunately for the United States the temper of the British nation on the subject of continuing the war did not accord with that of its Sovereign. That war, into which the people had entered with at least as much eagerness as the minister, had become almost universally unpopular.

Motions against the measures of administration respecting America were repeated by the opposition, and, on every experiment, the strength of the minority increased. At length, on the 27th of February (1782), General Conway moved in the House of Commons, "that it is the opinion of this house that a further prosecution of offensive war against America would, under present circ.u.mstances, be the means of weakening the efforts of this country against her European enemies, and tend to increase the mutual enmity so fatal to the interests both of Great Britain and America." The whole force of administration was exerted to get rid of this resolution, but was exerted in vain, and it was carried.

An address to the King, in the words of the resolution, was immediately voted, and was presented by the whole house. The answer of the Crown being deemed inexplicit it was, on the 4th of March (1782), resolved "that the house will consider as enemies to his Majesty and the country, all those who should advise or attempt a further prosecution of offensive war on the continent of North America."

These votes were soon followed by a change of ministers and by instructions to the officers commanding the forces in America, which conformed to them.

While Washington was employed in addressing circular letters to the State governments, suggesting all those motives which might stimulate them to exertions better proportioned to the exigency, English papers, containing the debates in Parliament on the various propositions respecting America, reached the United States. Alarmed at the impression these debates might make, he introduced the opinions it was deemed prudent to inculcate respecting them into the letters he was then about to transmit to the Governors of the several States. "I have perused these debates," he said, "with great attention and care, with a view, if possible, to penetrate their real design, and upon the most mature deliberation I can bestow I am obliged to declare it as my candid opinion that the measure, in all its views, so far as it respects America, is merely delusory, having no serious intention to admit our independence upon its true principles, but is calculated to produce a change of ministers to quiet the minds of their own people and reconcile them to a continuance of the war, while it is meant to amuse this country with a false idea of peace, to draw us from our connection with France, and to lull us into a state of security and inactivity; which taking place, the ministry will be left to prosecute the war in other parts of the world with greater vigor and effect. Your Excellency will permit me on this occasion to observe that, even if the nation and Parliament are really in earnest to obtain peace with America, it will undoubtedly be wisdom in us to meet them with great caution and circ.u.mspection, and by all means to keep our arms firm in our hands, and instead of relaxing one iota in our exertions, rather to spring forward with redoubled vigor, that we may take the advantage of every favorable opportunity until our wishes are fully obtained. No nation yet suffered in treaty by preparing (even in the moment of negotiation) most vigorously for the field.

"The industry which the enemy is using to propagate their pacific reports appears to me a circ.u.mstance very suspicious, and the eagerness with which the people, as I am informed, are catching at them, is, in my opinion, equally dangerous."

While Washington was still residing at Philadelphia, in conference with the committees of Congress, a spirited naval action took place near the capes of the Delaware, which must have afforded him much gratification.

The Delaware bay was, at this period, says Peterson, [1] infested with small cruisers of the enemy, which not only captured the river craft, but molested the neighboring sh.o.r.es. To repress these marauders, the State of Pennsylvania determined to fit out a vessel or two at its own expense, and with this view a small merchant ship, called the Hyder All, then lying outward-bound with a cargo of flour, was purchased. It took but a few days to discharge her freight, to pierce her for sixteen guns, and to provide her with an armament. Volunteers flocked to offer themselves for her crew. The command was given to Barney, and, at the head of a convoy of outward-bound merchantmen, he stood down the bay, and anch.o.r.ed, on the 8th of April (1782), in the roads off Cape May, where he awaited a proper wind for the traders to go to sea. Suddenly two ships and a brig, one of the former a frigate, were seen rounding the cape, obviously with the intention of attacking him, on which he signaled the convoy to stand up the bay, the wind being at the southward, himself covering their rear, and the enemy in hot pursuit.