Memoirs, Correspondence and Manuscripts of General Lafayette Part 33

TO MAJOR GENERAL PHILLIPS.

(ORIGINAL.)

May 3rd, 1781.

Sir,--Your a.s.sertion relating to the flag vessel was so positive, that it becomes necessary for me to set you right in this matter. Inclosed I have the honour to send you some depositions, by which it is clearly proved that there has been on our side no violation of flags.

I have the honour to be, sir, your humble servant,

LAFAYETTE

NOTE FOR CAPTAIN EMYNE.

May 15th, 1781.

The Major-General Marquis de Lafayette has the honour to present his compliments to Captain Emyne, and begs him to recollect that, on the supposition of the death of General Phillips, he said, "that he should know in that case what to do." From regard to the English army, he had made use of the most polite pretence for declining all correspondence with the English general who is at this moment commander-in-chief. But he now finds himself obliged to give a positive denial. In case any other English officer should honour him with a letter, he would always be happy to give the officers every testimony of his esteem.

NOTE FROM GENERAL ARNOLD TO CAPTAIN RAGEDALE.

Brigadier-General Arnold presents his compliments to Captain Ragedale, and takes the liberty of informing him, that the flag of truce having been sent by Brigadier-General Nelson, who is not commander-in-chief of the American army, is an inadmissible act. The letters are accordingly sent back unopened. If Captain Ragedale thinks proper to leave them with the servants, a receipt must be given for them.

Brigadier-General Arnold has given orders that the officers lately taken in that place should be sent to New York; their baggage will follow soon after them, and all the officers and soldiers of the American army that shall be taken prisoners in future, shall be sent to the West Indies, unless a cartel be immediately granted for the exchange of prisoners, as General Arnold has repeatedly demanded.

Head-quarters, at Petersburg, 17th May, 1781.

TO GENERAL WASHINGTON.

(ORIGINAL.)

Richmond, May 24th, 1781,

MY DEAR GENERAL,--My official letter, a copy of which I send to congress, will let you know the situation of affairs in this quarter. I ardently wish my conduct may meet with your approbation. Had I followed the first impulsion of my temper, I should have risked something more; but I have been guarding against my own warmth; and this consideration, that a general defeat, which, with such a proportion of militia, must be expected, would involve this state and our affairs in ruin, has rendered me extremely cautious in my movements. Indeed, I am more embarra.s.sed to move, more crippled in my projects, than we have been in the northern states. As I am for the present fixed in the command of the troops in this state, I beg it as a great favour that you will send me Colonel Gouvion. Should a junction be made with General Greene, he will act as my aide-de-camp. Had the Pennsylvanians arrived before Lord Cornwallis, I was determined to attack the enemy, and have no doubt but what we should have been successful. Their unaccountable delay cannot be too much lamented, and will make an immense difference to the fate of this campaign. Should they have arrived time enough to support me in the reception of Lord Cornwallis's first stroke, I should still have thought it well enough; but from an answer of General Wayne, received this day, and dated the 19th, I am afraid that at this moment they have hardly left Yorktown.

Public stores and private property being removed from Richmond, this place is a less important object.

I don't believe it would be prudent to expose the troops for the sake of a few houses, most of which are empty; but I am wavering between two inconveniences. Were I to fight a battle, I should be cut to pieces, the militia dispersed, and the arms lost. Were I to decline fighting, the country would think itself given up. I am therefore determined to skirmish, but not to engage too far, and particularly to take care against their immense and excellent body of horse, whom the militia fear as they would so many wild beasts.

A letter from General Greene to General Sumner is dated 5th May, seven miles below Camden. The baron is going to him with some recruits, and will get more in North Carolina. When the Pennsylvanians come, I am only to keep them a few days, which I will improve as well as I can. Cavalry is very necessary to us. I wish Lauzun's legion could come. I am sure he will like to serve with me, and as General Greene gave me command of the troops in this state, Lauzun might remain with me in Virginia. If not, Shelden's dragoons might be sent. As to Moylan, I do not believe he will be ready for a long time.

Were I anyways equal to the enemy, I should be extremely happy in my present command, but I am not strong enough even to get beaten.

Government in this state has no energy, and laws have no force. But I hope this a.s.sembly will put matters upon a better footing. I had a great deal of trouble to put the departments in a tolerable train; our expenses were enormous, and yet we can get nothing. Arrangements for the present seem to put on a better face, but for this superiority of the enemy, which will chase us wherever they please. They can overrun the country, and, until the Pennsylvanians arrive, we are next to nothing in point of opposition to so large a force. This country begins to be as familiar to me as Tappan and Bergen. Our soldiers are hitherto very healthy: I have turned doctor, and regulate their diet. Adieu, my dear general. Let me hear sometimes from you; your letters are a great happiness to your affectionate friend, &c.

TO GENERAL WASHINGTON.

(ORIGINAL.)

Camp, 28th June, 1781.

MY DEAR GENERAL,--Inclosed, I have the honour to send you a copy of my letter to General Greene. The enemy have been so kind as to retire before us.~[1]

Twice I gave them a chance of fighting (taking care not to engage 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. But it appears that he does not as yet come out, and our position will admit of a partial affair.

His lordship had (exclusive of the reinforcement from Portsmouth, said to be six hundred) four thousand men, eight hundred of whom were dragoons, or mounted infantry. Our force is about equal to his, but only one thousand five hundred regulars and fifty dragoons. Our little action more particularly marks the retreat of the enemy. From the place whence he first began to retire to Williamsburg is upwards of one hundred miles. The old arms at the Point of 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 any consequence, but lost an immense part of his former conquests, and did not make any in this state. General Greene only demanded of me to hold my ground in Virginia. But the movements of Lord Cornwallis may answer better purposes than that in the political line. Adieu, my dear general; I don't know but what we shall, in our turn, become the pursuing enemy; and in the meanwhile, have the honour to be, &c.

Footnote:

1. It was the 20th of May that Lord Cornwallis effected his junction with the troops of Arnold, whose unexpected opposition re-established the affairs of the English in Virginia. The war became from that moment extremely active, and the movements of the two armies very complicated.

M. de Lafayette maintained his position, and experienced no other check than the loss of some magazines, at the forks of James River, which had been confided to the care of Baron Steuben. His position was, however, rather a defensive one, until the period at which that letter was written, when the English abandoned Richmond. Cornwallis obtained, and usually by the aid of negroes, the best horses of Virginia. He had mounted an advance-guard of Tarleton on race-h.o.r.es, who, like birds of prey, seized all they met with, so that they had taken many couriers who were bearers of letters. Cornwallis stopped once during his retrograde march on Williamsburg; the Americans being close to him, it was thought an affair would take place, but he continued on his road. It was before he reached Williamsburg that his rear-guard was attacked by the advance corps of Lafayette under Colonel Butler. He evacuated Williamsburg the 4th; Lafayette had done all he could to convince him that his own forces were more considerable than they really were. Either the night of, or two nights before, the evacuation of Williamsburg, a double spy had taken a false order of the day to Lord Cornwallis,--found, he said, in the camp,--which ordered General Morgan's division to take a certain position in the line. The fact was, that General Morgan had arrived in person, but unaccompanied by troops: Dr. Gordon justly observes, that Lord Cornwallis, from Charlestown to Williamsburg, had made more than eleven hundred miles, without counting deviations, which amounts, reckoning those deviations, to five hundred leagues. The whole march through North Carolina and Virginia, and the campaign against Lafayette, were effected without tents or equipages, which confers honour on the activity of Lord Cornwallis, and justifies the reputation he had acquired, of being the best British general employed in that war.--(Extract of Ma.n.u.script, No. 2.)

EXTRACTS OF SEVERAL LETTERS TO GENERAL WASHINGTON.~[1]

(ORIGINAL.)

Ambler's Plantation, July 8th, 1781.

The inclosed copy, my dear general, will give you an account of our affairs in this quarter. Agreeably to your orders I have avoided a general action, and when Lord Cornwallis's movements indicated that it was against his interest to fight, I ventured partial engagements. His lordship seems to have given up the conquest of Virginia. It has been a great secret that our army was not superior, and was most generally inferior, to the enemy's numbers. Our returns were swelled up, as militia returns generally are; but we had very few under arms, particularly lately, and to conceal the lessening of our numbers, I was obliged to push on as one who had heartily wished a general engagement.

Our regulars did not exceed one thousand five hundred, the enemy had four thousand regulars, eight hundred of whom were mounted: they thought we had eight thousand men. I never encamped in a line, and there was greater difficulty to come at our numbers.

Malvan Hill, July 20th.

When I went to the southward, you know I had some private objections; but I became sensible of the necessity there was for the detachment to go, and I knew that had I returned there was n.o.body that could lead them on against their inclination. My entering this state was happily marked by a service to the capital. Virginia became the grand object of the enemy, as it was the point to which the ministry tended. I had the honour to command an army and oppose Lord Cornwallis. When incomparably inferior to him, fortune was pleased to preserve us; when equal in numbers, though not in quality of troops, we have also been pretty lucky. Cornwallis had the disgrace of a retreat, and this state being recovered, government is properly re-established: The enemy are under the protection of their works at Portsmouth. It appears an embarkation is taking place, probably destined to New York. The war in this state would then become a plundering one, and great manoeuvres be out of the question. A prudent officer would do our business here, and the baron is prudent to the utmost. Would it be possible, my dear general, in case a part of the British troops go to New York, I may be allowed to join the combined armies?

Malvan Hill, July 20th.

No accounts from the northward, no letter from head quarters. I am entirely a stranger to every thing that pa.s.ses out of Virginia; and Virginian operations being for the present in a state of languor, I have more time to think of my solitude; in a word, my dear general, I am home sick, and if I cannot go to head quarters, wish at least to hear from thence. I am anxious to know your opinion concerning the Virginian campaign. That the subjugation of this state was the great object of the ministry is an indisputable fact. I think your diversion has been of more use to the state than my manoeuvres; but the latter have been much directed by political views. So long as my lord wished for an action, not one gun has been fired; the moment he declined it, we have been skirmishing; but I took care never to commit the army. His naval superiority, his superiority of horse, of regulars, his thousand advantages over us, so that I am lucky to have come off safe. I had an eye upon European negotiations, and made it a point to give his lordship the disgrace of a retreat.

From every account it appears that a part of the army will embark. The light infantry, the guards, the 80th regiment, and the Queen's rangers, are, it is said, destined to New York. Lord Cornwallis, I am told, is much disappointed in his hopes of command. I cannot find out what he does with himself. Should he go to England, we are, I think, to rejoice for it; he is a cold and active man, two dangerous qualities in this southern war.

The clothing you have long ago sent to the light infantry is not yet arrived. I have been obliged to send for it, and expect it in a few days. These three battalions are the best troops that ever took the field; my confidence in them is unbounded; they are far superior to any British troops, and none will ever venture to meet them in equal numbers. What a pity these men are not employed along with the French grenadiers; they would do eternal honour to our arms. But their presence here, I must confess, has saved this state, and, indeed, the southern part of the continent.

Malvan Hill, July 26th.

I had some days ago the honour to write to your excellency, and informed you that a detachment from the British army would probably embark at Portsmouth. The battalions of light infantry and the Queen's rangers were certainly, and the guards, with one or two British regiments, were likely to be, ordered upon that service. My conjectures have proved true, and forty-nine sail have fallen down in Hampton-road, the departure of which I expect to hear every minute. A British officer, a prisoner, lately mentioned that Lord Cornwallis himself was going.

It appears the enemy have some cavalry on board. The conquest of Virginia, and the establishment of the British power in this state, not having succeeded to the expectation of the British court, a lesser number might be sufficient for the present purpose, and two thousand men easily spared. So that I do not believe the present embarkation is under that number; so far as a land force can oppose naval operations and naval superiority, I think the position now occupied by the main body of our small army affords the best chance to support the several parts of Virginia.