The Minute Boys of York Town Part 37

"There was no help for it; and on the 19th of October Cornwallis's army, 7,247 in number, with 840 cannon, marched out with colors furled and cased, while the band played a quaint old English melody, of which the significant t.i.tle was 'The World Turned Upside Down.'

"On the very same day that Cornwallis surrendered, Sir Henry Clinton, having received naval reinforcements, sailed from New York with twenty-five ships-of-the-line and ten frigates, and 7,000 of his best troops. Five days brought him to the mouth of the Chesapeake, where he learned that he was too late, as had been the case four years before, when he tried to relieve Burgoyne. A fortnight earlier, this force could hardly have failed to alter the result, for the fleet was strong enough to dispute with Gra.s.se the control over the coast."

THE END