The Boys Life of Lafayette 20

The Boys Life of Lafayette 20

The British retained the battle-field and the Americans most of the

glory, as was the case in so many fights of the Revolution. British

military writers have contended that Lafayette was in mortal danger

and that Cornwallis could have annihilated his whole force if he had

attacked that night. What Cornwallis did was to cross the river next

morning and proceed toward Portsmouth. The affair at Green Springs

[Pg 160]added materially to Lafayette's reputation. Indeed, with the

exception of burning a few American stores, increasing Lafayette's

military reputation was about all the British accomplished in this

campaign. An American officer with a taste for figures gleefully

estimated that Cornwallis's "tour in Virginia" cost King George, one

way and another, more than would have been needed to take all the

British aristocracy on a trip around the world.

 

Cornwallis got his soldiers safely upon their transports, but it was

written in the stars that they were not to leave Virginia of their own

free will. Orders came from Clinton telling him not to send them north,

and giving him to understand that his recent acts were not approved.

Clinton directed him to establish himself in a healthy spot on the

peninsula between the York and James rivers and to gain control of

a seaport to which British ships could come. He suggested Old Point

Comfort, but Cornwallis's engineers decided that Yorktown, with the

neck of land opposite called Gloucester, was the only place that would

serve. Here Cornwallis brought his army on the 1st of August and began

building defenses.

 

Following the battle of Green Springs, Lafayette occupied Williamsburg

and gave his men the rest they needed after their many weeks of

marching. He sent out detachments on various errands, but this was a

season of comparative quiet. Soon he began to long for excitement,

and wrote to Washington that he did not know about anything that was

happening in the world outside of Virginia, that he was homesick for

[Pg 161]headquarters, and that if he could not be there to help in the

defense of New York, at least he would like to know what was going on.

The answer only whetted his curiosity. Washington bade him await a

confidential letter explaining his plans.

 

The military situation as Washington saw it was exceedingly

interesting. Colonel Laurens's mission to the French court had turned

out badly. Perhaps he had not taken sufficiently to heart Lafayette's

advice; but young Rochambeau had not fared much better. In May it

had been learned that there was never to be any second division of

the French army; a blow that was softened by the assurance that

considerable money was actually on the way and that a French fleet,

which had sailed for the West Indies under command of Comte de Grasse,

might visit the coast of the United States for a short time.

 

It was the approach of this French fleet which caused Clinton

uneasiness in New York and made Cornwallis embark part of his troops

for the North. Washington took good care to let Clinton rest in the

belief that New York was to be attacked, but it became increasingly

evident to him that the greatest blow he could strike would be to

capture Cornwallis's army. He arranged with Admiral de Grasse to sail

to Chesapeake Bay instead of to New York, sent word to Lafayette to

be on the lookout for the French fleet, moved Rochambeau's soldiers

from Newport to the Hudson, left a sufficient number of them there and

started south with all the rest of the army, moving with the greatest

possible speed. Those of us who have read about this merely as long [Pg

162]past history do not realize the risks involved in planning such

far-reaching combinations in days before cables and telegraph lines.

 

"To blockade Rhode Island, fool Clinton, shut him up in New York,

and keep Cornwallis in Virginia," says a French writer, "it was

necessary to send from the port of Brest and later from the Antilles

to Chesapeake Bay a flotilla destined to take from the English all

hope of retreat and embarkation at the exact instant that Washington,

Rochambeau, and Lafayette should come and force the English in their

last intrenchments. This grand project which decided the outcome of the

war could be conceived only by men of superior talent." Lafayette's

friend, De Ségur, said that "it required all the audacity of Admiral

Comte de Grasse and the skill of Washington, sustained by the bravery

of Lafayette, the wisdom of Rochambeau, the heroic intrepidity of our

sailors and our troops, as well as the valor of the American militia."

 

Fortunately the geography of the Atlantic coast helped Washington keep

his secret even after he was well started. If De Grasse came to New

York, Washington's logical goal was Staten Island, and the route of the

Continental army would be the same in either case for a long distance.

After Philadelphia had been left behind and Washington's plan became

evident, it was too late for Clinton to stop him.

 

Thus the net tightened about Cornwallis. French ships in the bay

effectually cut off hope of reinforcement or escape by sea. Lafayette

[Pg 163]stationed Wayne where he could interpose if the British

attempted to go by land toward the Carolinas. He sent his faithful

friend, De Gimat, down the bay to meet the French admiral and give him

information, and disposed his own forces to cover the landing of any

soldiers De Grasse might bring him.

 

It must have been a fine sight when twenty-eight large ships of the

line and four French frigates sailed up the James River on the 2d of

September and landed three thousand soldiers, "all very tall men" in

uniforms of white turned up with blue. Lafayette's Americans, drawn up

not far from the battleground of Green Springs, donned their ragged

best in their honor. "Our men had orders to wash and put on clean

clothes," a diary informs us.

 

With this addition to his force Lafayette approached Yorktown. General

Saint-Simon, the commander of the three thousand very tall men, was

much older than Lafayette, besides being a marshal of France, but he

gallantly signified his willingness to serve under his junior; and

officers and privates alike accepted cheerfully the scanty American

fare, which was all Lafayette could get for his enlarged military

family. He found difficulty in collecting even this and wrote

Washington that his duties as quartermaster had brought on violent

headache and fever, but that the indisposition would vanish with three

hours' needed sleep.

 

In spite of their politeness it was evident that the visitors were

anxious to be through with their task and away. Admiral de Grasse had

a rendezvous for a certain date in the West Indies and insisted from

[Pg 164]the first that his stay in American waters must be short. The

French were scarcely inclined to await the arrival of Washington; yet

with all Washington's haste he had only reached Chester, Pennsylvania,

on the way to Head of Elk when he heard of De Grasse's arrival. Those

who were with him when the news came were more impressed by the way he

received it than by the news itself. His reserve and dignity fell from

him like a garment, and his face beamed like that of a delighted child

as he stood on the river-bank waving his hat in the air and shouting

the glad tidings to Rochambeau.

 

When Washington reached Williamsburg on the 13th of September he

found both Lafayette and General Wayne the worse for wear. Wayne,

with characteristic impetuosity, had tried to pass one of Lafayette's

sentries after dark and was nursing a slight wound in consequence.

Lafayette's quartermaster headache had developed into an attack of

ague; but that did not prevent his being present at the ceremonies

which marked the official meeting of the allied commanders. There were

all possible salutes and official visits, and, in addition, at a grand

supper a band played a kind of music seldom heard in America in those

days--the overture to a French opera "signifying the happiness of a

family when blessed with the presence of their father."

 

Washington's arrival of course put an end to Lafayette's independent

command. With the Commander-in-chief present he became again what

he had been the previous summer, merely the commander of a division

[Pg 165]of light infantry, and as such took part in the siege of

Yorktown, which progressed unfalteringly. The night of October 14th

witnessed its most dramatic incident, the taking of two redoubts, one

by French troops, the other by Americans under Lafayette. Among his

officers were Gimat, John Laurens, and Alexander Hamilton. Six shells

in rapid succession gave the signal to advance, and his four hundred

men obeyed under fire without returning a shot, so rapidly that the

place was taken at the point of the bayonet in a very few minutes.

Lafayette's first care was to send an aide with his compliments and

a message to Baron Viomenil, the French commander, whose troops were

still attacking; the message being that the Americans had gained their

redoubt and would gladly come to his assistance if he desired it. This

was a bit of vainglory, for Viomenil had nettled Lafayette by doubting

if his Americans could succeed. On the night of October 15th the

British attempted a sortie which failed. After an equally unsuccessful

attempt to escape by water, Cornwallis felt that there was no more

hope, for his works were crumbling and, in addition to his loss in

killed and wounded, many of his men were sick. He wrote a short note to

Washington asking for an armistice to arrange terms of surrender.

 

The time of surrender was fixed for two o'clock on the afternoon of

October 19, 1781. Lafayette had suggested that Cornwallis's bands be

required to play a British or a German air when the soldiers marched

to lay down their arms. This was in courteous retaliation for the

[Pg 166]treatment our own troops had received at British hands at the

surrender of Charleston, when they had been forbidden to play such

music. It was to the tune of "The World Turned Upside Down" that they

chose to march with colors cased, between the long lines of French and

Americans drawn up on the Hampton Road, to a field where a squadron

of French had spread out to form a huge circle. The French on one

side of the road under their flag with the golden fleur-de-lis were

resplendent in uniforms of white turned up with blue. The Americans

were less imposing. In the militia regiments toward the end of their

line scarcely a uniform was to be seen, but at their head Washington

and his officers, superbly mounted, stood opposite Rochambeau and the

other French generals. Eye-witnesses thought that the British showed

disdain of the ragged American soldiers and a marked preference for

the French, but acts of discourtesy were few, and the higher officers

conducted themselves as befitted gentlemen. Cornwallis did not appear

to give up his sword, but sent General O'Hara to represent him, and it

was received on Washington's part by General Lincoln, who had given up

his sword to the British at Charleston.

 

As each British regiment reached the field where the French waited it

laid down its arms at the command of its colonel and marched back to

Yorktown, prisoners of war. The cheeks of one colonel were wet with

tears as he gave the order, and a corporal was heard to whisper to

his musket as he laid it down, "May you never get so good a master!"

[Pg 167]Care was taken not to add to the humiliation of the vanquished