tary knowledge could suggest. But the situation was desperate from the first, and it grew worse with

time.

The second parallel was begun by Baron Steuben's division on the night of the 11th of October. It was not more than three hundred yards from the opposing works, and the British now made new embrasures, and for two or three days kept up a galling fire on the besiegers, who were still more seriously troubled by the flanking fire of two redoubts, which enfiladed the entrenchments, and were thought to command the communication between Yorktown and Gloucester. These it was resolved to storm on the night of the 14th; and, to avoid any jealousy between the two allied nationalities, it was arranged that the one farthest from the river should be attacked by a French detachment, and the other by a detachment of Americans under the command of Lafayette. The signal for the simultaneous assault was the sending up of rockets at eight o'clock in the evening. The Americans rushed up to the bastion they were to attack, pushed aside the abatis with their hands, and scrambled over the obstructions which stood in

their way.

With impetuous daring, the men mounted the parapet, and, without firing a musket, carried the work at the point of the bayonet. A New Hampshire captain of artillery would have taken the life of Major Campbell, who had command of the redoubt, in revenge for the death of a Colonel Scammel, who had been killed in a reconnoitring skirmish, but was restrained by his superior officer. It has been alleged that Lafayette, with the consent of Washington, ordered that no quarter should be given, but that the garrison should be killed, even after resistance had ceased, as an act of retaliation for cruelties said to have been committed by the English. This statement, however, was denied by Lafayette, and also by Colonel Hamilton, who commanded the advanced corps. The French were equally successful with the other redoubt, which they attacked with all the precision of military science, and which was defended with much obstinacy. In the end, the position was carried, though not without considerable slaughter. The struggle at both these redoubts was viewed by Washington with great anxiety from the grand battery, together with Generals Knox and Lincoln and their staffs. Taking his stand at an embrasure, he was open to the danger of chance shots, and one of his aides-decamp pointed out that the situation was much exposed. "If you think so," replied Washington, "you are at liberty to step back." A few minutes

• Gordon's History, Vol. IV., p. 192.

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afterwards, a musket-ball came in at the opening, and fell close to the Commander-in-Chief. General Knox begged him to move; but he answered that it was merely a spent ball, and still remained at his post. When the redoubts were both taken, he drew a long breath of relief, and observing, "The work is done, and well done," called for his horse, and departed.

Howitzers were mounted next day on the two redoubts, and the works of the besiegers were thus strengthened, while those of the besieged were proportionately decreased. Lord Cornwallis, who had been losing heart for some time, now wrote to Clinton that his situation was very critical; that he dared not show a gun to the old batteries, and that he expected new ones would be opened on the following morning. Experience had proved that the earthworks newly thrown up did not resist the powerful artillery of the allies; "so that," said his Lordship, "we shall soon be exposed to an assault in ruined works, in a bad position, and with weakened numbers." The safety of the place was consequently so doubtful that he could not desire the fleet and army to run the risk of endeavouring to save them. The arrival of the promised fleet might, however, even then have turned the fortune of the day; but no sail appeared on the far-reaching waters that spread towards the Atlantic. In this extremity Cornwallis determined on making a sortie on the second parallel. A little before daybreak on the 16th of October, three hundred and fifty men attacked two of the enemy's batteries, spiked eleven of the guns, and killed or wounded a hundred of the French. But the cannon had been so hastily damaged that they were easily repaired, and by the evening of the same day the batteries of the second parallel were nearly ready. There was now (according to the English General's own account in his despatches) no part of the whole front on which the guns were not dismounted; and the shells of the besieged were almost wholly expended. Cornwallis had therefore only to choose between preparing to surrender next day, and endeavouring to get off with the greater part of his troops. He determined on the latter course.

His plan was to cross the river during the night with his effective troops; to leave behind him his sick, baggage, and other incumbrances; to attack the French officer who commanded on the Gloucester

side; to mount his infantry, partly with the horses of the hostile cavalry, which he hoped to overcome, and partly with such animals as he might find by the way; to push on towards the fords of the great. rivers in the upper country; and then, turning northward, to pass through Maryland. Penn

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seems very improbable that it should have succeeded. Between Yorktown and New York lay a wide extent of country; in the rear of the retreating army was an army greatly superior in number; and it is certain that the latter would have started in pursuit, and probable that it would have overtaken and defeated the fugitives, unless, as the English General anticipated, the allies had directed their steps towards the south. Cornwallis, however, felt his position to be so desperate, and the thought of capitulating was so bitter, that he resolved to dare

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the river, under a heavy fire from the American batteries. The guns of the second parallel were now playing in combination with those of the first. Great gaps were torn in the already crumbling defences of Yorktown; it was obvious that an assault would not be long delayed; and it could hardly be supposed that so small a garrison, exhausted by incessant labours, and many of them weakened by disease, could resist the onslaught of a numerous host. All hope, then, was at an end. The mortification of a surrender could no longer be avoided.

the utmost dangers of an almost hopeless attempt at extrication, rather than agree to a surrender before every means of avoiding it had been exhausted.

Up to the time when the first detachment of the British troops had landed at Gloucester Point, the night was calm and fine; but a storm then arose, scattering the boats in which the second division had already embarked, driving them a long way down the river, and putting a stop to the further transportation of the army. The boats were afterwards brought together again with some difficulty; but it was then too late to proceed with the enterprise, and, on the morning of the 17th, the first detachment was conveyed back across 89-VOL. II.

The fate of Burgoyne was to be shared by Cornwallis. Both of them men of ability, honour, and courage, they had nevertheless placed themselves in positions from which escape was impossible; and to Cornwallis was reserved the additional misery of reflecting that so serious a blow, occurring a second time, would probably ruin the British cause in America beyond the possibility of redress.

At ten o'clock on the morning of the 17th of October, 1781, Lord Cornwallis ordered a parley to be beaten, and despatched a flag with a letter to Washington, proposing a cessation of hostilities for four-and-twenty hours, and that two officers should be appointed by each side to meet and settle terms for the surrender of the posts of York and

Gloucester. Washington replied that, previous to the meeting of commissioners, his Lordship's proposals should be transmitted in writing. For this purpose, a suspension of active operations for two hours would be granted. The English General then required that the garrisons of York and Gloucester, though laying down their arms as prisoners of war, should be sent home, the British to Great Britain, and the Germans to Germany,under an engagement not to serve against France, America, or their allies, until exchanged. These terms were declared by Washington to be inadmissible, and the Earl agreed to waive them. As it was evident that there would be no great difficulty in finally adjusting the conditions of capitulation, the suspension of hostilities was continued throughout the night. Washington then drew up a schedule of such terms as he would grant, and forwarded the document with an intimation that, if Lord Cornwallis approved of the proposals, commissioners might be at once appointed to reduce them to form. Accordingly, Viscount Noailles and Lieutenant-Colonel Laurens, son of Henry Laurens, then a prisoner in the Tower of London (of which fortress, by a singular coincidence, Cornwallis was at that time Constable), met Colonel Dundas and Major Ross, of the British army, at a house in the rear of the first parallel, on the 18th of October. It is remarkable, as regards the time of year, that this capitulation corresponds, almost to a day, with the surrender of Burgoyne at Saratoga, four years earlier. The commissioners thus brought together prepared a rough draft, but were unable to arrange the terms definitively. It was agreed that the draft should be submitted to Lord Cornwallis; but Washington would not suffer any delay, and, having caused the articles to be transcribed, sent them, on the morning of the 19th, to the English General, with a letter expressing his expectation that they would be signed by eleven o'clock, and that the garrison would march out at two in the afternoon.

Cornwallis having no choice but to submit, the posts of Yorktown and Gloucester, with the artillery, military chest, public stores, &c., were that same day surrendered to General Washington, as Commander-in-Chief of the allied armies; and the ships of war, transports, and other vessels, to the Count de Grasse, as Admiral of the French fleet. In accordance with the terms previously shadowed forth by Washington, the articles (fourteen in number) provided that the garrison of Yorktown and Gloucester, including the officers of the navy, and seamen of every description, should surrender as prisoners of war; that the land forces should

remain prisoners to the United States, and the sailors to the King of France; that the garrison should be allowed the same honours that had been granted to the garrison of Charleston when it surrendered to Sir Henry Clinton; that the officers and soldiers should be permitted to retain their private property; that the officers should have liberty to proceed upon parole, either to Europe or to any maritime post on the continent of America in possession of British troops; and that the private soldiers should be kept in Virginia, Maryland, or Pennsylvania, as much by regiments as possible, and supplied with the same rations as the American soldiers. The officers were allowed to retain their side arms, and the baggage and papers were to be exempt from search. The Bonetta sloop-of-war was to be placed at the disposal of Lord Cornwallis, to convey an aide-de-camp with despatches to Sir Henry Clinton; and this gave an opportunity for overcoming a difficulty with regard to the native loyalists. Cornwallis had proposed, as the tenth article of capitulation, that these unfortunate men should not be punished on account of having joined the British army. Washington would not agree to any such stipulation; but the matter was compromised by permitting Lord Cornwallis to put on board the sloop, which was to be allowed to sail unsearched, as many soldiers as he pleased, provided only that the vessel should be returned, and the soldiers be accounted for as prisoners in a future exchange. In this way the American loyalists were safely conveyed to New York; but their fellowcountrymen and sympathisers in that city complained bitterly of any capitulation being signed after the tenth article was disallowed. Another matter of considerable delicacy had reference to the Virginian slaves who had joined the Royal forces. Washington was determined that they should be recovered; yet there was a harsh absurdity in a nation which professed to be struggling for its liberties stipulating for the return of men into slavery. The American Commander-in-Chief therefore added to the article on private effects the words "It is understood that any property obviously belonging to the inhabitants of these States, in the possession of the garrison, shall be subject to be reclaimed." An ugly and unpleasant act was thus accomplished under a convenient

cover.

At two o'clock in the afternoon of the 19th of October, the British troops marched out of Yorktown, with drums beating, muskets shouldered, and colours cased, to lay down their arms before the American and French army, drawn out in two lines (the Americans on the right side of the rol

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the French on the left), to the extent of more than a mile. Washington, with an honourable feeling of compassion for brave men in misfortune, ordered mere spectators to keep aloof from the ceremony (which, however, they do not seem to have done), and suppressed all public signs of exultation. Lord Cornwallis spoke well of both divisions of the army. In a letter to Sir Henry Clinton, he wrote:-"The treatment in general that we have received from the enemy since our surrender has been perfectly good and proper. But the kindness and attention that has been shown to us by the French officers in particular, their delicate sensibility of our situation, their generous and pressing offer of money, both public and private, to any amount, has really gone beyond what I can possibly describe, and will, I hope, make an impression on the breast of every English officer, whenever the fortune of war should put any of them in our power."

When the British troops issued forth, they were headed by General O'Hara, riding on horseback, who, taking off his hat to Washington, apologised for the non-appearance of Lord Cornwallis, on

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account of indisposition. In reply, Washington informed him that to General Lincoln had been assigned the duty of receiving the submission of the garrison. Lincoln was the officer in command at Charleston when it surrendered to Clinton in the preceding year. preceding year. By him, the British troops were now conducted into a field, where they were to ground their arms. Their march has been described by an American on-looker as careless and irregular, and their aspect as sullen. The order to "ground arms" was given by their platoon officers in a tone of great chagrin, and many of the soldiers threw down their muskets with a violence sufficient to break them-an outburst of temper which General Lincoln found it necessary to check. The ceremony being concluded, the men were conducted back to Yorktown, there to remain under guard until removed to their places of destination.* What proved to be in truth the climax of the Revolutionary War had been accomplished. The infant Hercules in his cradle, as Franklin afterwards expressed it, had strangled his second serpent, the first being General Burgoyne. Peace was still distant, but to most Americans it seemed secure.

EXCLUSIVE of seamen, nearly seven thousand persons surrendered to General Washington at the capitulation of Yorktown. Of these, about four thousand were fit for duty, and many of the others would doubtless have been again available as fighting men in the course of a few months. During the siege the garrison had lost, in killed, wounded, and missing, five hundred and fifty-two men, and an army originally much too small was thus rendered still more incapable of coping with an enemy who numbered, when the militia were included, at least sixteen thousand. The misfortune which overtook Lord Cornwallis was by no means remarkable, considering the strength of the adversary, the

situation of the town, and the absence of naval aid. Nor was it to be compared in magnitude with some of the capitulations of modern times; for it was, after all, only the surrender of a detachment of the British Army in America, leaving the main body untouched at New York. But it was the second capitulation that had occurred during the war; and it showed, taken in conjunction with the previous disaster, that there were special circumstances in the configuration of America, in the

Gordon's and Stedman's Histories of the War; Sparks's Washington, and Irving's Life of Washington; Earl Stanhope's History of England.