On the other hand, Lafayette, concentrating his forces in a strong position at a distance of about eight miles, indulged in the happiest prophecies, and on the twenty-fourth of August wrote to Maurepas: "I owe you so much gratitude, and feel for you so much attachment, that I wish sometimes to recall to your recollection the rebel commander of the little Virginia army. Your interest for me will have been alarmed at the dangerous part which has been intrusted to me in my youth. Separated by five hundred miles from every other corps and without any resources, I am to oppose the projects of the court of St. James and the fortunes of Lord Cornwallis. Thus far, we have encountered no disaster." On the same day his words to Vergennes were: "In pursuance of the immense plan of his court, Lord Cornwallis left the two Carolinas exposed, and General Greene has largely profited by it. Lord Cornwallis has left to us Portsmouth, from which place he was in communication with Carolina, and he now is at York, a very advantageous place for one who has the maritime superiority. If by chance that superiority should become ours, our little army will participate in successes which will compensate it for a long and fatiguing campaign. They say that you are about to make peace. I think that you should wait for the events of this campaign."

On the very day on which Cornwallis took possession of York and Gloucester, Washington, assured of the assistance of de Grasse, turned his whole thoughts toward moving with the French troops under Rochambeau and the best part of the American army to the Chesapeake. While hostile divisions. and angry jealousies increased between the two chief British officers in the United States, on the American side all things conspired happily together. De Barras, who commanded the French squadron at Newport, wrote as to his intentions: "De Grasse is my junior; yet, as soon as he is within reach, I will go to sea to put myself under his orders." The same spirit insured unanimity in the mixed council of war. The rendezvous was given to de Grasse in Chesapeake bay; and, at the instance of Washington, he was to bring with him as many land troops as could be spared from the West Indies. Clinton was so certain in his own mind that the siege of New York

was the great object of Washington that, although the force under his command, including militia, was nearly eighteen thousand, he suffered the Hudson river to be crossed on the twenty-third and twenty-fourth of August without seizing the opportunity to give annoyance. Wurmb, a Hessian colonel, who had command at King's Bridge, again and again reported that the allied armies were obviously preparing to move against Cornwallis; but the general insisted that the appearances were but a stratagem. On the second of September it first broke on his mind that Washington was moving southward.

In the allied camp all was joy. The enthusiasm for political freedom took possession not of the French officers only, but of the soldiers. Every one of them was proud of being a defender of the young republic. On the fifth of September they encamped at Chester. Never had the French seen a man penetrated with a livelier or more manifest joy than Washington when he there learned that, on the last day but one in August, the Count de Grasse, with twenty-eight ships of the line and nearly four thousand land troops, had entered the Chesapeake, where, without loss of time, he had moored most of the fleet in Lynnhaven bay, blocked up York river, and, without being in the least annoyed by Cornwallis, had disembarked at James Island three thousand men under the command of the Marquis de Saint-Simon. Here, too, prevailed unanimity. Saint-Simon, though older in military service as well as in years, placed himself and his troops as auxiliaries under the orders of Lafayette, because he was a major-general in the service of the United States. The combined army in their encampment could be approached only by two passages, which were in themselves difficult and were carefully guarded, so that Cornwallis could not act on the offensive, and found himself effectually blockaded by land and by sea.

One more disappointment awaited Cornwallis. Lord Sandwich, after the retirement of Howe, gave the naval command at New York to officers without ability; and the aged Arbuthnot was succeeded by Graves, a coarse and vulgar man, of mean ability and without skill in his profession. Rodney should have followed de Grasse to the north; but he had become involved in pecuniary perils by his indiscriminate seizures

at St. Eustatius and conduct during the long-continued sale of his prize-goods. Pleading ill-health, he escaped to England, and in his stead sent Sir Samuel Hood, with fourteen sail of the line, frigates, and a fire-ship, into the Chesapeake, where a junction with Graves would have given the English the supremacy. But Graves, who was of higher rank than Hood, was out of the way on a cruise before Boston, to gain wealth by picking up prizes. Meantime, de Barras, with eight ships of the line, sailed from Newport, convoying ten transports which carried ordnance for the siege of Yorktown.

There was no want of information at New York, yet the British fleet did not leave Sandy Hook until the day after de Grasse had arrived in the Chesapeake. Early on the fifth of September, Graves discovered the French fleet at anchor in the mouth of that bay. De Grasse, though eighteen hundred of his seamen and ninety officers were on duty in James river, ordered his ships to slip their cables, turn out from the anchorage ground, and form the line of battle. The action began at four o'clock in the afternoon, and continued till about sunset. The British sustained so great a loss that, after remaining five days in sight of the French, they returned to New York. On the first day of their return voyage they evacuated and burned The Terrible, a ship of the line, so much had it been damaged in the engagement. De Grasse, now undisturbed. master of the Chesapeake, on his way back to his anchoring ground captured two British ships, each of thirty-two guns, and he found de Barras safely at anchor in the bay.

From

Leaving the allied troops to descend by water from Elk river and Baltimore, Washington, with Rochambeau and Chastellux, riding sixty miles a day, on the evening of the ninth reached his "own seat at Mount Vernon." It was the first time in more than six years that he had seen his home. its natural terrace above the Potomac his illustrious guests commanded a noble river, a wide and most pleasing expanse of country, and forest-clad heights, which were soon to become the capital of the united republic.

Two days were given to domestic life. On the fourteenth the party arrived at Williamsburg, where Lafayette, recalling the moment when in France the poor rebels were held in light

esteem, and when he nevertheless came to share with them all their perils, had the pleasure of welcoming Washington as generalissimo of the combined armies of the two nations.

The first act of Washington was to repair to the Ville de Paris to congratulate de Grasse on his victory. The system of co-operation between the land and naval forces was at the same time concerted.

At this moment Gerry wrote from Massachusetts to Jay: "You will soon have the pleasure of hearing of the capture of Lord Cornwallis and his army." "Nothing can save Cornwallis," said Greene, "but a rapid retreat through North Carolina to Charleston." On the seventeenth, Cornwallis reported to Clinton: "This place is in no state of defence. If you cannot relieve me very soon, you must be prepared to hear the worst." On that same day a council of war, held by Clinton at New York, decided that Cornwallis must be relieved; "at all events before the end of October." The next day RearAdmiral Graves answered: "I am very happy to find that Lord Cornwallis is in no immediate danger."

One peril yet menaced Washington. Count de Grasse, hearing of a reinforcement of the fleet at New York, was bent on keeping the sea, leaving only two vessels at the mouth of the York river. Against this Washington, on the twentyfifth, addressed the plainest and most earnest remonstrance: "I should esteem myself deficient in my duty to the common cause of France and America, if I did not persevere in entreating you to resume the plans that have been so happily arranged." The letter was taken by Lafayette, who joined to it his own explanations and reasonings; and de Grasse, though reluctant, was prevailed upon to remain within the capes. Washington wrote in acknowledgment: "A great mind knows how to make personal sacrifices to secure an important general good."

The troops from the North having been safely landed at Williamsburg, on the twenty-eighth the united armies marched for the investiture of Yorktown, drove everything on the British side before them, and lay on their arms during the night.

The fortifications of Yorktown, which were nothing but earthworks freshly thrown up, consisted on the right of re

doubts and batteries, with a line of stockade in the rear, which supported a high parapet. Over a marshy ravine in front of the right a large redoubt was placed. The morass extended along the centre, which was defended by a stockade and batteries. Two small redoubts were advanced before the left. The ground in front of the left was in some parts level with the works, in others cut by ravines; altogether very convenient for the besiegers. The space within the works was exceedingly narrow, and, except under the cliff, was exposed to enfilade.

The twenty-ninth was given to reconnoitring and forming a plan of attack and approach. The French entreated Washington for orders to storm the exterior posts of the British; in the course of the night before the thirtieth, Cornwallis ordered them all to be abandoned, and thus prematurely conceded to the allied armies ground which commanded his line of works in a very near advance, and gave great advantages for opening the trenches.

At Gloucester the enemy was shut in by dragoons under the Duke de Lauzun, Virginia militia under General Weedon, and eight hundred marines. Once, and once only, Tarleton and his legion, who were stationed on the same side of the river, undertook to act offensively; but the Duke de Lauzun and his dragoons, full of gayety and joy at the sight, ran against them and trampled them down. Tarleton barely

escaped; his horse was taken.

In the night before the sixth of October, everything being in readiness, trenches were opened at six hundred yards' distance from the works of Cornwallis-on the right by the Americans, on the left by the French; and the labor was executed in friendly rivalry, with so much secrecy and dispatch that it was first revealed to the enemy by the light of morning. Within three days the first parallel was completed, the redoubts were finished, and batteries were employed in demolishing the embrasures of the enemy's works and their advanced redoubts. On the night before the eleventh the French battery on the left, using red-hot shot, set on fire the frigate Charon, of forty-four guns, and three large transport ships which were entirely consumed.