XXXVII. CHAP appeals to Clinton to send him aid. In the mean time he was indefatigable in strengthening his fortifications. 1781. Oct. 14. The combined forces, French and American, were about twelve thousand, besides the Virginia militia called out by Governor Nelson, who, as the State treasury was empty, pledged his own property as security to obtain a loan of money to defray the expenses. The Governor was a resident of Yorktown, and when the cannonade was about to commence, he was asked where the attack would be most effective: "He pointed to a large, handsome house on a rising ground as the probable head-quarters of the enemy. It proved to be his own." The plan of operations were speedily arranged, and the allies began to press the siege with great vigor. Their lines were within six hundred yards of the enemy's works, which they completely surrounded. General Washington himself put the match to the first gun. The heavy ordnance brought by De Barras was soon thundering at the fortifications. The British outworks were very strong, and beyond these were thrown up redoubts to hinder the approach of the assailants. The cannonade continued for four days; the enemy's outworks were greatly damaged and guns dismounted, while a forty-four gun ship and other vessels were burned by means of red-hot shot thrown by the French. Cornwallis withdrew his men from the outworks, but the redoubts remained. Two of these were to be stormed; one assigned to the French, the other to the Americans. The assault was made about eight o'clock in the evening. The Americans, under Alexander Hamilton, were the first to enter; they scrambled over the parapet without regard to order, and carried the redoubt at the point of the bayonet. The French captured theirs, but according to rule, and they suffered more than the Americans in their headlong attack. The emulation exhibited by both parties was generous and noble. From SURRENDER OF CORNWALLIS. 505 XXXVII. 16. these captured redoubts a hundred heavy cannon poured CHAP. in an incessant storm of balls. Cornwallis, as he saw his works one by one crumbling to pieces, his guns disabled, 178. his ammunition failing, determined to make a desperate sally and check the besiegers. The British soldiers, a little before daybreak, suddenly rushed out, and carried two batteries, but scarcely had they obtained possession of them, before the French in turn furiously charged, and drove them back to their own intrenchments. But one avenue of escape was left ;-they must cross the river to Oct. Gloucester, cut a way through the opposing force, and by forced marches reach New York. Cornwallis resolved to abandon his sick and wounded and baggage, and make the desperate attempt. Boats were collected, and in the night a portion of the troops crossed over; the second division was embarking, when suddenly the sky was overcast, and a storm of wind and rain arrested the movement. It was now daylight. The first division with difficulty recrossed to Yorktown, as on the river they were subjected to the fire of the American batteries. Despairing of assistance from Clinton, and unwilling to risk the effect of an assault. upon his shattered works, or to wantonly throw away the lives of his soldiers, he sent to Washington an offer to surrender. The terms were arranged, and on the 19th of October, in the presence of thousands of patriots assembled from the neighboring country, Cornwallis surrendered seven thousand men as prisoners of war to Washington, as commander-in-chief of the combined army, and the shipping, seamen, and naval stores to the Count de Grasse. At Charleston, when Lincoln capitulated, the Americans were not permitted to march out with their colors flying, as had been granted to Burgoyne, but with their colors cased. It was thought proper to deny them the courtesy granted at Saratoga, and the British soldiers were directed to march out with their colors cased; and Lincoln was deputed by Washington to receive the sword of Cornwallis. Oct. 19. CHAP. XXXVII. Washington sent one of his aids to carry the joyful news to the Congress at Philadelphia. He reached the 1781. city at midnight. Soon the old State-house bell, that five years before signalized to the people that the Declaration of Independence was made, now awoke the slumbering city to hear the watchmen cry, "Cornwallis is taken! Cornwallis is taken!" The inhabitants by thousands rushed into the streets to congratulate each other. Congress met the next morning and proceeded in a body to a church, and there publicly offered thanks to Almighty God for the special favor He had manifested to their struggling country, then issued a proclamation appointing a day for national thanksgiving and prayer, "in acknowledgment of the signal interposition of Divine Providence." Throughout the whole land arose the voice of thanksgiving from the families of the patriots, from the pulpits, from the army. Never did a nation rejoice more. The clouds of uncertainty and doubt were dispelled; the patriots were exultant in the prospect of peace and of the established freedom of their country. Their intelligence enabled them to appreciate the blessings for which they had so long struggled. If the battle of Bunker Hill, or the evacuation of Boston, had led to a reconciliation with the mother country, how different had been their feelings. Then an affection, a reverence for England would have lingered, only to retard the progress of the Colonists-at best but half-forgiven rebels and hold them subordinate to her, not so much in political dependence as formerly, but sufficient to stifle that sentiment of nationality, so essential to the proper development of their character and of the resources of the country. We have seen how long it took illiberal laws, enforced in a tyrannical manner, to alienate their affections It now required a seven years' struggle of war, outrage and suffering, dangers and privations, to induce a pervading national sentiment, rouse the energies of the people, THE CONTINENTAL SOLDIERS. 507 give them confidence, and lead them to sympathize with CHAP each other. XXXVII. Congress voted thanks to Washington, to the Counts 1781. De Rochambeau and De Grasse, and to the army generally. Eulogies were showered upon the Commander-inchief;-the spontaneous outpourings of a grateful people, who, during the darkest hours of the contest, had in him unbounded confidence. Yorktown was now a name to be honored even beyond those of Bunker Hill and Saratoga. How much was involved in that surrender! The long struggle was virtually ended. It had been a contest not for power, not for aggrandizement, but for a great truth and principle, which had been overshadowed by authority and pressed down by arbitrary rule. Said Lafayette to Napoleon, when he sneered at the smallness of the armies engaged in the American Revolution: "It was the grandest of causes, won by the skirmishes of sentinels and outposts." It is true that the number who fell on the battle-fields was comparatively small. The names of but few of these have come down to us; they were written only on the hearts of friends and relatives who mourned their loss. Scarcely was there a family but had a precious record; the cherished memory of some one who had thus sacrificed his life. NOTE.-The number of soldiers furnished by each State to the Continental army, during the war, may be seen by the following table: XXXVIII. CHAPTER XXXVIII. CLOSING EVENTS OF THE WAR-FORMATION OF THE CONSTI TUTION. British Efforts Paralyzed.-The States form Independent Governments.— Indian Wars.-Massacre of the Christian Delawares.-Battle of the Blue Lick.-Carleton supersedes Clinton.-Commissioners of Peace.-The common Distress.-Dissatisfaction in the Army.-The "Anonymous Address."-Peace concluded.-British Prisoners; the Tories.-Disbandment of the American Army.-Washington takes leave of his Officers. -Resigns his Commission.-Shay's Rebellion.-Interests of the States clash. The Constitutional Convention.-The Constitution ratified by the States.-The Territory North-west of the Ohio.--Ecclesiastical Organizations. CHAP ON the very day that Cornwallis surrendered, Clinton sailed to his aid with seven thousand men. When off the 1781. entrance to the Chesapeake, he learned, to his astonishment, that all was lost. As the British fleet was much inferior to that of the French, he hastily returned to New York. Washington requested Count de Grasse to coöperate with General Greene in an attack upon Charleston, but De Grasse pleaded the necessity of his presence in the West Indies, and excused himself. The Americans now returned to their old quarters on the Hudson. The French army wintered at Williamsburg in Virginia, while the British prisoners were marched to Winchester. The capture of Cornwallis paralyzed the efforts of the |