History of the Loyalists: the Campaign of Yorktown

Année
1893
Mois
9
Jour
29
Titre de l'article
History of the Loyalists: the Campaign of Yorktown
Auteur
James Hannay
Page(s)
1
Type d'article
Langue
Contenu de l'article
HISTORY OF THE LOYALISTS THE CAMPAIGN OF YORKTOWN. Surrender of the British Army Under Lord Cornwallis. BY JAMES HANNAY. CHAPTER XXXVII. (Concluded) The allied army under Washington reach Williamsburg on the 14th of September, and on the 18th Washington had an interview with Count de Grasse on board his flagship for the purpose of completing arrangements for investing Lord Cornwallis’ army and causing its surrender. On the 28th the combined armies of Americans and French left Williamsburg by different roads and marched towards Yorktown. On their approach the British left their field-works on the outer circle and withdrew to those nearer the town. On the 30th September Yorktown was completely invested by the allied armies; their line extending in a semi-circle at a distance of nearly two miles from the British works, each wing resting on the York river. The French troops occupied the left and the Americans the right, while Count de Grasse with his fleet remained in Lynn Haven Bay to beat off any naval force that might come to the aid of Cornwallis. That general had been induced to retire to his inner line of defense, in consequence of having received assurances from Clinton that it bad been determined to send at least 5,000 troops from New York with the fleet to relieve him, and that they would sail as early as the 6th. Cornwallis was confident that he could hold out until relief would arrive, but the assistance promised by Clinton never came, nor did the troops leave New York until the 19th of October, the very day on which the British army surrendered. PROGRESS OF THE SIEGE. It would be tedious and unnecessary to relate the various steps of the siege, which could only have one result. Cornwallis had a little more than 7,000 men with him a large part of whom were unfit for service owing to illness, wounds, and various causes; while the allied French and American armies, numbered about 20,000 men, and had a powerful artillery. The siege works were gradually advanced towards the British position at Yorktown, and every day the army of Lord Cornwallis was restricted to a narrower space. Being without heavy cannon, he had no means of successfully opposing the fire of the enemy, and although several sorties were made they produced no permanent result. Cornwallis relying on Clinton's assistance had waited too long. Before the arrival of Washington’s army he might have made a bold push, scattered Lafayette’s force, and dislocated the combination that was being formed against him, but he had allowed the golden opportunity to slip past. He conceived, however, one desperate expedient, which was to have been put into operation on the night of the 16th of October. His plan was to leave the sick and his baggage behind, cross over to Gloucester, which was occupied by the Queen’s Rangers and Tarleton’s legion, and with these troops out up and disperse the force under du Choise, and by rapid marches gain the forks of the Rappahannock and Potomac, forcing his way through Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey to the army in New York, This was A DESPERATE UNDERTAKING, and it might have succeeded but for a storm which set in that night. Boats were prepared and the first body of troops had reached Gloucester Point, when a sudden summer tornado arose, and the attempt to take over more troops had to be abandoned. On the following day Cornwallis, finding that every portion of his camp was commanded by the guns of the enemy, beat a parley and proposed a cessation of hostilities with a view to capitulation. The articles of capitulation were signed on the 19th by Cornwallis, Washington, Rocham beau and de Barras; the principle stipulations being that the British troops were to be prisoners of war to America, and the British naval forces to France. The officers were to retain their side arms and private property of every kind. The soldiers were to be kept in Virginia, Maryland or Pennsylvania, and as much by regiment as possible, and to be supplied with the same rations of provisions as were allowed to soldiers in the service of America. The Bonetta sloop of war was to be permitted to sail to New York without examination, on condition that the was to be returned to the Count de Grasse, and the soldiers and sailors who were passengers, accounted for on her delivery This last stipulation was rendered necessary because Washington refused to assent to an article which was proposed by Conwallis, that Loyalists were not to be punished for having joined the British army. Cornwallis sent as many of these unfortunate people to New York in the Bonetta as that vessel could carry, and they thus escaped the vengeance of the blood-thirsty enemy who desired their destruction. The British force surrendered at Yorktown numbered altogether, including non combatants and followers of the army, 7,247 men, The rank and file of the army numbered 6,039 Only four Loyalist corps were included in the surrender: Tarleton’s British legion, the Queens rangers, the North Carolina volunteers, and the Pioneers—but there were a few men of other corps who chanced to be with the army THE FORCE THAT SURRENDERED. The following is a detail of the men surrendered at Yorktown:— General and staff - 79 Artillery 232 Guards 527 Light infantry 671 17th Regiment 245 23rd Regiment 233 33rd Regiment 260 43rd Regiment.... 359 71st Regiment 300 76th Regiment 715 89th Regiment..... 389 Two battalions of Ausbach 1,077 Prince Heredetary regiment 484 Regiment de Bose 319 Yaegers 74 British legion 241 Queens Rangers 320 North Carolina volunteers 142 Pioneers..- 44 Engineers, etc 23 Taken on the 14th and 16th 82 Total -7.247 The British losses during the siege amounted to 477. Of the garrison not more than 4,000 men were capable of doing duty when Yorktown was surrendered. On the 24th of October, five days after the surrender, the British fleet, from New York, with a land force for the relief of Cornwallis, arrived off the Chesapeake, and learned the fate of the garrison. It was too late then to retrieve the misfortune which had been caused by Clinton's neglect, and there was nothing left but to return to New York. That CLINTON WAS RESPONSIBLE for the surrender of Cornwallis cannot be doubted, and it is equally true that the responsibility for maintaining this incompetent commander at the head of the armies in America must rest upon George III. Still, the surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown was mainly due to lucky chance, and the combinations of the French and Americans could not have succeeded had the British admiral been on the alert, or the British commander-in-chief done his duty. In all these operations the allies were greatly favored by fortune. The surrender of Lord Cornwallis secured the independence of the United States and convinced everyone except the obstinate king of the hopelessness of the struggle in which Great Britain was engaged. The news of the surrender reached London on the 25th of November, and was immediately communicated to the king who was then at Kew Parliament reassembled two days later, and on the 28th the house of commons voted down a motion introduced by Sir James Lowther for putting an end to the American war. The vote stood 179 yeas to 220 nays, showing that a great change had taken place in the opinion of the house of commons, for five months previously Mr. Fox had only been able to obtain 99 supporter to a motion to take into consideration the state of the American war. When parliament met again in January the opposition had acquired more strength and on the 22nd of February, General Conway’s motion against continuing the American war was only negatived by a vote of 194 to 193. This motion which is renewed in the form a resolution was carried a few days later by a vote of 234 against 213. On the 20th of March, 1782, Lord North announced in the house of commons, that his government was at an end, and as George III. could not find a ministry willing to continue his policy, of continuing the war in America, there was no alternative but to bring the long and bloody contest to a close.