Memoirs, Correspondence and Manuscripts of General Lafayette Part 18

The sails are just going to be hoisted, my dear general, and I have but time to take my last leave of you. I may now be certain that congress did not intend to send anything more by me. The navy board and Mr.

Nevil write me this very morning from Boston, that the North River is pa.s.sable; that a gentleman from camp says, he did not hear of anything like an express for me. All agree for certain that congress think I am gone, and that the sooner I go the better.

Farewell, my dear general; I hope your French friend will ever be dear to you; I hope I shall soon see you again, and tell you myself with what emotion I now leave the coast you inhabit, and with what affection and respect I am for ever, my dear general, your respectful and sincere friend.

SECOND VOYAGE TO AMERICA, AND CAMPAIGNS OF 1780 & 1781.

HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF 1779, 1780, & 1781.~[1]

Lafayette, who quitted France as a rebel and fugitive, returned there triumphant and in favour. He was scarcely punished by a week's arrest for his disobedience to the King, and that was only after he had had a conversation with the first minister, Maurepas. Lafayette found himself the connecting link between the United States and France; he enjoyed the confidence of both countries and both governments. His favour at court and in society was employed in serving the cause of the Americans, in destroying the false impressions that were endeavoured to be raised against them, and in obtaining for them succours of every kind. He experienced, however, many difficulties; the friends of the Austrian alliance saw, with displeasure, that that war would cause the refusal of the forty thousand auxiliaries stipulated by the treaty of Vienna; the French ministry already feared the too great aggrandis.e.m.e.nt of the United States, and decidedly refused the conquest of Canada, on pretence that before a fourteenth state was added to those that had already declared themselves independent, it was necessary first to deliver the thirteen from the yoke of the English. M. Neckar feared everything that could either increase the expense of the war or prolong it. Maurepas himself, who had been reluctantly led into it, was completely weary of it; he hoped to obtain peace by making an attempt on England. Lafayette, taking advantage of this idea, had organized an expedition, in which the celebrated Paul Jones was to command the marines, and of which the object was to transport a body of troops, bearing the American banner, upon the coast of England, and levy contributions to supply the Americans with the money that could not be drawn from the treasury of France. Liverpool and some other towns would have been justly punished for the part they had taken in the vexations exercised against the colonies, to whom they were indebted for their prosperity; but the economy and timidity of the French ministers made this undertaking fail.

Lafayette, despairing of the success of the Canada expedition, took a step that was undoubtedly a bold one, but which was quite justified by the issue. He had been enjoined not to ask for French auxiliary troops for the United States, because the popular feeling of jealousy against foreigners, and especially against Frenchmen, not only rendered the congress itself averse to this project, but made them believe it would excite general anxiety and discontent. Lafayette foresaw that before the succour could be ready, the United States would feel its necessity, and that it might arrive, as did actually occur, in a decisive moment for the safety of the cause. He took, therefore, upon himself, not being able to obtain troops for Canada, to solicit, in the name of the congress, what he had been positively forbidden to ask, a succour of auxiliary troops sent to a port of the United States, and he made choice of that of Rhode Island which, having been evacuated by the English, and being in an Island suitable for defence, was more likely than any other to obviate all kinds of difficulties. He obtained the promise of six thousand men, but four thousand only were afterwards sent, under Count Rochambeau: however trifling that number might appear, Lafayette knew that, by employing young officers of the court, and drawing the attention of the French upon that little corps, the ministers would sooner or later be obliged to render it of use by obtaining a decided naval superiority upon the American coast, which was Lafayette's princ.i.p.al object, and which it was very difficult to obtain, owing to other plans of operation; in fact, that naval superiority was never established until 1781, and then lasted but for a few weeks: events have since proved how right Lafayette was to speak every day of its necessity. The corps which had been granted were not in readiness to sail until the beginning of the year 1780. Lafayette in the meantime was employed in the staff of the army which was preparing for a descent on England, under the orders of the Marshal de Vaux. It was then that Dr. Franklin's grandson presented him officially with the sword that congress had decreed to him. Upon that sword were represented Monmouth, Barren Hill, Gloucester, and Rhode Island; America, delivered from her chains, was offering a branch of laurel to a youthful warrior; the same warrior was represented inflicting a mortal wound upon the British lion.

Franklin had placed in another part an ingenious device for America; it was a crescent, with these words: _Crescam ut prosim_; on the other side was the device, _Cur non?_ which the youth himself had adopted when he first set out for America.

Lafayette, at the end of the campaign, renewed his efforts to obtain the fulfilment of the hopes which had been given him; he succeeded in gaining pecuniary succours, which were placed at the disposal of General Was.h.i.+ngton, for it was upon that general that reposed the whole confidence of the government, and the hopes of the French nation.

Clothing for the army had been promised also, but that remained behind with the two thousand men which were to have completed the corps of Rochambeau; and Admiral Ternay, instead of bringing, as he ought to have done, a stronger naval force than the enemy had brought, set sail for Rhode Island with seven vessels. This expedition was kept very secret;~[2] Lafayette had preceded it on board the French frigate the _Hermione_; he arrived at Boston before the Americans and English had the least knowledge of that auxiliary reinforcement.

(1780.) The arrival of Lafayette at Boston produced the liveliest sensation, which was entirely owing to his own popularity, for no one yet knew what he had obtained for the United States. Every person ran to the sh.o.r.e; he was received with the loudest acclamations, and carried in triumph to the house of Governor Hanc.o.c.k, from whence he set out for head-quarters. Was.h.i.+ngton learnt, with great emotion, of the arrival of his young friend. It was observed that on receiving the despatch which announced to him this event, his eyes filled with tears of joy, and those who are acquainted with the disposition of Was.h.i.+ngton, will consider this as a certain proof of a truly paternal love. Lafayette was welcomed with the greatest joy by the army; he was beloved both by officers and soldiers, and felt the sincerest affection for them in return. After the first pleasure of their meeting was over, General Was.h.i.+ngton and he retired into a private room to talk over the present state of affairs. The situation of the army was a very bad one; it was in want of money, and it was become almost impossible to raise recruits; in short, some event was necessary to restore the energy of the different states, and give the army an opportunity of displaying its vigour. It was then that Lafayette announced to the commander-in-chief what had been done, and the succours which might soon be expected to arrive. General Was.h.i.+ngton felt the importance of this good news, and considered it as deciding the successful issue of their affairs. All the necessary preparations were made: the secret was well kept, although steps were obliged to be taken for the arrival of the troops, who landed safely at Rhode Island, and who, in spite of their long inaction, formed a necessary and powerful force to oppose to the English army.

During the campaign of 1780, the French corps remained at Rhode Island.

After the defeat of Gates, Greene went to command in Carolina; Arnold was placed at West Point; the princ.i.p.al army, under the immediate orders of Was.h.i.+ngton, had for its front guard the light infantry of Lafayette, to which was joined the corps of the excellent partisan, Colonel Lee.

This is the proper time to speak of that light infantry. The American troops had no grenadiers; their _cha.s.seurs_, or riflemen, formed a distinct regiment, under the orders of the colonel, since Brigadier-General Morgan, and had been taken, not from different corps, but from parts of the country on the frontiers of the savage tribes, and from amongst men whose mode of life, and skill in firing their long carabines, rendered them peculiarly useful in that service. But the regiments of the line supplied some chosen men, whose officers were also all picked men, and who formed a select band of about two thousand, under the orders of Lafayette. The mutual attachment of that corps and its head had become even a proverb in America. As a traveller brings from distant countries presents to his family and friends, he had brought from France the value of a large sum of money in ornaments for the soldiers, swords for the officers and under officers, and banners~[3] for the battalions. This troop of chosen men, well exercised and disciplined, although badly clothed, were easily recognised by their red and black plumes, and had an excellent and a very pleasing appearance. But, except the few things which M. de Lafayette himself supplied, none of the things France had promised to send arrived: the money she lent proved, however, of essential service to the army.

During that year, a conference took place at Hartford, in Connecticut, between the French generals and General Was.h.i.+ngton, accompanied by General Lafayette and General Knox; they resolved to send the American Colonel Laurens, charged to solicit new succours, and above all, a superiority of force in the navy. On their return from this conference, the conspiracy of Arnold was discovered. General Was.h.i.+ngton would still have found that general in his quarters; if chance, or rather the desire of showing Lafayette the fort of West Point, constructed during his absence, had not induced him to repair thither before proceeding to Robinson's house, in which General Arnold then resided.~[4]

It is impossible to express too much respect or too deep regret for Major Andre. The fourteen general officers who had the painful task of Historians have rendered a detailed account of the treachery of Arnold.

When, at his own request, the command of West Point was confided to him, he urged General Was.h.i.+ngton to inform him what means of information he possessed at New York. He made the same request to Lafayette, who accidentally had several upon his own account, and to the other officers who commanded near the enemy's lines. All these generals fortunately considered themselves bound by the promise of secrecy they had made, especially as several of the correspondents acted from a feeling of patriotism only. If Arnold had succeeded in discovering them, those unfortunate persons would have been ruined, and all means of communication cut off.

Arnold was very near receiving the letter of Lieutenant-Colonel Jameson in the presence of the commander-in-chief: he had turned aside, with Lafayette and Knox, to look at a redoubt; Hamilton p.r.o.nouncing his sentence, the commander-in-chief, and the whole American army; were filled with sentiments of admiration and compa.s.sion for him. The conduct of the English in a preceding circ.u.mstance had been far from, being similar. Captain Hale, of Connecticut, a distinguished young man, beloved by his family and friends, had been taken on Long Island, under circ.u.mstances of the same kind as those that occasioned the death of Major Andre; but, instead of being treated with the like respect, to which Major Andre himself bore testimony, Captain Hale was insulted to the last moment of his life. "This is a fine death for a soldier!" said one of the English officers who were surrounding the cart of execution.

"Sir," replied Hale lifting up his cap, "there is no death which would not be rendered n.o.ble in such a glorious cause." He calmly replaced his cap, and the fatal cart moving on, he died with the most perfect composure.

During the winter, there was a revolt in the Pennsylvanian line.

Lafayette was at Philadelphia; the congress, and the executive power of the state, knowing his influence over the troops, induced him to proceed thither with General Saint Clair. They were received by the troops with marked respect, and they listened to their complaints, which were but too well grounded. General Wayne was in the midst of them, and had undertaken a negotiation in concert with the state of Pennsylvania.

Lafayette had only, therefore, to repair to head quarters. The discontent of the Pennsylvanians was appeased by the measures of conciliation which had been already begun; but the same kind of revolt in a Jersey brigade was suppressed with more vigour by the general-in-chief, who, setting out with some battalions of Lafayette's light infantry, brought the mutineers to reason, and the generals, no longer restrained by the interference of the civil authority, re-established immediately that military discipline which was on the point of being lost.~[6]

(1781.) General Arnold was at Portsmouth in Virginia; Was.h.i.+ngton formed the project of combining with the French to attack him, and take the garrison. Lafayette set out from the head quarters with twelve hundred of the light infantry; he pretended to make an attack on Staten Island, and marching rapidly by Philadelphia to Head-of-Elk, he embarked with his men in some small boats, and arrived safely at Annapolis. He set out from thence in a canoe, with some officers, and, in spite of the English frigates that were stationed in the bay, he repaired to Williamsburg, to a.s.semble the militia, whilst his detachment was still waiting for the escort which the French were to send him. Lafayette had already blockaded Portsmouth, and driven back the enemy's picquets, when the issue of the combat between Admiral Arbuthnot and M. Destouches, the commander of the French squadron, left the English complete masters of the Chesapeake. Lafayette could only then return to Annapolis, to re-conduct his detachment to the camp. He found himself blockaded by small English frigates, which were much too considerable in point of force for his boats; but having placed cannon on some merchant s.h.i.+ps, and embarked troops in them, he, by that manoeuvre, made the English frigates retreat, and taking advantage of a favourable wind, he reached with his men the Head-of-Elk, where he received some very important despatches from General Was.h.i.+ngton: The enemy's plan of campaign was just at that time become known: Virginia was to be its object. General Phillips had left New York with a corps of troops to reinforce Arnold.

The general wrote to Lafayette to go to the succour of Virginia.

The task was not an easy one; the men whom he commanded had engaged themselves for a short expedition: they belonged to the northern states, which still retained strong prejudices as to the unhealthiness of the southern states; they had neither s.h.i.+rts nor shoes. Some Baltimore merchants lent Lafayette, on his bill, two thousand guineas, which sufficed to buy some linen. The ladies of Baltimore, whom he met with at a ball given in his honour when he pa.s.sed through the town, undertook to make the s.h.i.+rts themselves. The young men of the same city formed themselves into a company of volunteer dragoons. His corps were beginning to desert. Lafayette issued an order, declaring that he was setting out for a difficult and dangerous expedition; that he hoped that the soldiers would not abandon him, but that whoever wished to go away might do so instantly; and he sent away two soldiers who had just been punished for some serious offences. From that hour all desertions ceased, and not one man would leave him: this feeling was so strong, that an under officer, who was prevented by a diseased leg from following the detachment, hired, at his own expense, a cart, rather than separate from it. This anecdote is honourable to the American troops, and deserves to become publicly known.

Lafayette had conceived that the capital of Virginia would be the princ.i.p.al object of the enemy's attack. Richmond was filled with magazines; its pillage would have proved fatal to the cause. Lafayette marched thither with such rapidity, that when General Phillips, arriving before Richmond, learnt that Lafayette had arrived there the night before, he would not believe it. Having ascertained, however, the truth of the report, he dared not attack the heights of Richmond. Lafayette had a convoy to send to the southern states; he reconnoitred Petersburg carefully. This threatened attack a.s.sembled the English, and whilst the removing of cannon, and other preparations for an a.s.sault, amused them, the convoy was sent off rapidly with the munition and clothes which General Greene required. After the death of General Phillips, who died that same day, Arnold wrote, by a flag of truce, to Lafayette, who refused to receive his letter. He sent for the English officer, and, with many expressions of respect for the British army, told him that he could not consent to hold any correspondence with its present general.

This refusal gave great pleasure to General Was.h.i.+ngton and the public, and placed Arnold in an awkward situation with his own army.

Lord Cornwallis, on entering Virginia by Carolina, got rid of all his equipage, and did the same also respecting the heavy baggage of the army under his orders. Lafayette placed himself under the same regimen, and, during the whole of that campaign, the two armies slept without any shelter, and only carried absolute necessaries with them. Upon that active and decisive conflict the issue of the war was to depend; for if the English, who bore all the force of the campaign on that point, became masters of Virginia, not only the army of Lafayette, but also that of Greene, who drew from thence all his resources,--and not only Virginia, but all the states south of the Chesapeake, would inevitably be lost. Thus the letters of the commander-in-chief, whilst telling Lafayette that he did not deceive himself as to the difficulties of the undertaking, merely requested him to prolong as much as possible the defence of the state. The result was far more successful than any person had dared to hope, at a period when all eyes and all thoughts were directed towards that one decisive point.

The military scene in Virginia was soon to become more interesting.

General Greene had marched to the right, to attack the posts of South Carolina, whilst Lord Cornwallis was in North Carolina. Cornwallis allowed him to depart, and, marching also to the right, burnt his own equipage and tents, to be enabled to remove more easily; he then advanced rapidly towards Petersburg, and made Virginia the princ.i.p.al seat of war. General Was.h.i.+ngton wrote to Lafayette that he could send him no other reinforcement than eight hundred of the mutinous Pennsylvanians, who had been formed again into a corps on the side of Lancaster. Lord Cornwallis had obtained, and generally by the aid of negroes, the best horses in Virginia. His Tarleton front guard, mounted on race horses, stopped, like birds of prey, all they met with. The active corps of Cornwallis was composed of more than four thousand men, of which eight hundred were supplied with horses. The command was divided in the following manner: General Rochambeau remained at Rhode Island with his French corps; Was.h.i.+ngton commanded in person the American troops before New York; he summoned, some time after, the corps of Rochambeau to join him. That French lieutenant-general was under his orders the same as the American major-generals, for when Lafayette asked for the succour of troops, he took care to stipulate, in the most positive manner, that it was to be placed entirely under Was.h.i.+ngton's orders. The Americans were to have the right side; the American officer, when rank and age were equal, was to command the French officer.

Lafayette had wished to give the rising republic all the advantages and all the consequence of the greatest and longest established powers.

Was.h.i.+ngton had sent, the preceding year, General Greene to command in the southern states; Virginia was nominally comprised in that command, and had not yet become the theatre of war, but the distance between the operations of Carolina and those of Virginia was so great, and the communications were so difficult, that it was impossible for Greene to direct what was pa.s.sing in Virginia. Lafayette took, therefore, the chief command, corresponding in a direct manner with General Was.h.i.+ngton, and occasionally with the congress. But he wished that Greene should retain his t.i.tle of supremacy, and he only sent to the head quarters copies of General Greene's letters, who was his intimate friend, in the same way that both he and Greene had always been on the most intimate footing with General Was.h.i.+ngton. During the whole of this campaign the most perfect harmony always subsisted between the generals, and contributed much to the success of the enterprise.

Lafayette, after having saved the magazines of Richmond, hastened to have them evacuated; he had taken his station at Osborn, and wrote to General Was.h.i.+ngton that he would remain there, as long as his weakest point, which was the left, should not be threatened with an attack. Lord Cornwallis did not fail soon to perceive the weakness of that point, and Lafayette retreated with his little corps, which, including recruits and the militia, did not exceed two thousand five hundred men. The richest young men of Virginia and Maryland had come to join him as volunteer dragoons, and from their intelligence, as well as from the superiority of their horses, they had been of essential service to him. The Americans retreated in such a manner that the front guard of the enemy arrived on the spot just as they had quitted it, and, without running any risk themselves, they r.e.t.a.r.ded as much as possible its progress.

Wayne was advancing with the reinforcement of Pennsylvanians. Lafayette made all his calculations so as to be able to effect a junction with that corps, without being prevented from covering the military magazines of the southern states, which were at the foot of the mountains on the height of Fluvana. But the Pennsylvanians had delayed their movements, and Lafayette was thus obliged to make a choice. He went to rejoin his reinforcement at Racc.o.o.n-Ford, and hastened, by forced marches, to come into contact with Lord Cornwallis, who had had time to make one detachment at Charlottesville, and another at the James River Fork.

The first had dispersed the Virginian a.s.sembly; the second had done no material injury; but the princ.i.p.al blow was to be struck: Lord Cornwallis was established in a good position, within one march of the magazines, when Lafayette arrived close to him on a road leading towards those magazines. It was necessary for him to pa.s.s before the English army, presenting them his flank, and exposing himself to a certain defeat: he fortunately found out a shorter road which had remained for a long time undiscovered, which he repaired during the night; and the next day, to the great surprise of the English general, he was established in an impregnable station, between the English and the magazines, whose loss must have occasioned that of the whole southern army, of whom they were the sole resource; for there was a road behind the mountains that the English never intercepted, and by which the wants of General Greene's army were supplied. Lord Cornwallis, when he commenced the pursuit of Lafayette, had written a letter, which was intercepted, in which he made use of this expression: _The boy cannot escape me_. He flattered himself with terminating, by that one blow, the war in the whole southern part of the United States, for it would have been easy for him afterwards to take possession of Baltimore, and march towards Philadelphia. He beheld in this manner the failure of the princ.i.p.al part of his plan, and retreated towards Richmond, whilst Lafayette, who had been joined in his new station by a corps of riflemen, as well as by some militia, received notice beforehand to proceed forward on a certain day, and followed, step by step, the English general, without, however, risking an engagement with a force so superior to his own. His corps gradually increased. Lord Cornwallis thought proper to evacuate Richmond; Lafayette followed him, and ordered Colonel Butler to attack his rear guard near Williamsburg. Some manoeuvre took place on that side, of which the princ.i.p.al object on Lafayette's part was, to convince Lord Cornwallis that his force was more considerable than it was in reality. The English evacuated Williamsburg, and pa.s.sed over James River to James Island. A warm action took place between the English army and the advance guard, whom Lafayette had ordered to the attack whilst they were crossing the river. Lord Cornwallis had stationed the first troops on the other side, to give the appearance as if the greatest number of the troops had already pa.s.sed over the river. Although all were unanimous in a.s.serting that this was the case, Lafayette himself suspected the deception, and quitted his detachment to make observations upon a tongue of land, from whence he could more easily view the pa.s.sage of the enemy. During that time, a piece of cannon, exposed, doubtless, intentionally, tempted General Wayne, a brave and very enterprising officer.

Lafayette found, on his return, the advance guard engaged in action with a very superior force; he withdrew it, however (after a short but extremely warm conflict), in good order, and without receiving a check.

The report was spread that he had had a horse killed under him, but it was merely the one that was led by his side.~[7]

The English army pursued its route to Portsmouth; it then returned by water to take its station at Yorktown and Gloucester, upon the York River. A garrison still remained at Portsmouth. Lafayette made some demonstrations of attack, and that garrison united itself to the body of the army at Yorktown.

Lafayette was extremely desirous that the English army should unite at that very spot. Such had been the aim of all his movements, ever since a slight increase of force had permitted him to think of any other thing than of retiring without being destroyed and of saving the magazines.

He knew that a French fleet was to arrive from the islands upon the American coast. His princ.i.p.al object had been to force Lord Cornwallis to withdraw towards the sea-sh.o.r.e, and then entangle him in such a manner in the rivers, that there should remain no possibility of a retreat. The English, on the contrary, fancied themselves in a very good position, as they were possessors of a sea-port by which they could receive succours from New York, and communicate with the different parts of the coast. An accidental, but a very fortunate circ.u.mstance, increased their security. Whilst Lafayette, full of hope, was writing to General Was.h.i.+ngton that he foresaw he could push Lord Cornwallis into a situation in which it would be easy for him, with some a.s.sistance from the navy, to cut off his retreat, the general, who had always thought that Lafayette would be very fortunate if he could save Virginia without being cut up himself, spoke to him of his project of attack against New York, granting him permission to come and take part in it, if he wished it, but representing how useful it was to the Virginian army that he should remain at its head. The two letters pa.s.sed each other; the one written by Lafayette arrived safely, and Was.h.i.+ngton prepared beforehand to take advantage of the situation of Lord Cornwallis. Gen. Was.h.i.+ngton's letter was intercepted, and the English, upon seeing that confidential communication, never doubted for a moment but the real intention of the Americans was to attack New York: their own security at Yorktown was therefore complete.~[8]

The Count de Gra.s.se, however, arrived with a naval force, and three thousand troops~[9] for the land service. He was met at the landing place of Cape Henry by Colonel Gimat, a Frenchman by birth, commander of the American battalion, who was charged with despatches from Lafayette; which explained fully to the admiral his own military position, and that of the enemy, and conjured him to sail immediately into the Chesapeake; to drive the frigates into the James River, that the pa.s.sage might be kept clear; to blockade the York River; to send two vessels above the position of Lord Cornwallis, before the batteries on the water-side, at Yorktown and Gloucester could be put in a proper state. The Count de Gra.s.se adhered to these proposals, with the exception of not forcing the batteries with two vessels, which manoeuvre would have made the blockade of Cornwallis by the land troops still more easy of achievement. The Marquis de St. Simon landed with three thousand men at James Island.

Lafayette a.s.sembled a small corps in the county of Gloucester, led, himself, the American forces on Williamsburg, where he was met by the corps of the Marquis de St. Simon, who came to range themselves under his orders, so that Lord Cornwallis found himself suddenly, as if by enchantment, blockaded both by sea and land. The combined army, under the orders of Lafayette, was placed in an excellent situation at Williamsburg. It was impossible to arrive there except by two difficult and well-defended pa.s.sages. Lord Cornwallis presented himself before them in the hope of escaping, by making a forcible attack; but having ascertained the impossibility of forcing them, he only occupied himself with finis.h.i.+ng speedily the fortifications of Yorktown; his hopes, however, declined, when the Count de Gra.s.se, having only left the s.h.i.+ps necessary for the blockade, and having gone out of the harbour to attack Admiral Graves, forced the English to retire, and returned to his former station in the bay. The French admiral was, however, impatient to return to the islands; he wished that Yorktown should be taken by force of arms. The Marquis de St. Simon was of the same opinion; they both represented strongly to Lafayette that it was just, after such a long, fatiguing, and fortunate campaign, that the glory of making Cornwallis lay down his arms should belong to him who had reduced him to that situation. The admiral offered to send to the attack not only the garrisons from the s.h.i.+ps, but all the sailors he should ask for.

Lafayette was deaf to this proposal, and answered, that General Was.h.i.+ngton and the corps of General Rochambeau would soon arrive, and that it was far better to hasten their movements than act without them; and, by making a murderous attack, shed a great deal of blood from a feeling of vanity and a selfish love of glory; that they were certain, after the arrival of the succours, of taking the hostile army by a regular attack, and thus spare the lives of the soldiers; which a good general ought always to respect as much as possible, especially in a country where it was so difficult to obtain others to replace those who fell. General Was.h.i.+ngton and Count Rochambeau were the first to arrive; they were soon followed by their troops; but, at the same moment, the Admiral de Gra.s.se wrote word that he was obliged to return to the islands. The whole expedition seemed on the point of failing, and General Was.h.i.+ngton begged Lafayette to go on board the admiral's s.h.i.+p in the bay, and endeavour to persuade him to change his mind: he succeeded, and the siege of Yorktown was begun. The Count de Rochambeau commanded the French, including the corps of St. Simon; the Americans were divided in two parts; one, under Major-general Lincoln, who had come from the north with some troops; the other, under General Lafayette, who had been joined by two more battalions of light infantry, under the orders of Colonel Hamilton. It became necessary to attack two redoubts. One of these attacks was confided to the Baron de Viomenil, the other to General Lafayette. The former had expressed, in a somewhat boasting manner, the idea he had of the superiority of the French in an attack of that kind; Lafayette, a little offended, answered, "We are but young soldiers, and we have but one sort of tactic on such occasions, which is, to discharge our muskets, and push on straight with our bayonets."

He led on the American troops, of whom he gave the command to Colonel Hamilton, with the Colonels Laurens and Gimat under him. The American troops took the redoubt with the bayonet. As the firing was still continued on the French side, Lafayette sent an aide-de-camp to the Baron de Viomenil, to ask whether he did not require some succour from the Americans;~[10] but the French were not long in taking possession also of the other redoubt, and that success decided soon after the capitulation of Lord Cornwallis, (19th October, 1781.) Nor must the mention of an action be omitted here which was honourable to the humanity of the Americans. The English had disgraced themselves several times, and again recently at New London, by the murder of some imprisoned garrisons. The detachment of Colonel Hamilton did not for an instant make an ill use of their victory; as soon as the enemy deposed their arms, they no longer received the slightest injury. Colonel Hamilton distinguished himself very much in that attack.~[11]

Lord Cornwallis had demanded, in the capitulation, the permission of marching out with drums beating and colours flying; the Count de Rochambeau and the French officers were of opinion that this request ought to be granted; the American generals did not oppose this idea; Lafayette, recollecting that the same enemy had required General Lincoln, at the capitulation of Charlestown, to furl the American colours and not to play an English march, insisted strongly on using the same measures with them in retaliation, and obtained that these two precise conditions should be inserted in the capitulation. Lord Cornwallis did not himself file out with the detachment. The Generals, Was.h.i.+ngton, Rochambeau, and Lafayette, sent to present him their compliments by their aides-de-camp. He retained Lafayette's aide-de-camp, young George Was.h.i.+ngton, and told him that having made this long campaign against General Lafayette, he wished, from the value he annexed to that general's esteem, to give him a private account of the motives which had obliged him to surrender. He told him several things which have since been found in his discussion with General Clinton. Lafayette went the next day to see him. "I know," said Lord Cornwallis, "your humanity towards prisoners, and I recommend my poor army to you." This recommendation was made in a tone which implied that in Lafayette alone he felt real confidence, and placed but little in the Americans. Lafayette therefore replied, "You know, my lord, that the Americans have always been humane towards imprisoned armies;" in allusion to the taking of General Burgoyne at Saratoga.~[12] The English army was in fact treated with every possible mark of attention.

Although the French troops held in every respect the place of auxiliary troops, yet the Americans always yielded them every preference in their power relating to food or any other comfort. It is a singular circ.u.mstance that when the troops of the~[13] the young general, although a Frenchman, took upon himself to order that no flour should be delivered to the American troops until the French had received their full provision for three days. The Americans had therefore seldom any thing but the flour of Indian corn. He gave the horses of the gentlemen of that country to the French hussars, and the superior officers themselves were obliged to give up theirs: yet not one murmur escaped as to that preference, which the Americans felt ought to be shewn to foreigners who came from such a distance to fight in their cause.~[14]

The news of the capture of Yorktown was carried to France by a French frigate, who made the voyage in eighteen days. The English were thrown into consternation at that news, which occasioned the downfall of the ministry of Lord North. It was felt in London, as in the rest of all Europe, that the decisive check the English had received, had completely settled the final issue of the conflict, and from that period nothing was thought of but to acknowledge the independence of the United States on favourable terms for Great Britain.

Generals Was.h.i.+ngton and Lafayette wished to take advantage of the superiority of the Count de Gra.s.se in order to attack Charlestown, and the English who remained in the southern states. Lafayette was to take his light infantry, as well as the corps of St. Simon, and land on the Charlestown side, to co-operate with General Greene, who still commanded in Carolina. It is evident that this project would have been successful.

It has since become known that Lord Cornwallis, when he saw Lafayette enter into a canoe to go on board the fleet of the Count de Gra.s.se, said to some English officers, "He is going to decide the loss of Charlestown." But the admiral refused obstinately to make any operation upon the coast of North America.~[15]

General Lafayette afterwards repaired to congress. To him, who was then but four-and-twenty, the happy issue of that campaign was as flattering a success as it had been decisive to the American cause. He received the instructions of congress, in relation to the affairs of the United States in Europe; and embarked at Boston in the frigate _the Alliance_.

He reached France in twenty-three days. The reception he met with, and the credit he enjoyed both at court and in society were constantly and usefully employed in the service of the cause he had embraced.

Footnotes:

1. These Memoirs are extracted from the American Biography of M. de Lafayette, written by himself, which we have designated under the name of Ma.n.u.script, No. 1. We have completed them by extracts of Ma.n.u.script, No. 2, which contains observations on the historians of America.

2. It was settled that that corps of six thousand men, commanded by Lieutenant-General Rochambeau, was to be completely under the orders of the American commander-in-chief, and was only to form a division of his army. The order of service was regulated in such a manner that the French were only to be looked upon as auxiliaries, keeping the left of the American troops, and the command belonging, when there was equality, of rank and age, to the American officers. In a word, the advantages to be derived by the government, the general, and the American soldiers, were stipulated beforehand in such a manner as to prevent all future discussions. (Ma.n.u.script, No. 2.)

3. Upon one of these banners a cannon was painted, with this device: _Ultima ratio_, suppressing the word _regum_, which is used in Europe; upon another, a crown of laurel united to a civic crown, with the device--_No other_. And thus with the other emblems.--(Note de M. de Lafayette.)

4. West Point, a fort on a tongue of land which advances upon the Hudson, and governs its whole navigation, is such an important position that it is called by an historian the Gibraltar of America. Arnold had been entrusted with its command, and his treachery, if it had proved successful, and been even attended with no other result but that of yielding up this fort to the enemy, would have inflicted a deadly wound upon the cause of the United States. He had entered, during eighteen months, into a secret relation with Sir Henry Clinton, who confided the whole charge of that affair to an aide-de-camp, Major Andre. Arnold failed at an appointment for the first interview with Andre the 11th September, at Dobb's Ferry. A second one was proposed on board the sloop of war the _Vulture_, which Clinton sent for that purpose, on the 16th, to Teller's Point, about fifteen or twenty miles below West Point.

General Was.h.i.+ngton, who was repairing, with M. de Lafayette, to the Hartford conference, crossed the Hudson the 18th, and saw Arnold, who shewed him a letter from Colonel Robinson, on board the _Vulture_, which stated that that officer requested a rendezvous with him to converse upon some private affairs. Was.h.i.+ngton told him to refuse the rendezvous.

Arnold then made arrangements for a private interview. Major Andre quitted New York, came on board the sloop, and from thence proceeded, with a false pa.s.sport, to Long Clove, where he saw Arnold, the night of the 21st. They separated the next morning. Andre, on his return to New York, was taken at Tarry Town, by three of the militia, and conducted to the post of North Castle, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Jameson, who gave notice of this event, on the 23d, to his superior officer, General Arnold. The latter received the letter on the 25th, the same day on which he expected General Was.h.i.+ngton on his return from Hartford. He fled immediately; a few minutes after the general-in-chief arrived, and he received, only four hours later, the despatches which apprised him of the plot--(Was.h.i.+ngton's, Writings, vol. vii. Appendix No. 7.) and Mac-Henry, lieutenant-colonels, the one aid-de-camp to Was.h.i.+ngton, the other to Lafayette, had gone on before to request Mrs. Arnold not to wait breakfast for them. They were still there, and Arnold with them, when he received the note: he turned pale, retired to his own room, and sent for his wife, who fainted. In that state he left her, without any one perceiving it: he did not return into the drawing room, but got upon his aide-de-camp's horse, which was ready saddled at the door, and desiring him to inform the general that he would wait for him at West Point, hurried to the bank of the river, got into his canoe, and was rowed to the _Vulture_. The general, when he learnt on his arrival that Arnold was at West Point, fancied that he had gone to prepare for his reception there, and without entering into the house, stepped into a boat with the two generals who accompanied him. When they arrived at the opposite sh.o.r.e, they were astonished at finding they were not expected: the mystery was only explained on their return, because the despatches of Lieutenant-Colonel Jameson had arrived in the interim.

An historian has spoken of the generosity with which Mrs. Arnold was treated. It is, in truth, highly honourable to the American character that, during the first effervescence of indignation against her husband, she was able to go to Philadelphia, take her effects, and proceed with a flag of truce to New York, without meeting with the slightest insult.