assault with the spirit of emulation which this arrangement was calculated to inspire, the works in question were speedily carried at the point of the bayonet.

It must be mentioned to the honor of the American soldiers, that though in revenge for a massacre recently committed at New London, in Connecticut, by a body of troops under the command of the renegade Arnold,* they had been

loss.1 The French were also successful. The reboubt assigned to them was soon carried, but with less rapidity and greater loss.2 These two redoubts were included the same night in the second parallel, and facilitated the subse quent operations of the besiegers.

* Sir Henry Clinton "giving to the traitor Arnold, who had just returned from Virginia, the command of a strong detachment, he sent him against NewLondon, a flourishing city situated upon the river Thames, in his native state. Nearly opposite, on a hill in Groton, stood Fort Griswold, which was then garrisoned by militia, hastily summoned from their labors in the field. Against this fort Arnold despatched a part of his troops. It was assaulted on three sides at the same moment. The garrison, fighting in view of their property and their homes, made a brave and obstinate resistance. By their steady and well directed fire, many of the assailants were killed. Pressing forward with persevering ardor, the enemy entered the fort through the embrazures. Immediately all resistance ceased. Irritated by gallantry which should have caused admiration, a British officer inquired who commanded the fort. "I did," said Colonel Ledyard, "but you do now," and presented him his sword. He seized it, and with savage cruelty plunged it into his bosom. This was the signal for an indiscriminate massacre. Of one hundred and sixty men, composing the garrison, all but forty were killed or wounded, and most of them after resistance had ceased. Seldom has the glory of victory been tarnished by such detestable barbarity. The enemy then entered New-London, which was set on fire and consumed. The property destroyed was of immense value. Perceiv ing no other object within the reach of his force, Arnold led back his troops to New-York."

1 One sergeant and 8 privates were killed; and 1 lieutenant-colonel, 4 cap. tains, 1 subaltern, 1 sergeant, and 25 rank and file, wounded. There was no retaliation of the recent carnage at Fort Griswold. The assailants killed not a man, except in action. 66 Incapable of imitating examples of barbarity, and for. getting recent provocation, the soldiery spared every man that ceased to resist." 2 The loss, in killed and wounded, was nearly 100 men.

ordered to take no prisoners, they forebore to comply with this requisition, and when they had penetrated into the redoubt, spared every man who ceased to resist. On the 16th of October, a sally was made from the garrison, but with indifferent success; and Lord Cornwallis was now convinced that he could avoid a surrender, only by effecting his escape by Gloucester Point. Seeing himself therefore reduced to the necessity of trying this desperate expedient, he prepared as many boats as he could procure, and on the night of the 16th of October attempted to convey his army over York river to the opposite promontory. But the elements were adverse to his operations. The first division of his troops was disembarked in safety; but when the second was on its passage, a storm of wind and rain arose, and drove it down the river.

Though this second embarkation worked its way back to Yorktown on the morning of the 17th, Lord Cornwallis was convinced, however unwillingly, that protracted resistance was vain.* No aid appeared from New York-his

* "On the morning of the 17th, several new batteries were opened in the second parallel; and, in the judgment of Lord Cornwallis, as well as of his engineers, the place was no longer tenable. About ten in the forenoon, his lordship, in a letter to General Washington, requested that there might be a cessation of hostilities for 24 hours, and that commissioners might be appointed to digest terms of capitulation. The American general in his answer declared his "ardent desire to spare the farther effusion of blood, and his readiness to listen to such terms as were admissible;" and granted a suspension of hostilities for two hours. The general propositions, stated by Lord Cornwallis for the basis of the proposed negotiation, being such as to lead to an opinion that the terms of capitulamight without much difficulty be adjusted, the suspension of hostilities was prolonged through the night. Commissioners were appointed the next day to digest into form, such articles as General Washington had drawn up and proposed to Lord Cornwallis; and early the next morning the American general sent

On the 16th what was done?

What desperate expedient was Cornwallis reduced to?
What was the result?

works were ruined-the fire from the enemy's batteries swept the town; and sickness had diminished the effective force of the garrison. In these painful circumstances, noth

them to his lordship with a letter, expressing his expectation, that they would be signed by eleven, and that the garrison would march out by two in the afternoon. Lord Cornwallis, submitting to a necessity absolutely inevitable, surrendered the posts of Yorktown and Gloucester Point with the garrison, and the shipping in the barbor with the seamen, to the land and naval officers of America and France. By the articles of capitulation, the officers were to retain their side arms and private property. The soldiers, accompanied by a due proportion of officers, were to remain in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania; and the officers, not required for this service, were to be allowed to go on parole The to Europe, or to any maritime port, occupied by the English in America. whole army merited great approbation; but the artillerists and engineers received the highest applause. Generals Du Portrail and Knox were each promoted to the rank of major-general; Lieutenant-Colonel Gouvion and Captain Generals Lincoln, de Rochefontaine were each advanced a grade by brevet. Lafayette, and Steuben, were particularly mentioned by the commander-in-chief in his orders the day after the capitulation; and Governor Nelson, who remained in the field during the siege, at the head of the militia of Virginia, and who exerted himself to furnish the army with supplies, was very honorably mentioned. The Count de Rochambeau received the highest acknowledgments; and several other French officers were named with distinction. Congress, on receiving intelligence of this important victory, passed resolutions, returning the thanks of the United States to the commander-in-chief, to the Count de Rochambeau, to the Count de Grasse, and to the officers of the different corps, and the men under them. It was also resolved, that a marble column should be erected at Yorktown with emblems of the alliance between the United States and his most Christian majesty, and inscribed with a succinct narrative of the surrender of the Earl Cornwallis. Washington, on this very joyful occasion, ordered that those who were under arrest, should be pardoned and set at liberty, and closed his orders in the following pious and impressive manner: "Divine ser vice shall be performed to-morrow in the different brigades and divisions. The commander-in-chief recommends, that all the troops that are not upon duty do assist at it with a serious deportment, and that sensibility of heart, which the recollection of the surprising and particular interposition of divine Providence in our favor claims." 1 Congress resolved to go in solemn procession to the Dutch Lutheran Church, to return thanks to Almighty God for crowning the. allied arms with success; and issued a proclamation, appointing the 13th day of

Describe his situation on the 17th.

ing remained for him but to negotiate terms of capitulation. He accordingly sent a flag of truce, and having agreed to give up his troops as prisoners of war to Congress, and the naval force to France, he, on the 19th of October, marched out of his lines with folded colors; and proceeding to a field at a short distance from the town, he surrendered to General Lincoln, with the same formalities which had been prescribed to that officer at Charleston, eighteen months before.* Another coincidence was remarked on this occasion. The capitulation under which Lord Cornwallis surrendered was drawn up by Lieutenant-Colonel Laurens, whose father had filled the office of President of Congress, and having been taken prisoner when on his voyage to

December "as a day of general thanksgiving and prayer, on account of this signal interposition of divine Providence."1

1"The piety of a conqueror forms an immortal wreath, which will flourish when the laurel shall have withered. Timoleon, in reply to the eulogiums lavished on him by the Syracusans, said, "The gods had decreed to save Sicily: I thank them that they chose me to be the instrument of their goodness." Washington, with similar but more enlightened piety, uniformly ascribed his successes, and every propititous event, to the divine agency. In August, 1778, he remarked: "It is not a little pleasing, nor less wonderful to contemplate, that after two years maneuvering and undergoing the strangest vicissitudes, that perhaps ever attended any one contest since the creation, both armies are brought back to the very point they set out from, and the offending party in the beginning is now reduced to the use of the spade and pickaxe for defence. The hand of Providence has been so conspicuous in all this, that he must be worse than an infidel, who lacks faith, and more than wicked, who has not gratitude enough to acknowledge his obligations." In the case of Arnold's treachery, he observed; "In no instance since the commencement of the war, has the interposition of Providence appeared more remarkably conspicuous, than in the rescue of the post and garrison of West Point."

"The army, with the artillery, arms, accoutrements, military chest, and all public stores, were surrendered to General Washington; the ships and seamen,

What did he next do?

What were the terms of surrender?

By whom were they drawn up? What of his father?

Describe the circumstances of the surrender?

Holland, in quality of ambassador from the United States to the Dutch republic, had been consigned, under a charge of high treason, to a rigorous custody in the Tower of London, of which fortress his lordship was constable.

Had Lord Cornwallis been able to hold out five days longer than he did, he might possibly have been relieved; for on the 24th of October, a British fleet, conveying an army of 7000 men, arrived off the Chesapeake; but finding that his lordship had already surrendered, this armament returned to New York and Sandy Hook.

SECTION XXXVII.

PROVISIONAL TREATY OF PEACE, 30TH OF NOVEMBER, 1782.

It was with reason that the Congress passed a vote of thanks to the captors of Yorktown, and that they went in procession, on the 24th of October, to celebrate the triumph of their arms, by expressing, in the solemnities of a reli

to the count de Grasse. The prisoners, exclusive of seamen, amounted to 7073; of which number 5950 were rank and file.

To the 7073 prisoners are to be added 6 commissioned and 28 non-commissioned officers and privates, taken prisoners in the two redoubts, and in the sortie made by the garrison. The loss sustained by the garrison during the siege, t killed, wounded, and missing, amounted to 552. The loss of the combined army, in killed, was about 300.-The allied army, to which that of Lord Cornwallis surrendered, has been estimated at 16000 men. The French amounted to 7000, the continental troops, to about 5500; and the militia, to about 3500."

Who was constable of the Tower of London?
What armament appeared on the 24th?

What was done by Congress on the 24th October?