bited a decent and neat appearance, as respects arms and clothing, for their commander opened his store and directed every soldier to be furnished with a new suit complete, prior to the capitulation. But in their line of march we remarked a disorderly and unsoldierly conduct, their step was irregular, and their ranks frequently broken. But it was in the field when they came to the last act of the drama, that the spirit and pride of the British soldier was put to the severest test, here their mortification could not be concealed. Some of the platoon officers appeared to be exceedingly chagrined when giving the word "ground arms," and I am a witness that they performed this duty in a very unofficerlike manner, and that many of the soldiers manifested a sullen temper, throwing their arms on the pile with violence, as if determined to render them useless. This irregularity, however, was checked by the authority of General Lincoln. After having grounded their arms and divested themselves of their accoutrements, the captive troops were conducted back to Yorktown and guarded by our troops till they could be removed to the place of their destination. The British troops that were stationed at Gloucester surrendered at the same time, and in the same manner to the command of the French general de Choise. This must be a very interesting and gratifying transaction to General Lincoln, who having himself been obliged to surrender an army to a haughty foe the last year, has now assigned him the pleasing duty of giving laws to a conquered army in return, and of reflecting that the terms which were imposed on him are adopted as a basis of the surrender in the present instance. It is a very gratifying circumstance that every degree of harmony, confidence and friendly intercourse subsisted between the American and French troops during the campaign, no contest except an emulous spirit to excel in exploits and enterprize against the common ene

and a desire to be celebrated in the annals of history for an ardent love of great and heroic actions. We are not to be surprized that the pride of the British officers is humbled on this occasion, as they have always entertained an exalted opinion of their own military prowess, and affected to view the Americans as a contemptible, undisciplined rabble. But there is no display of magnanimity when a great commander shrinks from the inevitable misfortunes of war, and when it is considered that Lord Cornwallis has frequently appeared in splendid triumph at the head of his

army, by which he is almost adored, we conceive it incumbent on him cheerfully to participate in their misfortunes and degradations, however humiliating; but it is said he gives himself up entirely to vexation and despair.

20th. In the general orders of this day our Commander in Chief expresses his entire approbation, and his warmest thanks to the French and American officers and soldiers of all descriptions, for the brave and honorable part which they have acted during the siege. He congratulates the combined army on the momentous event which closes the campaign, and which crowns their heads with unfading laurels, and entitles them to the applause and gratitude of their country. Among the general officers whom his Excellency particularly noticed, for the important services which they rendered during the siege, are Generals Lincoln, de la Fayette, Steuben, Knox, and Du Portail, his Excellency Count Rochambeau, and several other distinguished French officers. To Governor Nelson, of Virginia, he returned his grateful and sincere acknowledgments for the essential succors afforded by him and the militia under his command. The Commander in Chief, wishing that every heart should participate in the joy of this memorable day, ordered that all those who are under arrest or confinement should be immediately pardoned and set at liberty, a circumstance which I believe has never before occurred in our army. He closed by ordering that divine service shall be performed in the several brigades tomorrow, and recommends that the troops attend with a serious deportment, and with that sensibility of heart which the recollection of the surprizing and particular interposition of Providence in our favor claims.

22d.-Yesterday, being Sunday, our brigade of infantry, and the York brigade were drawn up in the field to attend divine service performed by Mr. Evans. After offering to. the Lord of Hosts, the God of battles, our grateful homage for the preservation of our lives through the dangers of the siege, and for the important event with which Divine Providence has seen fit to crown our efforts, he preached an excellent and appropriate sermon. Generals Lincoln and Clinton were present. In the design and execution of this successful expedition, our Commander in Chief fairly out generaled Sir Henry Clinton, and the whole movement was marked by consummate military address, which reduced the royal general to a mortifying dilemma that no skill or enterprize could retrieve. A siege of thirteen days, prosecuted with

unexampled rapidity, has terminated in the capture of one of the greatest generals of which the English can boast, and a veteran and victorious army which has for several months past spread terror and desolation throughout the southern states. The joy on this momentous occasion is universally diffused, and the hope entertained that it will arrest the career of a cruel warfare, and advance the establishment of American Independence. In the progress of the royal army through the state of Virginia the preceding summer, they practised the most abominable enormities, plundering negroes and horses from almost every plantation, and reducing the country to ruin. Among the prodigious assemblage of spectators at the time of surrender, were a number of planters searching for the property which had been thus purloined from their estates. The famous Colonel Tarleton, mounted on a horse remarkable for elegance and noble appearance, while riding in company with several French officers with whom he was to dine, was met by a gentleman, who instantly recognized the animal as his own property. Tarleton was stopped, and the horse peremptorily demanded; observing a little hesitation, the British General O'Harra, who was present, said, "you had better give him his horse, Tarleton," on which the colonel dismounted and delivered the horse to the original proprietor; after which, being remounted on a very miserable animal, he rejoined his company, and the French officers were greatly surprized that he should be so humbly mounted. The British prisoners were all sent off yesterday, conducted by a party of militia on their way to the interior of Virginia and Maryland. I have this day visited the town of York, to witness the destructive effects of the siege. It contains about sixty houses, some of them are elegant, many of them are greatly damaged and some totally ruined, being shot through in a thousand places and honey combed ready to crumble to pieces. Rich furniture and books were scattered over the ground, and the carcases of men and horses half covered with earth, exhibited a scene of ruin and horror beyond description. The earth in many places is thrown up into mounds by the force of our shells, and it is difficult to point to a spot where a man could have resorted for safety.

The loss on the part of the French during the siege, was fifty killed and one hundred and twenty-seven wounded. Americans twenty-seven killed and seventy-three wounded, officers included. Cornwallis' account of his loss during the

siege is one hundred and fifty-six, three hundred and twentysix wounded, and seventy missing, probably deserted, total five hundred and fifty-two. The whole number surrendered by capitulation, seven thousand two hundred and forty-seven.* The amount of artillery and military stores, provisions, &c. is very considerable, seventy-five brass and one hundred and sixty-nine iron cannon, seven thousand seven hundred and ninety-four muskets; regimental standards, German, eighteen, British, ten. From the military chest we received two thousand one hundred and thirteen pounds, six shillings sterling.

Lord Cornwallis is a very distinguished warrior, he possesses an exalted spirit, is brave and intrepid, and never was there a more zealous champion of his tyrannical master; austere and rigorous in his temper, nothing could be more foreign from his heart than the sympathies of benevolence or generous compassion. Had all the rebels in the states but one neck, his Lordship would glory in nothing more than an opportunity of severing the jugular vein. But Cornwallis hast fallen! and our country is not subjugated.†

It is proper I should take a retrospect of some events which have marked the conduct of the war of extermination in the southern states. A singular kind of ferocious animosity has subsisted between the two contending parties, as may be seen by letters from General Greene on the subject. "The animosity," says this amiable man, "between the whigs and tories of this state renders their situation truly deplorable. Not a day passes but there are more or less who fall a sacrifice to this savage disposition. The whigs seems determined to extirpate the tories, and the tories the whigs. Some thousands have fallen in this way in this quarter, and the evil rages with more violence than ever. If a stop cannot be soon put to these massacres the country will be depop

* Another list which has been published, makes their total loss by death and capture to be eleven thousand eight hundred, including two thousand sailors, one thousand eight hundred negroes, one thousand five hundred tories, eighty vessels large and small.

It is asserted in Gordon's History of the War, that wherever the army of Lord Cornwallis marched, the dwelling houses were plundered of every thing that could be carried off. Hundreds of eye witnesses can prove that his lordship's table was served with plate thus pillaged from private families. By an estimate made at the time, on the best information that could be collected, the state of Virginia lost during Cornwallis' attempts to reduce it, thirty thousand slaves. And it has been computed that one thousand four hundred widows were made by the ravaging hand of war in the single district of Ninety-Six. The whole devastations occasioned by the British army, during the six months previous to their surrender at Yorktown, are supposed to amount to about three millions sterling.

ulated in a few months more, as neither whig nor tory can live." Speaking of a certain party on our side, he says, "this party plunders without mercy, and murders the defenceless people just as private pique, prejudice or personal resentments dictate. Principles of humanity as well as policy, require that proper measures should be immediately taken to restrain these abuses, heal differences, and unite the people as much as possible. No violence should be offered to any of the inhabitants unless found in arms. The idea of exterminating the tories is no less barbarous than impolitic." Such is the infernal spirit of revenge and bitterness which has caused mutual destruction and wretchedness among the people. But however atrocious may have been the conduct of some unauthorized partizans on the part of the Americans, the following instance of inhumanity, in the sacrifice of one of the victims of their malicous resentment, is sufficient to stigmatize the British character with eternal infamy. Lord Rawdon and Lieutenant Colonel Balfour, have perpetrated an act which in all its distressing circumstances surpasses in enormity and wickedness, all others which have come to our knowledge, and which has roused the indignant spirit of every true American to a pitch of desperation. "Colonel Isaac Hayne, during the siege of Charleston, served his country as an officer of militia. After the capitulation no alternative was left but to abandon his family and property, or to surrender to the conquerors. The smallpox was near his plantation, and he had a wife, six small children, and more than one hundred negroes, all liable to the disease. He concluded that instead of waiting to be captured, it would be both more safe and more honorable to go within the British lines, and surrender himself a voluntary prisoner. He therefore repaired to Charleston, and offered to bind himself by the honor of an American officer, to do nothing prejudicial to the British interest till he should be exchanged. Reports made of his superior abilities and influence, uniformly exerted in the American cause, operated with the conquerors to refuse him a parole, though they were daily accustomed to grant this indulgence to other inhabitants. He was told, that he must either become a British subject, or submit to close confinement. To be arrested and detained in the capital, was not to himself an intolerable evil, but to abandon his family both to the ravages of the smallpox, then raging in their neighborhood, and to the insults and depredations of the royalists, was too much for the tender husband and fond pa