Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1881-10-14
THE SIEGE OF YORKTO WN.

THE ONE GREAT SURPRISE OF THE AMERICAN
REvoLUTIoN"-THE MOVEMENTS WHICH LED
TO THE sIBGE-THE ELIMINATING EVENT
OCT. 10, 1881.
Nearly 100 years have elapsed since the
Continental Congress joyfully voted to erect
n monument on the field where the last and
the decisive blow was struck for American
independence II was on October %, 1881,
that the resolution was adopted pledging the
new nation to this act. The news of Corn
walis's surrender had reached Philadelphia
the night before, almost week after the oc-
currence. Great was the rejoicing thereat,
and although il was near midnight when the
courier arrived, not many minutes elapsed
before the entire city knew the glad tidings.
When Congress met, its President, Thom-
as Mexican, read the dispatches from Cen
eral Washington, and then the members de-
cided to march in a body to the nearest
church and return thanks to Almighty God
After that the resolution for the building of
the monument was passed. The subsequent
financial difficulties of the new government
led to the silent neglect Of the project, and
when money was more plentiful 1t was entire
| ly forgotten. The approach Of the centenary
Of the important victory led to the appropri-
alton of $4,000 by the last Congress,
wherewith to redeem the pledge made so long
ago.
On the 10Th Of the present month the mon
ument will be unveiled on the Yorktown bat
| tlefield. This is the centennial anniversary of
the surrender Of 5000 British troops to the
allied French and American forces, and ar
rangements have been made on a scale wor-
thy Of the occasion by the joint commission
appointed by both branches Of Congress and
the committee acting as the representatives
of the various states Of the Union. 1t will
| be not merely national affair, for another
nation shares with us in the glory Of the
achievement, and France will be ftly repre-
sented both by delegates from its govern
ment and by thousands Of her citizens, who
| will cross the Atlantic to do honor TO the
great event which it commentaries. The
celebration is to begin several days earlier,
and the festivities are TO be prolonged for a
| full week Military delegations from various
| parts of the country will participate, and the
| display will undoubtedly be the most mag
nifcent seen in the South for many day.
The siege of Yorktown and its result has
been aptly termed the one great surprise Of
the American Revolution. Burgoyne's sur
render at Saratoga was not unexpected. His
march from Canada through New York to
| the Hudson was q wild enterprise at the best,
and its utter failure did not much astonish
either friends or foes. Quite different was
| Cornwallis's grand overthrow in Virginia.
| He had gained the reputation Of being the
ablesl British commander the war had pro-
duced. His conquest Of the OArolinas had
shown him TO be both daring and cautious.
Lafayette had given him the name Of ''the
terrible Britisher who makes no mistakes, "
and both Generals Greene and Gates, who
/ had commanded the American forces op-
posed to him, had to acknowledge his skill as
leader How, then, did it come to pass
that he allowed himself to be caught like a
rat in trap?
The answer TO this question has puzzled
historians not little, and the acrimonious
correspondence concerning it which in after
years passed between CORVALLIS and Sir
Henry Clinton, his then chief, rather OBJ
| scures than eliminates the subject. Three
years and a half after the beginning Of the
actual armed resistance to the British domin-
| alton, the effort TO overcome that resistance
at the North was confessedly failure. Al
though the efforts Of the combined American
and French forces to drive the English from
Rhode Island in the previous August had
| proved unsuccessful, the close of 1873 saw
the American cause far stronger than at any
time since the outbreak of actual hostilities.
| 1t was therefore decided to try another plan
than that hitherto pursued by the British.
| The war was to be transferred TO the South,
in the hope that after Georgia, the Carolinas
1 ana virginia nhu Dceu buDuutu, tue
| and New England states could be more easily
handled. An army and feet were despatched
to Savannah, and afterwards another Ia
Charleston, and in both places success crown
| ed the movement. Cornwallis's operations
in North and South Carolina followed, and
| Tarleton's troopers ravaged both states.
Successive generals who had been sent by
Congress to oppose CORVALLIS we're defeated
and although Kings Mountain and Cowpens
gave the Americans hope, the outlook at the
south especially was dark in the spring of
| 1881. The battle of Guilford Court House
was fought in March, and was almost a neces-
sary antecedent to Yorktown. 1t was Brit
ish victory, but it was bought dearly, and il
led CORVALLIS to decide that before the more
southerly states could be thoroughly subju-
gated, Virginia would have TO be conquered.
Hence his march northward in Maya march
which his superior at New York, Sir Henry
Clinton, did not approve of, however.
Before CORVALLIS arrived in Virginia, Sil
Henry Clinton had sent two expeditions to
ravage the coast To oppose them, Washing
ton had despatched Lafayette with 1900 men.
On May 20, 1884, CORVALLIS arrived at Peters
burg from Wilmington, and there the expedi.
tionary forces were joined to his own, thus
giving him body of 5000 veteran troops
where with to operate in the state. Lafayette
retreated before him, without fighting an en-.
gagement, to North Anna, where Oornwallit
turned southwest and made for the Upper
James river there to cover a cavalry raid on
some stores at the Point of Fork, which Steu
ben was guarding with some 500 militia. In
the meantime Lafayette had received rein
forcements in the shape of 1000 Pennsylvania
infantry under Wayne's command. He fol
lowed CORVALLIS, and prevented any further
destruction of stores. Steuben's troops were
Joined TO his own, and CORVALLIS went to
Richmond. He did not remain there long,
though, but moved to Williamsburg closely
watched all the time by Lafayette.
Exactly why CORVALLIS went to this ex'
treme corner of the peninsula, it is difficult tC
understand II was not because he could moi
hold his own elsewhere, for his troops greatly
outnumbered those Of Lafayette. Presuma-
bly, he intended to await further developments
and to mature his plan for completely subju.
eating Virginia. Whatever his intentions
were, he was given no opportunity to carry
them out. At Williamsburg he found orden
from Sir Henry Clinton to send 5000 of hii
men north, and to establish defensive pos
on the coast. Before the troops had actually
been embarked another rider allowed him to
keep them, and told him definitely to fortify
Old Point Comfort as a basis for future naVa
operations He found that the Point could
not be defended, and pushed on to Yorktown,
where he began throwing up Notifications
This was in the first week of August, 1881.
Sir Henry Clinton's orders were the result
of the junction of the American and French
armies, and the consequent threatening as
pect of affairs around New York. The allied
army was at least a match for the British sta
toned around New York, the capture of which
city was generally supposed to be its object
When Washington, however, heard that Corn
wallis was intrenching himself on the Virgins
peninsula, he began to entertain a scheme fol
a movement southwark. This scheme wal
adopted when it was learned that the Coun
De Grasse, commander Of the French fee
then in the West Indies, would sail no further
north than Chesapeake Bay.
II was late in August when, by dexteroui
feint, Sir Henry Clinton was deceived abou
the real ulan of cAmpaion adopted by the al