The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1897-06-04
WASHINGTON REsIGNING HIS COMMISSION.

the British sucn blow as enouIQ emu
the war for good and all Hitherto the
British had won nearly all their victo-
ries through their ships, or because of
them. We had no ships, no means of
transporting our troops by sea or of pre-
venting the enemy from retreating by
water from an untenable position. With
the arrival of the coast of a French
feet, under Count de Grasse, Washing
Son saw the possible contamination of a
long cherished scheme. He had dis
patched his favorite, General Greene,
into the south to succeed Gates, and by
pursuing Washington own tactics
Greene had succeeded III bringing Lord
CORVALLIS, the British commander in
that section, within striking distance Of
his chief. Lafayette had been detached
to watch CORVALLIS and hold him at
bay, while Washington himself, by
feints and marches and intercepted let
tiers, compelled Clinton, in New York,
into the belief that his own post was
threatened and to withhold REINFORCE
ments for CORVALLIS. Thus again by
watchful eye upon the whole Atlantic
seaboard did Washington gather and
concentrate at Yorktown all the men
and war material available, securing the
cooperation of the allies by land and by
sea. That he strained every nerve and
employed every art Of which he was ca
pable is shown by his letters.
tffTba history Of tho - bo eora IN
one, ''is a history of false hopes and
temporary expedients. Would to God
they were to end here. Yet he labored
on, upheld by faith in his cause and in
himself and moved forward for the final
and crushing blow at Yorktown. And
when, hemmed in on every side, over
whelmed and again outgeneraled, Lord
CORVALLIS was obliged to lay down his
arms, all the people knew what Wash
ington had OWNED months before-that
the end of the war was nigh. We must
admit that but for the cooperation of
the French allies, particularly with
their feet, this decisive victory might
not have been obtained, but it was the
master mind of the commander in chief
that first sent Lafayette to hold and
then the feet to block escape by sea of
the army that surrendered that day in
October, 1871.
Washington had calmly watched the
battle from a near redOubt, so exposed
that one of his aids called his attention
20 the danger Of remaining there. eff
you are afraid, said the chief quietly,
''you are at liberty to retire, - and con-
tinued at his post.
Still calm and self possessed, with the
citation only Of a high purpose accom-
plished, Washington received the capt.
,dlatiOn of the British, then, after send
ing all the men he could spare to
Greene, set forth for the north again to
watch the discounted Clinton raging In
his self selected prison in New York.
Although Washington believed the
end was nigh, and that this last Ameri-
can victory would compel the British
parliament to accept peace, yet he was
still too wary to be caught defenseless.
He uttered his protest to congress, as he
had done many times before, against the
weakening Of the army, against failing
in their obligations to the officers and
soldiers who had brought them to the
verge Of peace. They did not heed his
reiterated warnings, and it eventuated
as Washington had feared and predicted.
Dsspairing of securing their just dues,