University of Virginia Library

WAR CLOUDS AGAIN HANGING OVER VIRGINIA.

In the year 1779 the British determined upon the conquest of the
Southern States, and Sir Henry Clinton, aware that their resistance
would very much depend upon Virginia, resolved to humble her pride
and destroy her resources. Accordingly, early in May a portion of the
British fleet anchored in Hampton Roads, where they compelled the surrender
of Fort Nelson, and on the 11th, the British General Mathews
took possession of Portsmouth. They then destroyed great quantities of
military stores at Gosport and Norfolk; burned the town of Suffolk;
marched far into the interior, burning private residences, barns, and
scattering destruction far and wide. Their men-of-war destroyed in the
meantime more than one hundred vessels, thus entirely ruining the
coasting trade of the colony. The army then re-embarked and sailed
away to New York, having finished, in a masterly manner, the work
assigned them to do.

The triumph of the British arms in the South portended great evil to
Virginia. Clinton determined to make her feel the effects of her continued
resistance to a greater extent than ever before, and for that purpose
sent General Leslie with a force of three thousand men to complete her

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Meantime, Thomas Jefferson, who had succeeded Patrick Henry as
governor of the State, was, with the assistance of the best men in the
State in the assembly, concentrating every force to oppose the invaders.
At this time General Gates, who had been beaten by Cornwallis in the
South, was relieved of his command, and General Greene appointed in
his stead. The British, fearing that a change of officers might also change
the fortunes of Cornwallis' army, ordered Leslie to withdraw from Virginia
and at once form a junction with the army in South Carolina.
This he did just in time to assist in driving Greene back into Virginia.
The day after the Americans crossed the Dan—the dividing line between
Virginia and North Carolina—Greene wrote to the Governor and also
to Baron Steuben informing them of his situation and asking for reinforcements.

Early in December, 1780, Governor Jefferson also received a letter
from Washington, informing him that the British were preparing to send
an expedition south, the objective point of which was most probably
Virginia. This prediction proved correct, for on the 30th, Benedict
Arnold, who had attempted the betrayal of the American army at
West Point, for which he received ten thousand pounds and a brigadier-general's
commission in the British army, arrived with fifty sail
in the Chesapeake, and after embarking in lighter vessels, ascended
the James river. When Jefferson heard of the approach of Arnold's
squadron, he sent General Nelson into the interior counties to raise
as large a force as possible, while Baron Steuben was dispatched to
Petersburg with a force of about two hundred men. On the 4th of
January, 1781, Arnold landed his force near Westover, and marched
to Richmond without opposition. No sooner was the capital in possession
of the traitor than her stores were plundered, her archives
destroyed, and the governor forced to seek safety in rapid flight. From
Richmond, Arnold sent a detachment under Colonel Simcoe to Westham,
where they destroyed the only cannon foundry in Virginia.

The British, now fearing an attack from the combined forces of
Steuben and Nelson, the latter of whom had succeeded in raising a
considerable force, commenced their voyage down the river, destroying
all property, public and private, on both sides of the river. Virginia
was truly in a defenseless state. All her regular force was
with General Greene, in the southern part of the State, who was
disputing the passage of the Dan with Cornwallis. Her whole
dependence was in her militia, of which only about two thousand
were in the field, and with this force she could not hope to resist
invasion.

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No sooner had Arnold gone than another invasion occurred, at the
head of which was General Phillips, who, with one thousand men,
again ascended the James, ravaged Yorktown, City Point, Petersburg,
and spread desolation and terror—ever the followers in the wake of
the British army—on every side. He conceived the idea of marching
to Richmond a second time, but the fortunate arrival of Lafayette
with a considerable force of regulars saved the metropolis, and hastened
Phillips in his descent of the river. Lafayette followed, closely watching
his movements, until he reached Brandon, where he suddenly
landed, and marched again in the direction of Petersburg. The French
marquis, however, divined his true intention to be that of forming a
junction with Cornwallis, who in the meantime had forced Greene from
the banks of the Dan, and was now marching northward through Virginia.
The two forces were united at Petersburg on the 20th of May,
and Lafayette, whose force was now augmented to four thousand men,
remained in the vicinity of Richmond, awaiting reinforcements or an
opportunity to join General Greene. Meanwhile, General Wheedon collected
a force of several hundred militia, and lay at Falmouth guarding
the arms manufactory at that place. In addition to these forces, General
Wayne was on his way to Virginia with nine hundred veterans from
the frontier. The strength of the united British armies was too great
for any force which Virginia could raise, and her fate now seemed to be
decided.

From this point Cornwallis sent out detachments to ravage the various
parts of the State which had not before been visited by the ruthless Briton,
and in two months property to the value of fifteen million dollars had
been destroyed.

Colonel Tarleton, at the head of one of these raiding parties, advanced
to Charlottesville, where he hoped to capture a republican legislature,
the assembly being in session there at the time. That body,
however, received information of his approach, and all of the members,
except seven who were made prisoners, saved themselves by flight.
Governor Jefferson made his escape by riding into the mountains on
horseback. Lafayette, although unable to meet the British in the open
field, watched their every movement with sleepless vigilance. Acting
under orders from Sir Henry Clinton, then at New York, Cornwallis
descended the James and halted at Green Springs, within eight miles
of the site of Jamestown. Lafayette followed closely upon his rear.
From the above place Cornwallis moved to Portsmouth, where
he would have fortified himself had not Clinton ordered him to
re-embark and take post at Yorktown, which he did on the 1st
of August. The position thus taken was situated on the York
peninsula on the southern bank of York river, a few miles from its
mouth.

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A few days later Lafayette, with the entire available force of Virginia,
took post a few miles north of the British position, and from
here sent messengers with dispatches to Washington, requesting him to
hasten to Virginia and assist in the overthrow of the entire British
force. A powerful French fleet was daily expected in the Chesapeake,
and the American commander saw that Cornwallis, with his retreat cut
off by land and sea, would be compelled to surrender, and thus the
fatal blow to the British arms would be struck. On the 30th of
August the expected fleet, with four thousand men on board, arrived
and anchored at the mouth of York river; and on the 2d of September
Count de Barras, commanding the French fleet at Newport,
sailed into the Chesapeake with eight men-of-war and a number of transports.
Three days later Admiral Graves, with a large fleet of ships-of-the-line,
appeared in the bay. A naval battle ensued, in which the
ships of the English were so roughly handled by the French flotilla that
Graves was compelled to withdraw from the bay and sail away to New
York.

On the 14th General Washington arrived at the head-quarters of Lafayette,
and on the next day visited the flag-ship of Count de Grasse,
where the plan of the siege was arranged. On the 25th the Army of
the North, which had been preceded by the commander-in-chief, arrived,
and on the 6th of October the combined forces of America and France
opened fire on the walls of the now beleaguered army, and on the night
of the 14th carried the outer works by storm. Early in the morning
of the 16th the English made a sortie, but were hurled back into their
intrenchments. The next day Cornwallis proposed a surrender; on the
18th the terms of capitulation were signed; and on the 19th Major-General
O'Hara, who appeared instead of Cornwallis, who feigned illness,
marched the whole force out into the open field, where in the presence
of the united forces of France and America, 7,247 English soldiers laid
down their arms and became prisoners of war. Thus ended the war in
Virginia, and here, on her soil, the power of the Briton in America was
forever broken.

Had Virginia done her part in that mighty struggle? Let history
answer. She had been the first to adopt an independent constitution;
she was the first to recommend the Declaration of Independence; she
had sent her noble son to become the first among the leaders of the
armies of the nation; her officers and soldiers which she kept in the
field for eight long and weary years, whether in the shock of battle,
or marching half-clad, half-starved, and barefooted amid the snows
of the North, or through the pestilential swamps of the South, had
ever evinced unsurpassed bravery and fortitude. She had furnished
the voice of Henry, the pen of Jefferson, the sword of Washington,
and that was enough. What other American State can show such a
record?