CORNWALLIS SURRENDERS. 183 thanks to the help given by Marion, Sumter, and Pickens, with an army numbering only about two thousand men. To accomplish much with small means is a sure sign of greatness. Greene had done this, and Washington was the man who taught him. 189. The Crowning Victory of the War. - Cornwallis reached Virginia, and after vainly pursuing Lafayette and destroying millions of dollars' worth of property he entered Yorktown, on a narrow peninsula at the mouth of the York River. He went there not because be wanted to, but because he must. Cornwallis had been chasing Lafayette; he boastingly said, "The boy cannot escape me." But "the boy," Lafayette, with a larger army had turned round and began chasing him. Cornwallis retreated to Yorktown (July 30, 1781) to get help by sea from New York. There the British general fortified himself. He did not know it, but he was building his own prison-one that he would never get out of except by surrender. While he was waiting for soldiers to arrive from New York a French fleet of war-ships under Count de Grasse1 was coming to block him in. Now was Washing New York City PENNSYLVANIA Richmond Yorkto [R Trenton Philadelphia Elkton N. JERSEY Delaware LAN T I с ос SCALE OF MILES 150 ton's chance to strike a tremendous blow. His plan was to march rapidly south from the Hudson to Yorktown, and with the help of the French fleet on one side and of Lafayette and his army on the other capture Cornwallis with his whole force. Such a move required a large amount of money for provisions, pay, and powder. Robert Morris2 came to the rescue and furnished nearly a million and a half of dollars for the good work. 1 De Grasse (Deh Grahss). 2 See Paragraph 175. He saw Clinton, at the head of the British force in New York, thought Washington was getting ready to attack him. Washington encouraged him to think so. He went on making every possible preparation for moving against New York. Even Washington's own army supposed that was his intention. When at length everything was ready Washington suddenly broke camp and marched his entire force with all possible speed across the country to the head of Chesapeake Bay and thence by vessels to Yorktown. Cornwallis looked over the walls of his fortified town. the French fleet on one side, and the American army, sixteen thousand strong, on the other. He held out manfully for three weeks against solid shot, shell, red-hot balls. Then seeing that it was useless to struggle against fate he surrendered. His army marched out October 19, 1781, to the tune of "The World's Upside Down" - it was true; the British world in America was upside down," and the fall of Yorktown practically ended the war of the Revolution. Washington had conquered. It was "the victory of a great and good man in a great and good cause." 66 When the news reached London and was announced to Lord North, then the prime minister1 of the British government, he threw up his arms as though a cannon-ball had struck him, cried out wildly, "It is all over!" and then resigned his office. 190. Summary of the Revolution. The king of England insisted on taxing the American colonies without their consent. The Americans refused to pay, and took up arms in defence of their rights as loyal English subjects. The king and his party endeavored to put down the rebellion; and on July 4, 1776, the colonists declared themselves independent of Great Britain. The war for independence then began. At Saratoga, in 1777, the Americans gained a great victory over Burgoyne. In consequence of that victory the king of France acknowledged the independence of the United States, and sent money, ships, and men to fight in our behalf. 1 Prime minister: the king's chief adviser. GEORGE III.'S SPEECH. 185 In 1781, Washington, with the help of the French ships of war, defeated Cornwallis at Yorktown, and took him prisoner with all his army. That decisive victory practically ended the Revolution, and not long after, the British gave up the contest. 191. George III.'s Speech on the United States; England makes a Treaty of Peace with us; the King's Meeting with John Adams. At the opening of Parliament1 (December 5, 1782), the king, in a voice choked with emotion, announced that he was ready to acknowledge the independence of the United States. He closed his speech by saying that it was his earnest prayer that religion, language, interest, and affection might prove a bond of permanent union between the two countries.' A final treaty of peace between Great Britain and this country was signed at Paris in 1783.2 Less than two years later, John Adams of Massachusetts was sent as our first minister3 to England. When Mr. Adams was presented to the English sovereign, the king said, "Sir, I will be very free with you. I was the last to consent to the separation, but the separation having been made... I have always said, as I say now, that I would be the first to meet the friendship of the United States as an independent power." 6 5 192. The American States Independent but not really United; Congress destitute of Power. But though America had won her independence, she had not secured harmony and union. While the war lasted the states fought like brothers, side by side; now that the danger was over, they threatened to fall apart. We were like a barrel made of thirteen stout staves, but 1 See note I, page 151. The Revolution, from its first outbreak at Lexington (April 19, 1775) to the final disbanding of the army (April 19, 1783), lasted just eight years to a day. 8 Minister: here the word means a person sent on public business by one government to another. 4 Presented here means introduced. 5 Later, however, the king treated Mr. Adams very coldly. 6"Power" is here used for nation or people. |