Tilghman’s education is described in Shreve 35–36.
Blanchard 122 discloses how hard it was dealing with Rochambeau.
Chastellux’s portrayal of Washington is in Flexner 2:399–401.
Chastellux 1:87 compares medicine in the rebel army with that in Agamemnon’s.
The quotation about Americans from Lafayette appeared in Stacy Shiff’s “Vive l’Histoire” in New York Times, op-ed, Feb. 6, 2003.
The Verger journal is in Rice and Brown 1:124.
Acomb, in Closen 82–83, has the details of the trip.
Rice and Brown 135 fn39 mentions the beautiful Polly Lawton.
The Tory threat is in Clermont-Crèvecoeur’s journal, Rice and Brown, 1:28–29. His appraisal of the dragoons is on pp. 30–31.
Scheer Yankee Doodle 214 and Rice and Brown 1:32 fn30 describe the line of march. The site of the first brigade’s camp, or bivouac, was on the outskirts of present-day Bedford Village, near the intersection of Seminary and Court roads.
Closen’s remark is on p. 91.
Rhode Island’s black regiment is noted in Rice and Brown 1:32–34. The same source, 33 fn34, quotes Rochambeau’s letters to France.
Berthier’s observations are from Rice and Brown 1:251, July 6, 1780.
Balch 162 relates the episode when Washington and Rochambeau were nearly stranded.
Closen 102 quotes his admiration for the rebel army.
Berthier’s adventure is from Rice and Brown 1:251–52 and also notes his encounter with the Tories.
Closen’s close call is on pp. 99–100.
Shreve 147 describes de Grasse’s plans.
Washington’s need for water transport is noted in Flexner 2:436, and the same source, 441, quotes Lafayette’s description of York.
Johnston 59 quotes the young Frenchman’s estimate of what Cornwallis’s Virginia campaign cost.
The Internet “Maps” mileage from Newport to Williamsburg is 565.9, but this is over modern roads. The Vicomte de Noailles calculated the distance he walked from Newport to Yorktown at more than 750 miles.
Washington’s allotments of his resources are in Freeman 5:310 fn68d and 313.
Scheer and Rankin 473 quotes the French officer on Clinton’s lethargy.
Cumming and Rankin 318–19 mentions Prince William’s arrival.
“A Gentleman from Philadelphia” to Capt. Beckwith, July 24, 1781, is in GLC 05223.
The hazards faced by the French navy are recited by Flexner 2:439–40; see also Freeman 5:312 and Ward The War of the Revolution 2:882.
“War Diary”; Anthony Wayne to Robert Morris, July 12, 1781, GLC 02620 describes how Wayne dealt with mutineers.
The source of George Mason’s letter to his son George, June 3, 1781, is GLC 03256.
The captured letter is discussed in Flexner 2:431, as is the importance of the boats in persuading Clinton that the plan was to attack Staten Island. See also Clinton 307–9 and 531, which includes his belief that loyalists were of little use.
Freeman 5:314 fn97 has Thacher’s comment comparing the situation to a theatrical exhibition. The same source, 315–17, relates the relative strength of the British and French fleets.
Rice and Brown 1:44 describes Washington’s meeting with the French officers.
7. A Partial Engagement
George Washington to Governor Thomas Nelson, Aug. 27, 1781, and the Nelson broadside Sept. 1, 1781, are in GLC 04828, MA 488/1, 31.
Freeman 5:317 and 319 fn121 discusses Washington’s visit to Philadelphia.
Closen 116–17 characterizes the French officers’ reception at Morris’s home.
Washington’s letter to Lafayette is in Commager and Morris 1217.
Johnston 92 describes the troops’ march through Philadelphia.
Martin’s comment on marching is in Scheer Yankee Doodle 289.
Francis Barber to his wife, July 18, 1781, is in MA 0488/1, 114.
Flood 403 has Clinton’s letter to Cornwallis about Washington’s march south.
Bonsal 127, Johnston 92–93, Flood 403–4, Ward The War of the Revolution 2:884, and Thacher 271–72 all describe the triumphant French march through Philadelphia.
Clermont-Crèvecoeur’s observations are in Rice and Brown 1:47–49.
Shreve 149 describes the unusually enthusiastic Washington.
Closen 123, Bonsal 129–31, and Flexner 2:443 discuss the episode.
Material on the Battle of Rhode Island is in Boatner 788–94; the quote is in Scheer and Rankin 341–42.
Freeman 5:68, 74 has more on the Battle of Rhode Island.
The unhappy saga of d’Estaing’s career comes from Boatner and Scheer and Rankin.
Tornquist 35–42 describes the battle between the two fleets. The same source, 14 and 43–44, has material on Tornquist and his journal.
Mackesy 184 has the quotation from Germain and much information on British trade with the West Indies.
Tornquist 48 has the remarks quoted here.
Boatner 444–45, Balch 2:137–40, and Tornquist 53 have details on the French fleet and the search for money. Tornquist gives a figure of 700,000 piastres; Balch, chap. 13, states that the French government placed 6 million livres at Washington’s disposal. Balch, chap. 15, says de Grasse was carrying 1.2 million livres for the American commander.
Tornquist 55 notes the arrival of de Grasse in the Chesapeake.
Flexner 2:445 lists the fleet’s strength.
George Weedon to Nathanael Greene about the new Virginia governor, dated Sept. 5, 1781, is from MA 488/1, 96.
Blanchard 172 describes the drought in Head of Elk.
Freeman 5:323–24 fn11 quotes one of Clinton’s informers.
The source for the footnote on Mordecai Gist is his letter to Smith and Wooton, Sept. 18, 1781, in MA 488/1, 147.
The fireships are described in Rice and Brown 1:52–53 fn91, and the same source, 55 fn98 and 56, lists the trials of other French soldiers.
Tornquist 57 has the author’s experience near Hampton.
Freeman 5:324–28 and Flexner 2:445–47 tell of Washington at Mount Vernon and the message concerning de Grasse.
Scheer and Rankin 470 quotes the Marquis de Lafayette to George Washington; another message of July 8, 1781, between the two is in GLC 05467.
Johnston 96–99 tells of the plan to bottle up Cornwallis.
Freeman 5:328–30, Flexner 2:448, and Scheer and Rankin 476 describe Washington’s arrival in Williamsburg and the festivities.
Tuchman discusses the Dutch salute to Andrea Doria in the first chapter.
Johnston notes how Graves missed Rodney’s dispatch (99) and Graves’s arrival off the Chesapeake (100–101).
The source for the footnote about the Doyles and Lord Rawdon is Closen 137 and fn.
Tornquist 58–61, Flood 406, Flexner 2:448 and fn, and Commager and Morris 1220–21 all provide valuable details on the sea battle. The last-named source includes a journal of an anonymous French officer with the French fleet—a good eyewitness account.
8. Prepare to Hear the Worst
The fascinating correspondence between and about Clinton and Cornwallis is in Clinton’s The American Rebellion, and I have quoted from Sir Henry’s letters of Apr. 10 and Apr. 23 to the earl; Apr. 23 to Germain; Apr. 24 to Phillips; Apr. 30, July 11, and July 14 to Cornwallis.
Gordon, in Peckham, Narratives of Colonial America 252 depicts Yorktown before the Revolution, and Lossing 2:301–3 has a description of the place in 1848.
Clinton has several letters recording the naval situation (559–63) as well as letters from Cornwallis and Clinton relating the arrival of the French fleet (563–64).
The journal of Johann Conrad Doehla has the description of unsanitary conditions inside British lines.
Willcox 429 cites the warning by General Robertson.
For the period Sept. 8 to Sept. 23, 1781, covering the conversations in New York about Cornwallis’s plight, and the earl’s increasingly desperate letters, I have relied on Clinton 56
5–72.
Flexner 2:449 describes Washington’s meeting with de Grasse.
The arrival of the English brig alongside the Ville de Paris is mentioned in Rice and Brown 1:136–37.
Both Freeman 5:334–35 and Flexner 2:449 note de Grasse’s decision to depart on Oct. 31. The latter source describes the spectacular feu de joie (450) and quotes the general’s optimistic message (451).
Closen 138 records Washington’s operational plans.
Freeman 5:335–43 and Closen 133–37 describe the visits of Washington and Closen.
Closen 138–39 has an account of the allies setting up camp.
9. I Propose a Cessation of Hostilities
Lee 496–98 has a long and comprehensive account of this affair. Other material is in Rice and Brown 1:57–58, 139 fn69, and Boatner 1179–80.
The firsthand account by Armand-Louis de Gontaut-Biron, Duc de Lauzun, is in Commager and Morris 1216–17.
Rice and Brown 1:57–58, 138–39 has the story of Lauzun’s heroism.
Cornwallis’s statement that only the promise of relief led him to defend Yorktown appears in Clinton 583.
Tucker 381 describes the terrain.
Cornwallis’s optimistic assessment is in Billias’s Opponents 218.
Johnston 111 has a complete list of regiments with a full breakdown of both armies on the next eight pages. For numbers of troops, see Doehla (a total of 7,414 British and German), Ward The War of the Revolution 2:889 (about 6,000), and Johnston 164–65 (7,157 surrendered; he also gives the round number of 7,500 besieged plus 800 marines).
Johnston has Wayne’s criticism of the British movement (127) and Clinton’s reassurance of Cornwallis (121).
Lee 496 has his comment on Scammell.
More on Scammell is in Johnston 123 and appendix 174–75; Lee 406; a letter from Colonel Smith in Magazine of American History, Jan. 1881, 21; and my Saratoga 148, 156–57, 395–97. With Scammell’s death I felt that I had lost an old friend. I had been with him from Bunker Hill through the rest of the war and had nothing but admiration for him.
Dearborn 219 has his lament.
The Gregory diary 3 lists the size of the first parallel.
Scheer Yankee Doodle 218–19 includes Martin’s observations on fascines and gabions; more appears on 230fn and in Closen, 143fn.
The frequency of artillery fire comes from Tucker 382 (Oct. 2).
Duncan’s account is in Scheer and Rankin 480.
The quotation from Wayne appears in Johnston 127.
Tucker reports on the wounded (394) and on the dead horses (382–83).
Commager and Morris 1231 has the account of Washington’s visit to the trenches.
Flexner 2:454 records the Reverend Evans’s high dudgeon.
Commager and Morris 1229 discusses Hamilton’s maneuver.
Scheer and Rankin includes Popp’s statement (484), notes Martin’s pride in seeing the flag raised (233), and describes the arcing shells (484). The damage to people and the town is in several accounts in this book, especially 386–87 and 484–85, and in Doehla 41–42.
Comments on Knox are from my Decisive Day 214–21.
Chastellux’s appraisal of Knox is in Chinard 54.
Doehla 43–44 describes the British wounded.
Thacher’s remark is in Commager and Morris 1232.
The actions of the French regiments appear in Rice and Brown 1:141–42, fn76 and 77.
Some events of Oct. 16 are reported by Cornwallis to Clinton, Oct. 20, in Clinton, Carrington 640, and Doehla 48.
Scheer and Rankin 488 has the Richard Butler account.
In Rice and Brown 1:60 and 143 the Clermont-Crèvecoeur and Verger accounts differ, especially as to the number of troops involved and other details, so I have tried to merge them without focusing on numbers.
Martin’s exploits appear in Scheer Yankee Doodle 234–36.
Scheer and Rankin 488 quotes Captain William Stevens on Knox. The footnote describing the demise of Cochrane is from Cummings and Rankin 325.
Clinton 580–82 prints the Cornwallis letter ending with Oct. 12. The earl’s letter of Oct. 15 appears in Scheer and Rankin 488–89, and the same source, 489, reports the activities of Hamilton and Knox.
Tarleton’s History of Campaigns in the Southern Provinces, quoted in Commager and Morris 396–400, is the source of his advice to retreat. Cornwallis’s comment on the storm is in the same source, 1238.
Freeman 5:374 quotes the American soldier. Tarleton’s statement that all hope is gone appears in Commager and Morris 1235–36.
Doehla 49–50 mentions the flag of truce, and Cornwallis’s letter to Clinton is printed in Commager and Morris 1238.
Denny’s comment on the drummer boy is in Scheer and Rankin 490.
Freeman 5:376 quotes the American officer, and Cornwallis’s letter to Washington is in MA 488/1, 2.
10. The Hand of Heaven Displayed
Dearborn’s 1777 diary 111 has his comment on “Mr. Burguoyn.”
Rice and Brown 1:143–44 and fn81 contains details on the surrender negotiations.
Tucker’s description of the scene is in Scheer and Rankin 491.
Commager and Morris 1240 cites the honors to be granted.
The honors in the context of the Charleston surrender are discussed in Scheer and Rankin 1108–9 and 491–92. The same source, 492–93, states that Steuben planted the American flag on a British fort.
Governor Nelson’s comment on his house appears in Rice and Brown 1:65, and Closen 180 cites his ownership of plundered farms and loss of hundreds of slaves. The footnote mentioning Governor Nelson’s slaves is from Closen 180.
Balch 2:210–11 is a source of information on Governor Nelson.
Closen 154 and Balch 1:209 and 2:64 have information on the captured stores.
Closen 154–55 quotes the fear of pillaging.
The pitiable condition of Negroes is from Rice and Brown 1:64.
Doehla 60–64 mentions Popp’s promotion.
My figures on casualties are from several sources, including Closen 154. Johnston 158 gives an entirely different count, totaling 10,069. Note the statement in Closen 154 and fn34 that Closen’s figures are too high. Clinton 587 gives 6,630 surrendered, 552 killed, wounded, or missing, for a total of 7,182. To this must be added the number of Germans. Germain’s letter of July 7, 1781, to Clinton states that 2,800 Germans will soon arrive. That would make the total 9,982. In his journal 393 St. George Tucker has a figure of 5,818, not counting the garrison at Gloucester.
Commager and Morris 1240–41 and Flexner 2:460–61 have information on the Bonetta.
Greene’s letter to Knox is in Scheer and Rankin 493.
Thacher 288–90 describes the surrender.
Freeman made a thorough study of what tune was played by the British band and concluded that it was almost certainly “The World Turned Upside Down.” See his 5:388 fn47.
Thacher 288–90 mentions the timbrel.
Information about the Blarenberghe paintings may be found in Rice and Brown 2:161–65, with views on 92–97.
Closen’s quote is on pp. 153–54.
Commager and Morris 1239 quotes the New Jersey officer.
Doehla 57–58 gives his impressions of the size of the allied armies.
Shreve 157–58 describes the British and German reactions.
The American colonel’s views of the antics of Americans appear in Scheer and Rankin 494–95.
The favors done by Rochambeau for Cornwallis are cited in Rice and Brown 1:64.
Clinton 583–87 has Cornwallis’s letter to Sir Henry.
The treatment of Negroes is noted in Scheer and Rankin 241–43 and fn11.
Flood 412–13 has the Tarleton stories.
Bonsal 175–77 relates how the news reached Versailles.
Thayer 385 mentions Wayne’s and St. Clair’s reinforcement of Greene.
Rice and Brown 1:66 characterizes the French quarters, and the same source, 152, contains the Verger journal with its comment
s on American riflemen and the rebels’ veneration of Washington. Clermont-Crèvecoeur’s comments on American habits appear in the same source, 71–72.
Tilghman and his mission are reviewed in detail in Shreve 215, appendix 1, no. 15—Tilghman to Washington, Oct. 27, 1781, 158–66 and 168. Further details on the celebrations are in Scheer and Rankin 496 (quoted from Boudinot’s journal) and Johnston 158–59.
11. I Now Take Leave of You
The letters between Mildred Smith and Betsy Ambler were published as “An Old Virginia Correspondence,” Atlantic Monthly 34 (1899):535–39.
Mackesy 433–59 has an excellent section on the navies and their war.
George Washington to Nathanael Greene, Nov. 16, 1781, is in MA 488/1, 37.
The letter from Nathanael Greene to Thomas Nelson, Dec. 27, 1781, is in GLC 07884.09.
Van Doren Benjamin Franklin 627–30 mentions the dauphin’s birth.
Closen 181–82 reports on events in the Carolinas, as does Greene 408–9.
The quotations from Walpole are in his Letters 8:115 and 118.
Johnston 179–81 quotes from Wraxall’s memoirs, describing how the cabinet received the news of Yorktown.
Mackesy 386, 435–36, 462–70 quotes Vergennes and reports on London’s state of mind and the Rockingham ministry.
Flexner 2:482–84 discusses Washington’s movements and the reunion with the French.
James Madison reported the critical situation in Congress to Arthur Lee, May 28, 1782, GLC 3930.
Champagne 186 describes the army’s growing discontent.
Rhode Island’s refusal to ratify and Virginia’s about-face appear in Flexner 2:486.
Brooks 170–71 appraises Knox’s role.
Flexner 2:502–4, Champagne 196, and Brooks 172–74 relate events in Newburgh, and Freeman 5:433–36 follows Washington’s actions there.
Flexner 2:507–8, 512, and 514–15 discusses Washington’s difficult position and the failure of Congress to honor its commitments.
Boatner 744 provides information about Morris; McCullough 300 reports the loan from Holland.
The king’s proclamation of Feb. 14, 1783, is in GLC 1731.
McCullough 281, 284–85 assesses the contribution of the American delegates to the peace conference and the treaty itself.
Robson xxiii–xxvi has the British officers’ observations on the mediocre caliber of their superiors.
Victory at Yorktown Page 34