THE SURRENDER OF CORNWALLIS.

ABIEL HOLMES.

[Cornwallis having led his army to Wilmington, with the purpose of invading Virginia, General Greene boldly returned to South Carolina, and encamped on Hobkirk's Hill, a mile only from Lord Rawdon's post at Camden. Here he was attacked on April 25, and, after nearly winning a victory, was defeated through the flight of a Maryland regiment, whose panic communicated itself to the army. Yet the losses on both sides differed but little, and Lord Rawdon soon found it advisable to retire from Camden, while several British posts were taken by the Americans. The American successes continued, till, by the 5th of June, the British were confined to the three posts of Charleston, Eutaw Springs, and Ninety-Six. Greene besieged NinetySix, but failed to take it, and was forced to raise the siege by the approach of reinforcements under Lord Rawdon. This closed the operations for the summer. On the 8th of September, Colonel Stewart, who had succeeded Lord Rawdon in command of the British forces, was attacked by General Greene at Eutaw Springs. The British were at first driven in, but afterwards managed to hold their ground, and after four hours of sanguinary conflict Greene withdrew his troops. During the night Stewart decamped. Soon after this battle the British withdrew entirely from the open country, and confined themselves to Charleston and its vicinity. These events closed the war in the Carolinas, the British having been driven, by Greene's skilful operations, from all their conquests, and confined to the two cities of Charleston and Savannah.

Cornwallis had, meanwhile, left Wilmington and marched north, with the expressed purpose of conquering Virginia. The events which followed this movement were of momentous importance, as they led to a final termination of the war which had so long desolated the country, and enforced the acknowledgment of American independence. For the first time since the formation of the treaty with France the efforts of the latter country became of marked utility to America, and the French fleet and army had the honor of assisting in the closing scene of the war. A description of this important

event we select from Holmes's "Annals of America," in which it is given briefly but with clear delineation.]

VIRGINIA was destined to be a theatre of still more decisive operations. Lord Cornwallis reached Petersburg, without much opposition, on the 20th of May, and, forming a junction with Major-General Phillips, was now at the head of a very powerful army. The defensive operations in opposition to this hostile force were principally intrusted to the Marquis de la Fayette. The marquis advanced to Richmond; but such was the superiority of numbers on the side of the British that he retired with his little army, which consisted of about one thousand regulars, two thousand militia, and sixty dragoons. Lord Cornwallis advanced from Petersburg to James River, which he crossed at Westtown, and, marching through Hanover County, crossed Pamunkey River. The young marquis followed his motions, but at a guarded distance; and his judgment in the selection of posts, with the vigor of his movements, would have reflected honor on a veteran commander. In the course of these marches and countermarches, immense quantities of property were destroyed by the British troops, and several unimportant skirmishes took place. Earl Cornwallis, who had marched with his army to Portsmouth, was at length instructed by an express from Sir Henry Clinton to secure Old Point Comfort or Hampton Road as a station for line-of-battle ships, and was allowed to detain any part or the whole of the forces under his command for completing that service. A strong and permanent place of arms in the Chesapeake, for the security of both the army and navy, being a principal object of the campaign, and Portsmouth and Hampton Road having been pronounced unfit for that purpose, Portsmouth was evacuated, and the British troops, amounting to seven thousand men, were transferred to Yorktown.

Lord Cornwallis assiduously applied himself to fortify his new posts. While the officers of the British navy were expecting to be joined by their fleet in the West Indies, preparatory to vigorous operations in Virginia, Count de Grasse with a French fleet of twenty-eight sail of the line entered the Chesapeake, and, having blocked up York River with three large ships and some frigates, moored the principal part of his fleet in Lynnhaven Bay. From this fleet three thousand two hundred French troops, commanded by the Marquis de St. Simon, were disembarked, and soon after formed a junction with the Continental troops under the Marquis de la Fayette, and the whole combined army took post at Williamsburg. Admiral Graves, with twenty sail of the line, attempted the relief of Lord Cornwallis; but, when he appeared off the capes of Virginia, M. de Grasse went out to meet him, and an indecisive engagement took place. While the two admirals were manœuvring near the mouth of the Chesapeake, Count de Barras, with a French fleet of eight line-of-battle ships from Rhode Island, passed the British fleet in the night, and got within the capes of Virginia; and by this combination the French had a decided superiority. Admiral Graves soon took his departure; and M. de Grasse re-entered the Chesapeake.

In the mean time, the combined forces of France and America, by an effectual but unsuspected plan of operations, were tending, as to a central point, to Virginia. As early as the month of May, a plan of the whole campaign had been fixed on by General Washington in consultation with Generals Knox and Du Portail on the part of the Americans, and Count de Rochambeau and the Chevalier Chastellux on the part of the French, in an interview at Wethersfield. The project was to lay siege to New York in concert with a French fleet, which was to arrive on the