October is one of my favorite months. Why? It is my birthday month, but it is also a month of momentous proportions in the life of George Washington. It was in October of 1781 that the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown took place. Today most Americans do not realize the ominous situation that surrounded the Continental Army prior to Yorktown. In July of that year Rochambeau’s army had “moved beside Washington’s some twelve miles north of Manhattan. Social problems excruciating to the Americans instantly arose. Officers in faded and torn uniforms or no uniforms at all had to hold up their heads in the presence of the French officers’ spotless, gold-braided, brightly colored, bemedaled, beplumed ones. Using their hard money to buy plentiful supplies, the French entertained sumptuously, but when the Americans entertained back, they could hardly scratch up enough food to postpone hunger. One French man, Von Closen ,wrote, ‘It is incredible that soldiers composed of men of every age, even of children of fifteen, of whites and blacks, almost naked, unpaid, and rather poorly fed, can march so well and stand fire so steadfastly.’ He credited ‘the calm and calculated measures of General Washington, in whom I daily discover some new and eminent qualities…He is certainly admirable as the leader of his army, in which everyone regards him as his father and friend’ (Flexner).”
“Things were so dire for the Continental Army that the current campaign had to be the last. In the absence of a decisive outcome the most likely development was a negotiated settlement the following year (Ellis).” If Washington and Rochambeau’s troops were going to corner Cornwallis “they had to march 450 miles to the Chesapeake to meet de Grasse and the French Navy. If the arduous march ended in disaster or even just frustration, patriot morale might collapse irrevocably (Flexner).” It was essential that de Grasse, who was currently in the Caribbean, meet them. Would he be able to make it?
“On September 5, Rochambeau and his staff were drifting down the Delaware when they saw on the waterfront at Chester, Pennsylvania a tall man in blue and buff regimentals dancing up and down, waving a hat and a handkerchief. It looked from a distance as if this jumping jack were his Excellency, George Washington. Indeed it was. He was yelling that de Grasse’s fleet had actually arrived. According to the Duke de Lauzun, ‘I never saw a man overcome with more great and sincere joy.’ Washington even went so far as to embrace Rochambeau warmly (Flexner).”
Everything fell into place. Cornwallis did not move away from the coast and the French fleet from Newport sailed in bringing cannon and ships of shallow enough draft to ferry troops down the Chesapeake. When the engineering feat of creating trenches at Yorktown was complete, George Washington was given the honor of firing the first shot.
On October 17, the day before my birthday, Cornwallis sent a message to Washington proposing a twenty-four hour truce “to settle terms for the surrender.” The day after my special day, on October 19, the “people of the neighborhood were to be allowed to witness the ceremonies; the French were to be on one side of the road down which the British marched; the Americans on the other in two lines, the Continental in front, the militia behind them (Freeman). Washington, astride his favorite mount Nelson, rode up between the lines that had formed for a distance of about half a mile. The march of the British was slow and labored. Cornwallis was TOO SICK to attend the surrender ceremony so he sent Brigadier General Charles O’Hara. “When the British leader reached the waiting commanders, he turned to his left and started to address Rochambeau but the Count pointed to Washington (Freeman);” However, “if Cornwallis was to be represented by a deputy, so would he (Ellis).” O’Hara was forced to surrender to General Lincoln (Washington and Lincoln? Wow! That sounds familiar!)
At the end of the day, GW wrote a draft to be sent to congress, “’Sir, I have the Honor to inform the Congress, that a Reduction of the British Army under the Command of Lord Cornwallis is most happily effected. The unremitting Ardor which actuated every Officer and Soldier in the combined Army in their Occasion, has principally led to this Important Event, at an earlier period than my most sanguine Hope had induced me to expect.’ The rest of the dispatch was praise of others (Freeman)” so typical of Washington.
I say, “Let’s celebrate!”