Some twenty miles south from
Richmond lay in a strong position Petersburg, later also to be
drenched with blood shed in civil strife. Arnold was already at
Petersburg when Cornwallis arrived on the 20th of May. He was now
in high spirits. He did not yet realize the extent of the failure
farther south. Virginia he believed to be half loyalist at heart.
The negroes would, he thought, turn against their masters when
they knew that the British were strong enough to defend them.
Above all he had a finely disciplined army of five thousand men.
Cornwallis was the more confident when he knew by whom he was
opposed. In April Washington had placed La Fayette in charge of
the defense of Virginia, and not only was La Fayette young and
untried in such a command but he had at first only three thousand
badly-trained men to confront the formidable British general.
Cornwallis said cheerily that "the boy" was certainly now his
prey and began the task of catching him.
An exciting chase followed. La Fayette did some good work. It was
impossible, with his inferior force, to fight Cornwallis, but he
could tire him out by drawing him into long marches. When
Cornwallis advanced to attack La Fayette at Richmond, La Fayette
was not there but had slipped away and was able to use rivers and
mountains for his defense.
Pages:
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252