At the most critical hour of the whole war a British
fleet, crippled and spiritless, was hurrying to a protecting port
and the fleurs-de-lis waved unchallenged on the American coast.
The action of Graves spelled the doom of Cornwallis. The most
potent fleet ever gathered in those waters cut him off from
rescue by sea.
Yorktown fronted on the York River with a deep ravine and swamps
at the back of the town. From the land it could on the west side
be approached by a road leading over marshes and easily defended,
and on the east side by solid ground about half a mile wide now
protected by redoubts and entrenchments with an outer and an
inner parallel. Could Cornwallis hold out? At New York, no longer
in any danger, there was still a keen desire to rescue him. By
the end of September he received word from Clinton that
reinforcements had arrived from England and that, with a fleet of
twenty-six ships of the line carrying five thousand troops, he
hoped to sail on the 5th of October to the rescue of Yorktown.
There was delay. Later Clinton wrote that on the basis of
assurances from Admiral Graves he hoped to get away on the
twelfth. A British officer in New York describes the hopes with
which the populace watched these preparations.
Pages:
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262