by Mark Puls
The American and French officers agreed on most of the strategic issues for carrying out the siege and naval blockade. They would encircle Cornwallis's fortifications with a series of trenches and then bombard the British with cannons and heavy siege guns landed from the French fleet and from Knox's artillery. But de Grasse was clear that he could not continue the blockade around Yorktown beyond November 1 because of the advent of the hurricane season. For Knox, this added even more pressure to come up with all the necessary ordnance and artillery for the siege to succeed. To complicate matters, on the return trip aboard the Queen Charlotte, contrary winds prevented Knox and Washington from stepping back on land until Saturday, September 22.
Knox learned that the British fortifications at Yorktown were more extensive than previously believed. He drafted an augmented list for the congressional War Board, which Washington passed on with Knox's advice, writing: "General Knox has for these reasons thought it prudent to increase his requisition for shot and shells. His letter accompanies this and I must entreat the board to use every exertion to forward the articles required, and as expeditiously as possible, for should we be under the necessity of slackening our fire on account of the consumption of our stock, the loss to us would be perhaps irretrievable.“9
Knox's artillery regiment sailed down the Chesapeake and reached Williamsburg by Friday, September 28, where a shortage of horses and wagons hindered their efforts to disembark the cannon. The rest of the army, meanwhile, marched to the outskirts of Yorktown and enveloped Cornwallis's force.
Newspapers across the continent reported the march of the American and French army and a major campaign in Virginia, raising patriot expectations for victory. Nathanael Greene wrote Knox on September 29 with hopes that Henry was engaged in the Yorktown campaign. "My Dear Friend, Where you are I know not, but if you are where I wish you, it is with the General [Washington] in Virginia; the prospect is so bright and the glory so great, that I want you to be there to share in them.“10
Yorktown was a small village of about sixty houses, many of which were strikingly elegant. The town sat on a sandy plain on the south side of the York River, which flowed into the Chesapeake. The American and French armies set up below the town, pinning Cornwallis against the river. The strategy of the siege was to dig protective trenches closer and closer to the British post and then to bombard the position into submission. To his surprise, Knox found, that Cornwallis conceded his farthest line of fortifications at Pigeon Quarter and three other redoubts, evacuating them without a fight under the belief that his only escape could come by sea. To Lucy, Henry wrote on Monday, October 1, "[T]his gives us a considerable advantage in point of time. Our prospects are good, and we shall soon hope to impress our haughty foe with a respect for the continental arms.“11
For Knox, a respect for Continental arms was a paramount concern. He wanted to impress not only the British, but also the French, that the corps of gunners which he had built up from an ill-equipped unit of amateurs could stand professionally alongside the best artillery regiments in the world.
Working in secret through an unusually dark night and into the morning hours of Sunday, October 7, approximately 1,500 men moved tons of dirt to dig out the first parallel of American and French trenches. Knox's friend Major General Benjamin Lincoln, who had been exchanged as a prisoner after his capture at Charleston, led the force. Knox sent wagons carrying cannons and ordnance and bags swelling with sand to arm and fortify the trench. The work proceeded in near silence, undetected by the redcoats, who woke that morning to peer through the early dawn light to find their opponents burrowed in a mere 600 yards away.
Cornwallis sent infantrymen to clear this trench, but they were repulsed with heavy musket fire. Knox directed his regiment as the soldiers worked tirelessly to drag the heavy guns through the trench and then nestled the cannon barrels between small openings in the earthen fortifications. Knox proudly stepped aside on Tuesday, October 9, to allow Washington the honor of igniting the bore hole of a heavy siege gun and ceremoniously discharging the first shot from the American battery at Yorktown. The shell was clearly visible as it streaked across the sky and landed with precision within the British compound, setting off cheers throughout the American ranks.
The Continental artillery corps then continued an uninterrupted stream of fire that produced a relentless, unnerving, and deafening roar. Cornwallis would later recall: "The fire continued incessant from heavy cannon, and from mortars and howitzers throwing shells from 8 to 16 inches, until all our guns on the left were silenced, our work much damaged, and our loss of men considerable.“12 The soldiers could see the red-hot shells racing overhead. During the day, they appeared as black balls streaking across the horizon while giving off a high-pitched whistling sound. The shells spun wildly as they hit the earth, excavating craters and then bursting to throw shots flying in all directions. Cannonballs that plunged into the York River sent up streams of cascading water. British boats went up in flames under the bombardment, their rigging and sails creating small infernos. At night, the blazing shells curved across the star-filled heavens and fell like streaking meteors, each followed by a tail of fire.
Knox took personal command of the artillery guns. The French general Chastellux would later write of Knox's performance at Yorktown: "We cannot sufficiently admire the intelligence and activity with which he collected from different places and transported to the batteries more than thirty pieces of cannon and mortars of large caliber for the siege. . . . The artillery was always very well served, the general incessantly directing it and often himself pointing the mortars: seldom did he leave the batteries.“13
While working in a redoubt, Knox and his former artillery officer, Alexander Hamilton, who was now an infantry colonel, argued over whether it was unmanly to yell at the sight of an oncoming shell before jumping for cover behind the wooden blinds set up to shield the men from explosive shrapnel. Washington had issued orders approving warning cries to save lives. Hamilton, however, maintained that being a soldier meant braving danger without flinching. As he and Knox argued, the cry went up that a shell was headed their way. Knox moved toward the blind, and Hamilton grabbed Henry as a shield. They battled each other to reach protection just seconds before the shell exploded. Knox told Hamilton not to use him as a breastwork ever again.
It was not uncommon during the day for Knox and Washington to walk above the trenches to view the damage done by the artillery. Once a nervous aide pleaded with them not to endanger themselves in the open. Washington responded with bravado. If the aide felt unsafe, he should retire to the protection of the trenches. Knox could see not only the destruction to the British earthworks, but the human toll of the battle. The exploding shells and cannonballs often sent limbs and other body parts flying through the air. It was a repeat of the ghastly vision that had haunted him earlier in the war.
The British tried to return fire as American and French soldiers burrowed through the sandy earth, moving closer and closer to their earthworks. The allied soldiers covered the excavation with planks that provided shelter from musket fire and shells. The work was dangerous, however, and skirmishes erupted daily, causing casualties on both sides. By Thursday, October 11, Knox noticed that the combined American and French artillery barrage had silenced nearly every British gun. He no longer attracted enemy fire when he emerged from the trenches. A second line of parallel trenches was begun that same day, this time only 300 yards from Cornwallis's main works. By nightfall, the trench extended more than half a mile as the excavation pushed in both directions toward the York River on each side of the town. To reach the water, however, the allies needed to capture two remaining British batteries that protected the enemy flanks. During the night of Sunday, October 14, Alexander Hamilton led a furious bayonet charge to capture one of these re-doubts. This daring act of heroism would give Hamilton the battlefield glory and military fame he had so long coveted and would enable him to launch his political career.
The French c
aptured the other redoubt that night; soon the British would be completely walled in by trenches. More cannons were moved into place at the captured redoubts, giving the allied armies more than 100 guns firing without interruption and making the entire peninsula shake beneath the soldiers' feet.
Cornwallis's men pleaded with their commander to allow them to attempt a desperate escape through the allied line. He relented, and 350 British soldiers charged the nearest allied trench at four in the morning on Tuesday, October 16. The redcoats were able to spike four French cannons and two of Knox's guns before being sent back in a cloud of musket fire. In the ensuing firefight, Knox received a minor wound in the ear.
At ten the next morning, a curious figure appeared on the British parapet as the American and French cannons continued their bombardment. A moment later, a British officer emerged on the top of the fortification, waving a white handkerchief high above his head. Slowly the cannon fire slackened, and Knox and the other soldiers could hear the drummer's plaintive cadence beating out a parley. All eyes watched as the officer and drummer began to walk toward the allied line. An American officer ran to meet them. The drummer returned to his line, and the British officer was blindfolded with a handkerchief. He was then led to Washington and the other allied generals. Washington demanded that Cornwallis surrender unconditionally, terms that, by the end of the day, the British general knew he had no choice but to accept.
Knox and his brother William watched more than 7,000 dejected British troops march out to surrender their arms on October 19. Many, bitter over the defeat, threw their muskets violently against the ground to render them useless. Knox rounded up 7,320 muskets from the defeated soldiers.
Henry had been sensitive to what he viewed as a haughty attitude displayed by the British during the war and a lack of respect for the American army. He took a personal satisfaction that the captured English soldiers were forced to accept similar terms to those once offered Major General Lincoln upon his capitulation of Charleston, which included a denial of American independence by refusing to allow his force to display the Stars and Stripes or to play a patriotic song as they laid down their arms. The redcoats now were required to march with their colors cased rather than unfurled and without patriotic music. The English officers looked only at their French opponents and drew Knox's indignation by failing to make eye contact with the Americans. Cornwallis begged off attending the surrender by complaining of an illness.
General Lincoln was given the honor of accepting the sword of the British general Charles O'Hara as a token of the English defeat. Knox dashed off a letter at eight o'clock that evening for William to carry to Lucy at Mount Vernon. "I have detained William until this moment that I might be the first to communicate good news to the charmer of my soul. A glorious moment for America! This day Lord Cornwallis and his army march out and pile their arms in the face of our victorious army. The day before yesterday he desired commissioners might be named to treat the surrender of his troops, the ships, and everything they possess.“14
While the British were reluctant to give the American army credit for their defeat, they did not fail to express their awe over the destructive efficiency of Knox's artillery corps. In his memoirs, the French general Chastellux wrote: "The English marveled no less at the extraordinary progress of the American artillery, and at the capacity and instruction of the officers. As to General Knox, but one-half has been said in commending his military genius. He is a man of talent, well instructed of a buoyant disposition, ingenuous and true: it is impossible to know him without esteeming and loving him.“15
After the victory, Knox collected a considerable amount of artillery; the British had not lacked firepower at Yorktown. The American and French artillery had outdueled a potent British gun corps, armed with 74 brass cannon and 140 iron cannon.
Knox's performance in the victory drew high praise from Washington, who lauded him in his dispatch to Congress announcing the victory. Washington reiterated this praise of Knox and his artillery counterpart in the French army in orders to the troops on Saturday, October 20, expressing gratitude to "General Knox and Colonel [François Marie, Comte d'Aboville] for their great care and attention and fatigue in bringing forward the artillery and stores and for their judicious and spirited management of them in the parallels [trenches].“16
The triumph at Yorktown did not immediately end the American Revolution, but Knox realized that the British war effort was critically wounded. The English had been driven from the interior of the continent and now clung to two harbors. In a letter written on October 21 to John Jay, the American minister to Spain, Knox explained his view of the significance of Cornwallis's defeat: "The consequences will be extensively beneficial. The enemy will immediately be confined to Charleston and New York and reduced to a defensive war of these two posts, for which they have not more troops in America than to form adequate garrisons.17
For Knox's performance at Yorktown, Washington recommended to Congress that he be promoted to the rank of major general. Writing on Wednesday, October 31, he stated that "the resources of his genius have supplied, on this and many other interesting occasions, the defect of means: his distinguished talents, and services equally important and indefatigable entitle him to the same marks of approbation from Congress.“18
Knox went to Philadelphia with Washington as most of the Continental Army filled in the trenches around Yorktown before heading back to the fortifications along the Hudson River in November. With no major campaign to plan, Henry could turn his mind to private life and spend more time with Lucy. She gave birth to another son, whom they named Marcus Camillus, after a Roman soldier and statesman whom Knox admired, on December 10. The couple spent several anxious days after the birth, plagued by the memory of Julia's death just eleven months earlier. The boy appeared to be healthy as Lucy nursed him to strength. George Washington was named the child's godfather. His brother William was unable to restore the bookstore in Boston to profitability. William chose to embark on a second business trip to Europe. He set sail in 1781 with plans to visit the Netherlands and France in an attempt to further establish business connections.
The end of the war seemed to be in sight, and Knox could bask in the glory of Yorktown. From South Carolina, Nathanael Greene wrote Knox on the same day as the birth of Henry's son: "Your success in Virginia is brilliant, glorious, great and important. The Commander-in-chief's head is all covered with laurels, and yours so shaded with them that one can hardly get sight of it."
Greene and Knox were both enjoying the kind of military fame that they had so coveted as youths. Now, however, they wished only for an end to military life. Greene wrote to Knox that "I hope at some future day, when the cannon shall cease to roar, and the olive-branch appears, we shall experience a happy meeting. Your great success in Virginia gives me the most flattering hopes that this winter will terminate the war.“19
Knox's duties took a diplomatic turn. An agreement needed to be reached with the English to exchange thousands of prisoners of war, which included not only soldiers but civilians who had been rounded up by both sides. Washington appointed Knox and Gouverneur Morris to negotiate the prisoner exchange. Morris was a cock-eyed former New York congressman who now lived in Philadelphia and served as assistant to the secretary of finance. Morris, whose artful pen would later help write most of the U.S. Constitution, continued to be a prominent figure in Philadelphia despite the handicap of having had a leg amputated after falling from his carriage in 1780.
The task of exchanging American and British prisoners was complicated, not only because the costs of housing them had to be negotiated equitably but because the British commissioners still refused to concede American independence. They had every reason to stall the talks while the British government decided whether to renew the war.
Knox and Morris set out on Tuesday, March 12, 1782, for Elizabethtown, New Jersey, to meet with the British commissioners, William Dalrymple and Andrew Elliot. Knox was familiar with Dalrymple, who had comma
nded the two British regiments that occupied Boston from 1768 to 1770.
While Knox was in Elizabethtown, Congress finally acted on Washing-ton's recommendation that Henry be promoted to the rank of major general. A year earlier, Congress had resolved that promotions to major general should be based on age rather than battlefield performance. This mandate left Knox, who was not yet thirty-two, ineligible for promotion for several years. Washington sent several letters to congressional leaders lauding Knox's performance and supporting his promotion. A month after the victory at Yorktown, Rhode Island delegate James Varnum rose in Congress to declare the seniority system "stupid," particularly in Knox's case. After deferring the question for several months, delegates granted Knox the appointment of major general on Friday, March 22, "on account of his special merit and particularly for his good conduct at the siege of Yorktown.“20 Knox became the youngest major general in the America army.
Negotiations with the British over prisoner exchanges began on Sunday, March 31, and were immediately bogged down with postponements and heated debates. Knox soon realized that no agreement could be reached and that the British commissioners had no authority to grant the American demands. He and Morris rejected several of the British proposals, including an offer to exchange American citizens taken prisoner directly for British soldiers. Knox thought this policy would quickly augment the number of British troops in America without adding any more soldiers to the American army. The British meanwhile refused to agree to several of Knox and Morris's demands, including a requirement that all Americans held anywhere in the world by English authorities be set free. At the time, Henry Laurens, the former president of Congress and father of Washington's aide John Laurens, was being held in the Tower of London.
