This kind of thing was happening a lot. And as you can imagine, the British bandits were not exactly winning new friends for King George in the South. In fact, more and more southern Patriots began rising up against the invaders.
Part 4: The Swamp Fox
That brings us to a South Carolina Patriot named Francis
Marion. Marion started leading small bands of militia members on quick, surprise strikes against British soldiers. Marion would march through the night, attack sleepy British soldiers at dawn, then disappear into the forests and swamps, using paths and hiding places the British could never find. “Marion never encamped over two nights in one place,” said Tarleton Brown, one of Marion’s men.
The British hated Marion, but they couldn’t help respecting his creative and daring style. They even gave him a nickname: the Swamp Fox.
Even Continental army soldiers hardly ever got a good look at the Swamp Fox. When Colonel Otho Williams met Marion and his swamp team, he was surprised to see a bunch of hungry-looking men in rags. “Their number did not exceed twenty men and boys,” said Williams, “some white, some black, and all mounted [on horses], but most of them miserably equipped.”
Miserably equipped, but very effective. With folks like the Swamp Fox around, the British army was never able to gain control of the South.
Part 5: Fight, Lose, Fight Again
General Nathaniel Greene took command of the American army in the South at the end of 1780. And like the Swamp Fox, Greene knew how to use geography to his advantage. His strategy was simple: “We fight, get beat, rise, and fight again.”
Doesn’t exactly sound like a formula for success, does it?
Actually, it was brilliant. Greene knew his small army wasn’t strong enough to actually beat the British. So instead, he decided to lead the enemy on a long and tiring chase all over the vast spaces of North and South Carolina. Once in a while, he’d turn and fight a small battle. And he didn’t mind losing these fights, because he knew he was wearing the British down.
Don’t get the idea that Greene’s army was having a great time, though. Facing the usual Continental army food shortages, the soldiers ate frogs, alligators, or anything else they could catch and cook. And with all the marching and camping, the men wore completely through their clothing by summer’s end. “At the battle of Eutaw Springs,” said General Greene, “hundreds of my men were naked as they were born.”
Well, at least it was warm.
Part 6: Cornwallis Gets Tired
Over in the British camp, Greene’s strategy was having its intended affect.
At first, General Charles Cornwallis was determined to catch up to Greene. He ordered his men to toss away all their extra supplies—tents, clothing, even barrels of rum. He hoped this would let his army march faster (and it did, though the soldiers were very angry about the wasted rum).
But Greene always managed to stay a step ahead of Cornwallis. And by the summer of 1781, Cornwallis was frustrated, angry, and exhausted. He reported, “With a third of my army sick and wounded, the remainder without shoes and worn down with fatigue, I thought it was time to look for some place of rest.”
So Cornwallis decided to push his army north. Maybe, he hoped, the British would have better luck in Virginia.
Part 7: Spying on Cornwallis
Soon after the British entered Virginia, a twenty-one-year-old named James Armistead decided to help kick them out. But first he had to get permission from his owner—Armistead was held as a slave on a farm near Williamsburg. The owner agreed, and Armistead marched to the American camp.
Armistead met with a young French general, the Marquis de Lafayette (only twenty-three himself). Lafayette explained that what the army really needed was more information about the location and movements of Cornwallis’s army. Would Armistead be willing to take a massive risk to get that information?
A few days later, Armistead walked into General Cornwallis’s camp and told British soldiers he was an escaped slave looking to earn some cash. The British put him to work. This young guy proved to be very useful to the British. His detailed knowledge of the local geography helped the soldiers find their way around. All the while, James Armistead was sending reports back to Lafayette in the American camp.
Then Armistead took an even bigger risk. He gained the trust of General Cornwallis and took the job of Cornwallis’s personal waiter! This was the perfect position for a spy. Serving food and walking around the dinner table, Armistead was able to see and hear everything that went on in Cornwallis’s own tent.
Armistead always had a hard time getting a close look at official maps and plans because Cornwallis was so careful with his papers. As Lafayette explained: “His Lordship Cornwallis is so shy of his papers that my honest friend says he cannot get at them.”
Armistead kept working, though, and he kept feeding badly needed information to Lafayette. This helped the Americans keep a close watch on Cornwallis as he marched his army around Virginia.
But exactly where was Cornwallis headed?
Part 8: Pick a Port, Any Port
The truth is, even Cornwallis didn’t know. All summer long, he exchanged angry letters with General Henry Clinton, the British commander in New York City. Like most top British generals in this war, these two guys couldn’t stand each other. Clinton wanted Cornwallis to come north to New York, because he was sure Washington was about to attack him there. Cornwallis wanted Clinton to come south to Virginia, because he was convinced the British could capture this important state.
They finally agreed on a compromise: Cornwallis would take control of a port town on the Virginia coast. That way, British ships could move soldiers quickly back and forth between New York and Virginia.
So Cornwallis started looking for a good port. He picked a tiny town near the Chesapeake Bay. Welcome to Yorktown, General Cornwallis.
Part 9: The French Sail North
Now there’s just one last piece of the Yorktown puzzle. As Cornwallis was settling in at Yorktown, a fleet of French warships started sailing north from the Caribbean Sea. The commander of the fleet, Count de Grasse, thought he might be able to help with the war. His destination: the Chesapeake Bay.
Now Back to Washington
And at last, we’re ready to return to George Washington. Last we saw him, his face was bright with excitement. And this is why: down in Yorktown, Cornwallis and his entire army were in a trap. And the best part was, they didn’t know it!
It was just a question of timing. If Washington could quickly march his army south to Virginia, he could surround Yorktown by land. And if the French warships took control of the Chesapeake Bay, they could surround Yorktown by water. Of course, all this had to happen before Cornwallis realized the deadly danger of his position. “We have not a moment to lose,” Washington said.
The race was on.
The Trap Slams Shut
“Our destination has been for some time a matter of perplexing doubt and uncertainty,” wrote Dr. James Thacher as he marched south with Washington’s army. The soldiers actually placed bets on where they were headed.
This confusion was just what Washington wanted. He needed the British to believe he was moving his soldiers into position to attack New York City. He even had his engineers build huge bread ovens around New York—this helped trick General Clinton into believing the Americans were planning to stay for the rest of the year.
Meanwhile, Washington continued racing his army toward Virginia. As far as he knew, Cornwallis was still at Yorktown. But where was that French fleet? He could get no update from the French naval commander, Count de Grasse. “I am distressed beyond expression to know what is become of the Count de Grasse,” he said. But there was no way to communicate with ships at sea.
On September 5, just south of Philadelphia, a messenger brought Washington a stack of letters. He opened them and started reading.
At this very moment, General Rochambeau’s boat was rowing up to the American camp. Rochambeau looked toward
the shore and witnessed a very strange sight:
“I caught sight of General Washington, waving his hat at me with … gestures of the greatest joy.”
As Rochambeau stepped off the boat, Washington ran up to the Frenchman, hugged him, and told him the news: twenty-eight French warships had just arrived in the Chesapeake Bay and were now surrounding Yorktown by water!
Washington rushed his army on to Yorktown and slammed the trap shut on Cornwallis. “We have got him handsomely in a pudding bag,” announced the American general George Weedon.
General Rochambeau
Huzzah for the Americans!
More than seven thousand British and German soldiers suddenly found themselves surrounded at Yorktown. Cornwallis begged Clinton to send help immediately. “If you cannot relieve me very soon,” he wrote, “you must be prepared to hear the worst.” But with French ships controlling the Chesapeake Bay, British ships couldn’t get anywhere near Yorktown.
At least Cornwallis still had his trusted waiter, James Armistead. And in this desperate situation, Cornwallis asked Armistead for a remarkable favor—he asked Armistead to go spy on the Americans!
Armistead gladly took the job. He snuck over to the American camp and reported to General Lafayette. Now, as one of the country’s first “double agents,” Armistead was able to move easily back and forth between British and American camps. He gave Lafayette key intelligence and fed Cornwallis information that was useless or just plain wrong.
Meanwhile, Washington tightened the rope around Cornwallis’s neck by inching his soldiers closer and closer to Yorktown. It’s fitting that Joseph Plumb Martin, after six long years in the army, was here at Yorktown for the final battle. On October 8, Martin and the rest of the army proudly watched the raising of an American flag, the signal to begin blasting cannonballs into Yorktown. Martin reported:
“About noon the much-wished-for signal went up. I confess I felt a secret pride swell my heart when I saw the ‘star spangled banner’ waving majestically.”
Joseph Plumb Martin
“Huzzah for the Americans!” shouted the French soldiers. Then about a hundred American and French cannons opened fire. The French cannonballs smashed right into buildings in Yorktown. Many of the American cannonballs plopped into the river or landed in empty fields (the French had a lot more practice at this stuff).
The British shot back with everything they had, and the firetailed cannonballs crossed each other in the air.
Washington stood out in the open, watching the bombs explode in Yorktown. An officer named David Cobb urged the commander to be more careful:
Cobb: Sir, you are too much exposed here. Had you not better step a little back?
Washington: Colonel Cobb, if you are afraid, you have liberty to step back.
Washington had worked seven long years for this moment. He wasn’t going to miss it for anything.
A Shell! A Shell!
Over the next few weeks, the Americans continued moving closer to Yorktown. The men dug trenches and dirt walls to protect themselves from British cannons. For the American soldiers, the biggest danger came from British shells, or bombs that land in the dirt, sit still for a few seconds, and then explode, sending scraps of metal flying in all directions. As a precaution, Washington ordered his men to yell, “A shell! A shell!” whenever they spotted one of these bombs flying into camp.
This led to a heated debate between General Henry Knox and Alexander Hamilton. Knox thought the order made sense—Washington was looking out for the lives of his men. But Hamilton was eager to prove his manhood. He claimed it was “unsoldier-like” (kind of wimpy, in other words) to cry “Shell!” every time a bomb landed nearby.
As the two men argued back and forth, two shells screamed down from the sky and smacked the ground near their feet. “A shell! A shell!” shouted soldiers. Knox, Hamilton, and everyone else dove for cover.
But Hamilton didn’t feel quite safe enough behind the dirt walls. He crawled behind the much-larger Knox (Knox was about six foot three, 280 pounds) and held on to Knox’s thick chest for dear life.
After the shells had exploded harmlessly, Knox stood up, straightened out his uniform, looked down at his young friend, and said:
“Now what do you think, Mr. Hamilton, about crying ‘shell’? But let me tell you not to make a breastwork4 of me again!”
The White Handkerchief
Nothing nearly this funny was happening in Cornwallis’s camp. “We get terrible provisions now,” said one miserable British soldier in Yorktown. “Putrid meat and wormy biscuits that have spoiled on the ships. Many of the men have taken sick here.”
In early October, Washington started to see dead horses floating in the York River outside the British camp. The meaning was clear: the British didn’t even have enough food left to feed their animals. Sensing that victory was near, the Americans and French kept bombing Yorktown day and night.
*Then, on the morning of October 17, a teenage British drummer came out of Yorktown beating his drum. The Americans couldn’t hear the drum over the sound of exploding cannonballs, but behind the drummer boy they saw a British officer waving a white handkerchief.
Cornwallis was ready to surrender.
Henry Knox
Alexander Hamilton
The World Turned Upside Down
The official surrender took place on the afternoon of October 19, 1781. Altogether, 7,247 British and German soldiers marched out of Yorktown and threw down their guns. They really threw them down—they were trying to break them so the Americans wouldn’t be able to use them.
“The British officers in general behaved like boys who had been whipped at school,” remembered one New Jersey soldier. “Some bit their lips; some pouted; others cried.”
A British marching band played a tune called “The World Turned Upside Down.” And upside down is exactly how Charles Cornwallis felt on October 19. In fact, he was so upset by this defeat that he sent a message to Washington saying he was too sick to come to the surrender ceremony.
When Cornwallis finally did meet the Americans a few days later, he was in for one final shock. There in the American camp, proudly wearing his American uniform, was Cornwallis’s trusted waiter, James Armistead!
It Is All Over!
Washington. wrote a quick note to Congress, telling them the big news. “I have the honor to inform Congress,” he began, “that a reduction of the British army under the command of Lord Cornwallis is most happily effected.” The news spread quickly, sparking celebrations from Georgia to New Hampshire.
The reaction was quite different in London. When the Yorktown news arrived in late November, it struck Lord Frederick North like a bullet to the chest. Remember, this is the guy who had once so boldly declared, “America must fear you before she can love you.” Now he started pacing up and down the room, waving his arms wildly and shouting, “O God! It is all over!”
King George didn’t agree. “I have no doubt,” he wrote, “that when men are a little recovered from the shock felt by the bad news … they will then find the necessity of carrying on the war.”
When it became obvious to the king that he was the only person on the planet who felt this way, he got so depressed that he actually tried to give up his crown! He wrote a letter to Parliament, saying:
“His Majesty therefore with much sorrow finds he can be of no further utility to his native country, which drives him to the painful step of quitting it forever.”
George’s friends talked him out of this rash decision. And the king finally accepted the fact that the United States had won its independence. Peace talks began. Ben Franklin and John Adams, still driving each other crazy, represented the Americans.
King George
One Last Story
The peace talks took two years, and during this time there were a few more small battles in the United States. And it was at this time that one of the American Revolution’s most famous soldiers joined the army under the name of Robert Shurtleff.
What made Robert famous? Robert’s real name was Deborah Sampson.
Sampson grew up as an apprentice on a Massachusetts farm, plowing fields, chopping wood, stacking hay. She was tall and strong and eager for adventure. In the spring of 1782, she tied her hair back, put on men’s clothing, and enlisted in the Continental army. She was given a uniform, a musket, ammunition, and a knapsack. No one knew she was a woman.
In a small battle that year, Sampson was cut on the head by a sword, then shot in the thigh. Covered with blood, she was carried to a hospital, where a doctor bandaged her head wound. But Sampson didn’t want the doctor to inspect her too carefully—even now she was thinking about keeping her secret. So she grabbed a knife and a bandage and limped out of the hospital.
Out in the woods, she sat on a fallen log and calmly cut the musket ball out of her own leg. “I found that the ball had penetrated my thigh about two inches, and the wound was still moderately bleeding.
At the third attempt, I extracted the ball.”
She bandaged the wound and hurried back to the army. Soon after, she came down with a terrible fever and was back in the hospital. Too weak to eat, drink, or even move, she lay flat on her bed for days. In fact, other soldiers were pretty sure she was dead. They started arguing over who would get her clothes and boots. She had just enough strength left to signal for the doctor. He bent over to inspect the patient—and this is where Sampson’s secret was discovered. But the doctor told no one, and when Sampson recovered she once again returned to the army.
King George Page 11
