The Surrender of Cornwallis: Lord Cornwallis and Gloucester Point
On the 9th and 10th of October the French and Americans opened their batteries. On the night of the 11th the second parallel was opened within three hundred yards of the British lines. The besiegers being annoyed in their trenches by two redoubts that were advanced in front of the British works, it was proposed to carry them by storm. The reduction of one redoubt was committed to the French; of the other, to the Americans. The Marquis de la Fayette commanded the American detachment of light infantry, against the redoubt on the extreme left of the British works; and the Baron de Viomenil led the French grenadiers and chasseurs against the other, which was farther towards the British right, and nearer the French lines. On the evening of the 14th the two detachments moved firmly to the assault. Colonel Hamilton led the advanced corps of the Americans; and Colonel Laurens, at the head of eighty men, turned the redoubt, in order to take the garrison in reverse and intercept their retreat. The troops rushed to the assault with unloaded arms, and in a few minutes carried the redoubt, with inconsiderable loss. The French were also successful. The redoubt assigned to them was soon carried, but with less rapidity and greater loss. These two redoubts were included the same night in the second parallel, and facilitated the subsequent operations of the besiegers.
On the 16th a sortie was made from the garrison by a party of three hundred and fifty, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Abercrombie, who forced two batteries and spiked eleven pieces of cannon; but, the guards from the trenches immediately advancing on them, they retreated, and the pieces which they had hastily spiked were soon rendered fit for service. In the afternoon of the same day the besiegers opened several batteries in their second parallel; and in the whole line of batteries nearly one hundred pieces of heavy ordnance were now mounted. The works of the besieged were so universally in ruins as to be in no condition to sustain the fire which might be expected the next day. In this extremity, Lord Cornwallis boldly resolved to attempt an escape by land with the greater part of his army. His plan was to cross over in the night to Gloucester Point, cut to pieces or disperse the troops under De Choise, and, mounting his infantry on the horses belonging to that detachment, and on others to be seized on the road, to gain the fords of the great rivers, and, forcing his way through Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Jersey, to form a junction with the royal army at New York. In prosecution of this desperate design, one embarkation of his troops crossed over to the Point, but a violent storm of wind and rain dispersed the boats and frustrated the scheme.
In the morning of the 17th several new batteries were opened in the second parallel; and, in the judgment of Lord Cornwallis, as well as of his engineers, the place was no longer tenable. About ten in the forenoon his lordship, in a letter to General Washington, requested that there might be a cessation of hostilities for twenty-four hours and that commissioners might be appointed to digest terms of capitulation. The American general in his answer declared his "ardent desire to spare the further effusion of blood, and his readiness to listen to such terms as were admissible," and granted a suspension of hostilities for two hours. The general proposition stated by Lord Cornwallis for the basis of the proposed negotiation being such as to lead to the opinion that the terms of capitulation might without much difficulty be adjusted, the suspension of hostilities was prolonged through the night. Commissioners were appointed the next day to digest into form such articles as General Washington had drawn up and proposed to Lord Cornwallis; and early the next morning the American general sent them to his lord ship with a letter expressing his expectation that they would be signed by eleven, and that the garrison would march out by two in the afternoon. Lord Cornwallis, submitting to a necessity absolutely inevitable, surrendered the posts of Yorktown and Gloucester Point with the garrison, and the shipping in the harbor with the seamen, to the land and naval officers of America and France. By the articles of capitulation, the officers were to retain their side-arms and private property. The soldiers, accompanied by a due proportion of officers, were to remain in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania; and to go on parole to Europe or to any maritime port occupied by the English in America.
The garrison marched out of the town with colors cased; and General Lincoln, by appointment, received the submission of the royal army precisely in the same manner in which the submission of his own army had been previously made at the surrender of Charleston.
The army and officers, and particularly the artillerists and engineers, received great approbation for their excellent conduct in this decisive operation. Several of the officers were promoted, others were honorably mentioned, while the Count de Rochambeau received the highest acknowledgments. Congress passed resolutions of thanks to the French officers and army, and resolved that a monument should be erected at Yorktown in commemoration of the triumphant event.