by the British commander, in New York, who was completely deceived, and prevented from sending succors to lord Cornwallis.

522. Siege of Yorktown. After making a show of attacking New York, general Washington suddenly quitted this camp, crossed the Hudson with his army, and passing through New Jersey and Pennsylvania, speedily arrived at the head of Elk, where a part of his forces embarked and sailed to Virginia; the rest marched by land. At this moment, general Washington heard of the arrival of the French fleet under count de Grasse, in the Chesapeak. Admiral Graves inade an attempt to relieve lord Cornwallis; and his Heet had a slight engagement with the French fleet, near the capes of the Chesapeak; but without the intended effect. A body of the French troops was landed, to co-operate with the Americans. The whole combined force under general Washington, amounting to twelve or thirteen thousand men, besides the militia, closely invested the British army in York

town.

523. Burning of New London. No sooner had Sir Henry Clinton discovered that general Washington had drawn off his forces towards Virginia, than he sent general Arnold on another expedition for plunder and destruction. On the 6th of September 1781, the British forces landed near New-London in Connecticut, in two divisions; one took fort Trumbull, without difficulty, the other met with a brave resistance from colonel Ledyard and about seventy men suddenly collected from the town of Groton. The assailants lost their commanders; colonel Eyre was wounded and major Ferguson killed; but they took the fort by assault, and slaughtered the garrisou after they had surrendered. Colonel Ledyard was slain with his own sword. The party then proceeded to burn the town of New London; sixty dwelling houses, eighty-four stores, and a great amount of property were devoted to the flames. A part of the

shipping was sent up the river and saved; the rest was destroyed.

524. Surrender of Lord Cornwallis and his army. The British army being blockaded by sea, the American army opened the first batteries upon them, early in October, with such effect as to silence part of their artillery. Two British redouts, which annoyed the operations, were assaulted and taken, one by colonel Hamilton, at the head of a party of American troops, who attacked with unloaded arms and carried the works with little loss; the other by a detachment of French troops, who suffered considerable loss. The second parallel was begun on the night of the 11th; and such was the tremendous ef fect of the American artillery, that the British works were demolished, their guns silenced, and no hope of relief or escape remained. On the 17th of the month, lord Cornwallis proposed a cessation of hostilities, and on the 19th articles of capitulation were signed, by which the British army, military stores, and shipping fell into the hands of general Washington.

525. Effects of the Capture of Lord Cornwallis on the Americans. As the reduction of this division of the British forces in America, was considered as deciding the war and establishing the independence of the United States, the news was every where received with emotions of inexpressible joy. Divine service was performed in all the American brigades, and the commander in chief, recommended that all who were not on duty, should join in the worship, with a serious deportment, and that sensibility of heart, due to the recollection of the surprising and particular interposition of Providence. . Congress resolved to go in procession to church, and make public acknowledgments of gratitude to heaven for the singular event. A public thanksgiving was recommended, and the day was observed throughout the United States. General Washington and the French commanders received the thanks of Congress; and the American commander in chief liberated all persons under arrest, that all might partake in the general joy.

526. Consequences of the surrender of Cornwallis. The reduction of so large a part of the British forces in the United States, convinced the British nation of the utter impracticability of conquering the country. The combined forces of France and Spain had taken Minorca from Great Britain: some of the isles in the West Indies, and some of their possessions on the south American coast, had shared the same fate.Admiral Rodney, in 1782, obtained a most important naval victory over the French fleet under the count de Grasse, which in some degree, balanced the losses of Great Britain; but the vast expense of money and lives in the contest induced the British nation to wish for peace. A change of ministry took place, which was favorable to the United States, and measures were taken in 1782, to open a negotiation, General Carleton was appointed to the command in America, and arrived at New-York in May, with in

structions to propose an accommodation. At length the ministers of the several powers at war signed provisional articles of peace on the 20th of November 1782, by which the independence and sovereignty of the United States were acknowledged. On the 3d day of September 1783, was signed a definitive treaty, which secured to the United States the objects for which they had contended, and gave them a rank among nations.

527. The Disbanding of the Army. When the American army was to be disbanded, new and serious difficulties arose concerning the payment of the arrears of their wages and rations. The want of resources to carry on the war, and the want of a supreme power to lay and collect taxes, had driven congress to the expedient of emitting vast sums in bills of credit, which depreciated almost to no value; and the interruption of commerce, with a deluge of paper currency, banished for a time, all gold and silver from circulation. In this state of the public treasury, the army was ill paid and clothed, and great discontents occasioned the resignation of officers, and rendered it impracticable to recruit the army.

528. Provision made for the Army in 1778. In January 1778, general Washington addressed Congress in favor of the army; representing that although the effusion of zeal, at the beginning of the contest, had induced officers and men to enter into the service without much regard to pecuniary considerations, yet finding it to continue longer than they had at first expected, and that they were to expose their lives, health and estates to destruction, by their patriotism, without a prospect of a competent future subsistence, their ardor had abated, and a disinclination to the service prevailed; that resignations of commissions were frequent, and that reliance could not be placed on men disaffected to the service. therefore urged congress to make provision, to secure them and their families from future want and diş

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tress. Convinced of the propriety of this measure, congress on the 15th of May, 1778, resolved to grant half pay for seven years after the war, to the commissioned officers; and to non-commissioned officers and privates, eighty dollars, at the end of the war, in addition to their pay and rations.

529. Effects of this Grant, and the Extension of it. The half pay resolve quieted the apprehensions of the army, in a good degree, and the service was for a time, performed with zeal and alacrity. But the continual depreciation of the currency in which the troops received their wages, deprived them of a great part of their real dues, and neither officers nor soldiers could maintain a decent appearance, in point of dress, while the families of many were suffering at home. These circumstances, with the derangement of a great number of officers, in 1780, occasioned by the necessity of reducing the number of regiments, for want of their complement of men, gave rise to great discontents in the army, and called for a further interposition of congress. Upon the representation of these facts, by the commander in chief, congress on the 21st of October, 1780, resolved, that the officers should be entitled to half pay for life.

530. State of the Army in 1783. Reposing confidence in the faith of the United States, the officers of the army remained quiet, until the close of the war. A mutiny among the soldiers, in two or three instances, occasioned some alarm, but produced no serious consequences. After the army returned from Yorktown, and encamped at Newburgh, on the Hudson, a cessation of hostilities gave them leisure to contemplate their sufferings, their losses by paper currency, and their future prospects. At that time, a report was circulated that congress did not intend to fulfill their engagements respecting half pay. They therefore deputed a committee of officers to wait on congress, with an address and petition, representing their hardships, and embarrassments; that in 1777, they