PART XVII
THE SIEGE OF YORKTOWN
In the course of the forenoon of the 30th of September the French and American Armies took possession of the ground abandoned by the British upon their withdrawal to the works surrounding Yorktown. The Viscount de Viomesnil, desiring to reconnoiter the British star fort in front of the left of the French position, sent a part of St. Simon's troops on this mission. The detachment engaged the pickets of the Twenty-third Regiment (Welsh Fusiliers), which was stationed in that quarter, and withdrew from the reconnaissance as soon as strong resistance was encountered. Rochambeau sent the grenadiers of the Bourbonnais to occupy one of the abandoned British redoubts along the main Williamsburg Road, and 50 chasseurs of the Royal Deux-Ponts to occupy the other. These redoubts were not very solid, the parapets consisting of sandy soil of no great thickness; but the abatis was of excellent construction, although, being built of pine, it was quite inflammable.
Early on the morning of October 1 the Americans broke ground for a redoubt on the south side of the main Williamsburg Road, about 300 yards east of the British redoubt south of the road; and another detachment of Americans reversed the work on the Hampton Road. With the completion of both of these works the gorge would be covered by four redoubts at an average distance of 950 yards from the British horn work. The plain on which these redoubts were located had the name of Pigeon Hill.
On the 1st and 2d of the month detachments of the allies, with general officers and engineers, reconnoitered the British lines. It appeared quite evident to Cornwallis that the besiegers would
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make their approach across the gorge, spreading out to the right, after passing the ravine of Wormley Creek, as far as the bluff overhanging the river. Within the British lines large parties of Infantry worked on the magazines in the town, and on the two outer redoubts upon their left. In the evening of the 2d the legion cavalry and mounted infantry, under Tarleton, passed over the river to Gloucester for the purpose of increasing the force defending that post.
The work of repairing and strengthening the three redoubts on Pigeon Hill previously occupied by the British, and of constructing the additional intermediate one was completed by the 6th of October. Washington wrote to the President of Congress on the 6th that both the allied armies were "assiduously employed in making fascines and gabions, and in transporting our heavy cannon, mortars, and stores from Trebell's landing on James River." Progress had been slow until the arrival of wagons and teams from Head of Elk, but "it being the opinion of the engineers, that we now have a sufficient stock to commence operations, we shall this night open trenches."
Washington's Orderly Book for the 6th of October contains 55 paragraphs of regulations for the Service of the Siege. Extracts of the more interesting portions of the regulations are as follows:
1st. The Service of the
Siege will be performed by divisions alternately—the fatigue men will first
be detailed out of the division and the remainder will form Battallions
under their respective commanders to guard the Trenches—
4 The Major General of the division which mount will be the Major General
of the Trenches—the Brigadiers will mount with their Brigades.
5th. The General officers of the Trenches will reconnoitre carefully
all the avenues, places of arms & advantageous angles, that he may determine
in consequence the order & disposition of the Troops in case of attack
17 The Trenches shall be relieved every 24 hours unless a particular
order to the contrary by the General in which case the relief shall be in
the rear of the others
26 When the troops shall have taken their post in the Trenches the standard
bearers will plant their Standards upon the Epaulements & centries will
be posted with proper intervals with orders to give notice of whatever they
may see com-
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ing out from the place & of the shells that may be thrown by the Enemy but no notice to be given or any movement to be made for cannon shot
29 No honours to be rendered in the trenches when the Commander in chief & general officers of the Trenches visit them the soldiers will &and to their arms facing the Epaulement & ready to mount the Banquet
The Commander in Chief ordered a force of 1,500 fatigue men to begin opening the trenches on the night of the 6th of October. They were to be covered by armed detachments totaling 2,800 men. Six regiments of Americans, one from the right of each brigade, marched at 6 p. m. under command of Generals Lincoln, Clinton, and Wayne to engage in this enterprise. The Count de Rochambeau designated the regiments of Bourbonnais and Soissonnais, together with 250 men from each of the four regiments of Royal Deux-Ponts, Saintonge, Agénois, and Gatinais, for this duty. The regiment of Touraine was detached for special duty to construct a battery of four 12-pounders and six mortars and howitzers 450 yards in front of the British star redoubt.
The position selected for the first parallel extended from the bluff overlooking the river on the right, westward through the upper portions of two ravines communicating with Wormley Creek, thence across the Hampton Road, about 350 yards in front of the old British redoubt on that road, to the heads of several slight ravines which break off from the gorge in the vicinity of the old main road to Williamsburg. The parallel was located at an average distance of 800 yards from that part of the left of the British works which extended from the horn work to the York River. In Washington's diary is the entry:
The work was executed with so much secrecy and dispatch that the enemy were, I believe, totally ignorant of our labor till the light of Morning discovered it to them. Our loss on this occasion was extremely inconsiderable, not more than one Officer (french) and about 20 Men killed and wounded; the Officer and 15 of which were on our left from the Corps of the Marqs. de St. Simond, who was betrayed by a deserter from the Huzzars that went in and gave notice of his approaching his parrallel.
On the 7th of October Lafayette's division, consisting of the brigades of Muhlenberg and Hazen, mounted the trenches at
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noon. The American troops designated daily for this duty were ordered to "parade precisely at 11 on the right of the Marquis de la Fayettes Division." They would then be able to march to the trenches under cover of the ravines which head Wormley Creek. The regiments of Agénois and Saintonge relieved the French portion of the trenches at the same hour.
The next day Von Steuben's division, composed of the Mary, land and Pennsylvania brigades, mounted the trenches. The regiments of Royal Deux-Ponts and Gatinais went into the French sector.
On the 9th of October Lincoln's division, and the regiments of Bourbonnais and Soissonnais, relieved the trenches. According to the diary—
About 3 o'clock P.M. the French opened a battery on our extreme left of 4 Sixteen [twelve] pounders, and Six Morters, and Howitzers and at 5 o'clock an American battery of Six 18s. and 24s.; four Morters and 2 Howitzers began to play from the extremity of our right. Both with good effect as they compelled the Enemy to withdraw from their ambrazures the Pieces which had previously kept up a constant firing.
Part of the fire of the French battery was directed against the star redoubt, defended by about 120 men of the Twenty-third Regiment and a detachment of marines, "who maintained that post with uncommon gallantry." Fire from this battery directed against near-by shipping in the York River compelled a frigate and other vessels to withdraw from their stations.
The American division of Lafayette and the French regiments of Agénois and Saintonge mounted the trenches at noon on the 10th. Four new batteries went into action this day, and by their incessant fire against the cannon showing in the embrasures of the British works, did much damage. The largest of these batteries, constructed on both sides of the Hampton Road and designated the French grand battery, consisted of sixteen 18 and 24 pounders and six mortars and howitzers, divided into three separate batteries. On their front to the left of the Hampton Road was a French bomb battery of six 13-inch mortars. The Americans opened a bomb bat-
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tery of four 10-inch mortars near the right extremity of their line, and another battery of four 18-pounders on the left flank of their sector. Shell dropped into Yorktown did much execution.
The fire now became so heavy, that the enemy withdrew their cannon from the embrasures, placed them behind the merlins, and scarcely fired a shot during the whole day. In the evening the Charon frigate of 44 guns was set on fire by a hot shot from the French battery on the left, and was entirely consumed.
A flag came out with Secretary Nelson, in whose house Cornwallis had maintained his headquarters. The secretary said that the firing was inflicting great damage within the town.
On the morning of the 10th of October Major Cochran arrived at Yorktown, having come "express from New York through the French fleet," bearing Clinton's dispatch of September 30th in which he said "'we may pass the bar by the 12th of October." About 40 pieces of cannon and 16 mortars were firing without intermission into the small area in which the British Army was confined. Cornwallis could scarcely fire a gun in return, as "fascines, stockade platforms, and earth, with guns and gun-carriages," were ""all pounded together into a mass." At noon on the 11th he replied to the dispatch brought by Cochran and informed Clinton that the army had lost about 70 men. Cornwallis added that much damage was being done to the entrenchments, and "with such works on disadvantageous ground, against so powerful an attack we can not hope to make a very long resistance."
The destruction caused by the French and American batteries, firing at ranges from 800 to 1,200 yards, was so great, and the enemy's batteries were so completely overpowered, that Washington was now ready to begin a second parallel. It was to be opened on the night of the 11th-12th, about halfway between the first parallel and the left front of the British works. On the French front the regiments of Gatinais and Royal Deux-Ponts were assigned to this work, with additional detachments in support. The Chevalier de Chastellux was in charge, and he made such dispositions of the troops as to receive the enemy in the most advantageous manner. The brigades of Wayne and Gist opened the American
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portion of the parallel, and Von Steuben was in command of the trenches.
The work on the parallel continued throughout the entire night, with intermittent activity on the part of the British. The ditch was dug 3˝ feet deep and 7 feet wide. The troops labored in quiet, but the noise of pick and shovel and low conversation carried the short distance of 400 yards to the British lines. The left of the parallel extended west of the Hampton Road as far as the morass. The two redoubts in front of the British left flank made it necessary to terminate the right of the parallel by an epaulement at a distance of 120 yards from the nearer redoubt. Washington described the point of termination as being—
near to the intersection of the line of fire from the American 4 Gun Battery to the enemy's advanced redoubt on their left.
Beyond this point the parallel could not go until the two British redoubts were taken.
At one time during the night the French batteries on the first parallel stopped firing, as the cannon were elevated but slightly above the heads of the workmen in the second parallel and several were wounded; but the enemy immediately took advantage of this period of silence to direct a brisk fire against the works, and firing by the French was resumed. In a letter to the President of Congress written on the 12th of October, Washington said that the second parallel was advanced with "little or no annoyance" from the British, and with a loss to the allied forces of only one man killed and three or four wounded.
I shall think it strange indeed, if Lord Cornwallis makes no vigorous exertions in the course of this night, or very soon after.
The days and nights offered the British troops no opportunity to escape from the destruction of the siege. There was "one continual roar of cannon, mixed with the bursting of shells and rumbling of houses torn to pieces." The troops were much weakened by sickness and exhausted by the havoc wrought within their lines. Two transports were fired by hot shot, and all ship-
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ping was warped as far over to the Gloucester shore as possible. Immediately after the arrival of Major Cochran on the 10th officers in the confidence of Cornwallis had advised him—
to evacuate the miserable works of York town; where every hour both by day and night, was an hour of watching and danger to the officer and soldier; where every gun was dismounted as soon as shown; and where a long defence, against superior numbers and superior artillery, was utterly hopeless. *** To abandon fortifications that were not tenable, and adopt a design, which, at this juncture, had every probability of success, was equally honorable and judicious.
During the 12th and 13th the routine procedure by the allied armies of relieving the trenches continued. Work on the second parallel and the battery positions was progressing. The close proximity of the troops to the British lines made the work hazardous, and the occasional fire of cannon and mortars by the enemy caused some casualties. The losses were small, however, the total being only 22 Americans and 186 French, from the commencement of the siege to the storming of the redoubts on the 14th.
The day of the 14th was spent in additional work on the second parallel and the new batteries. The fire of the batteries in the first parallel was directed principally against the abatis and salient angles of the enemy's advanced redoubts on their extreme right and left, so as to cause uncertainty in Cornwallis's mind as to the quarter in which the allied army would make the next move. That evening the French made a false attack against the star redoubt on the extreme right of the British line, and a half hour after this action started two detachments of French and Americans assaulted the redoubts in front of the left of the British works.
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page created 20 March 2000