But the final scene was to be enacted in Virginia. There, in the last days of April, 1781, Cornwallis took command of the British army and began to ravage the country on both banks of the James. In the course of the following two months property, public and private, was destroyed to the value of fifteen million dollars. La Fayette, to whom the defence of the State had been entrusted, was unable to meet Cornwallis in the field, but watched his movements with sleepless vigilance. While the British were in the vicinity of Richmond a detachment under Tarleton proceeded as far west as Charlottesville, where the Virginia legislature was in session. The town was taken, the country devastated, and seven members of the assembly made prisoners. Governor Jefferson escaped only by riding into the mountains.

When there was little left to destroy, Cornwallis marched down the north bank of the James to Green Springs, eight miles above the site of Jamestown. He had received orders from Sir Henry Clinton to descend the river and take such a position on the coast as would keep the army within supporting distance of New York; for Clinton was very apprehensive that Washington and the French would attack him. La Fayette hovered upon the rear of Cornwallis; and on the 6th of July, when it was supposed that the main body of the enemy had crossed the James, General Wayne, who led the American advance, suddenly attacked the whole British army. Cornwallis was so surprised by the audacious onset that when Wayne, seeing his mistake, made a hasty retreat, no pursuit was attempted. The loss of the two armies was equal, being a hundred and twenty on each side. After the passage of James River, the British marched to Portsmouth, where Arnold had had his headquarters in the previous spring There Cornwallis would have fortified himself; but the orders of Clinton were otherwise; and in the first days of August the army was again embarked and conveyed to Yorktown, on the southern bank of York River, a few miles above the mouth.

La Fayette quickly advanced into the peninsula and took post but eight miles distant from the British. From this position he sent urgent despatches to Washington, beseeching him to come to Virginia and aid in striking the enemy a fatal blow. A powerful French armament, commanded by Count de Grasse, was hourly expected in the Chesapeake, and La Fayette saw at a glance that if a fleet could be anchored in the mouth of York River, cutting off retreat, the doom of Cornwallis would be sealed. During the months of July and August, Washington, from his camp on the Hudson, looked wistfully to the South. But all the while Clinton was kept in feverish alarm by false despatches, written for the purpose of falling into his hands. These intercepted messages indicated

that the Americans and French would immediately begin the siege of New York; and for that Clinton made ready. When, in the last days of August, he was informed that Washington had broken up his camp and was already marching with his whole army toward Virginia, the British general would not believe it, but went on preparing for a siege. Washington pressed rapidly forward, paused two days at Mount Vernon, where he had not been for six years, and met La Fayette at Williamsburg. Meanwhile, on the 30th of August, the French fleet, numbering twenty-eight ships of the line, with nearly four thousand troops on board, had reached the Chesapeake and safely anchored in the mouth of York River. Cornwallis, with the British army, was blockaded both by sea and land.

To add still further to the strength of the allies, Count de Barras, who commanded the French flotilla at Newport, sailed into the Chesapeake with eight ships of the line and ten transports, bearing cannon for the siege. On the 5th of September the English admiral Graves appeared in the bay, and a naval battle ensued, in which the British ships were so roughly handled that they returned to New York. On the 28th of September the allied armies, superior in numbers and confident of success, encamped around Yorktown. The story of the siege is brief. Tarleton, who occupied Gloucester Point, on the other side

of the river, made one spirited sally, but was driven back with severe loss. On the night of the 6th of October the trenches were opened at the distance of six hundred yards from the British works. The cannonade was constant and effective. On the 11th of the month the allies drew their second parallel within three hundred yards of Cornwallis's redoubts. On the night of the 14th the enemy's outer works were carried by storm. At daydawn of the 16th the British made a sortie, only to be hurled back into their entrenchments. On the next day Cornwallis proposed a surrender; on the 18th terms of capitulation were drawn up and signed: and at two o'clock in the afternoon of the 19th Major-General O'Hara

for Cornwallis, feigning sickness, remained in his tent-led the whole British army from the trenches into an open field, where, in the presence of the allied ranks of France and America, seven thousand two hundred and forty-seven English and Hessian soldiers laid down their arms, delivered their standards, and became prisoners of war. Eight hundred and forty sailors were also surrendered. Seventy-five brass and thirtyone iron guns were taken, together with all the accoutrements of the army.

By a swift courier the news was borne to Congress. On the evening of the 23d the messenger rode into Philadelphia. When the sentinels of the city called the hour of ten that night, they added, " and Cornwallis is taken." On the morrow Congress assembled, and before that august body the despatch of Washington was read. The members, exulting and weeping for gladness, went in concourse with the citizens to the Dutch Lutheran church and turned the afternoon into a thanksgiving. The note of rejoicing sounded through the length and breadth of the land; for it was seen that the dominion of the Briton in America was for ever broken. After the surrender the conquered army was marched under guard to the barracks of Lancaster. Washington, with the victorious Americans and French, returned to the camps of New Jersey and the Hudson. On the Continent of Europe the news was received with every demonstration of gladness. In England the king and his ministers heard the tidings with mortification and rage; but the English people were either secretly pleased or openly rejoiced. During the fall and winter the ministerial majority in Parliament fell off rapidly; and on the 20th of March, 1782, Lord North and his friends, unable longer to conduct the government, resigned their offices. A new ministry was immediately formed, favorable to America, favorable to freedom, favorable to peace. In the beginning of May the command of the British forces in the United States was transferred from Clinton to Sir Guy Carleton, a man friendly to American interests. The hostile demonstrations of the enemy, now confined to New York and Charleston, ceased; and Washington made no efforts to dislodge the foe, for the war had really ended.

In the summer of 1782 Richard Oswald was sent by Parliament to Paris. The object of his mission was to confer with Franklin and Jay, the ambassadors of the United States, in regard to the terms of peace. Before the discussions were ended, John Adams, arriving from Amsterdam, and Henry Laurens from London, entered into the negotiations. On the 30th of November preliminary articles of peace were agreed to and signed on the part of Great Britain by Oswald, and on behalf of the United States by Franklin, Adams, Jay and Laurens. In

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