At length Lord Cornwallis found himself snugly ensconced in Yorktown. A dark cloud gathered over his military fame. Awful forebodings haunted his blood-stained soul. Retributive justice pierced his conscience with a thousand stings. The cries of widows and orphans, the curling flames of hospitable mansions, the sweeping destruction of villages and towns, and the dying groans of innocent victims, the bitter fruits of his tyranny, preyed upon his imagination like a promethean vulture. The die was cast. The siege was commenced. At the head of the Virginia troops was General Nelson—cool, brave, fearless and vigorous. His native town, his own domicile and property, were now to be razed. At first he observed that the American batteries carefully avoided the direction of his house. The principal British officers, anticipating this, had made it their rendezvous. On hearing that it was out of respect to him, he directed the gunners to point their guns at once at his mansion. The first discharge sent a shot through it and killed two of the officers, a number of whom were enjoying the comforts of a good dinner. They soon left this retreat for safer quarters. The following extract from the general orders of the illustrious Washington, of the 20th of October, 1781, will best inform the reader how highly the services of Governor Nelson were prized at that memorable siege that crushed the power of Great Britain in America. “The general would be guilty of the highest ingratitude, a crime of which he hopes he shall never be accused, if he forgot to return his sincere acknowledgements to his excellency Governor Nelson for the succours which he received from him and the militia under his command, to whose activity, emulation and bravery, the highest praises are due. The magnitude of the acquisition will be ample compensation for the difficulties and dangers which they met with so much firmness and patriotism.” The fatigues of this campaign and his arduous gubernatorial duties proved too much for the physical powers of Governor Nelson. He again sunk under disease, and on the 20th of November, 1781, he resigned his station and retired to private life. He spent the remainder of his days principally on a small estate he had saved from the wreck of his large fortune, situated at Offly, in the county of Hanover. His health continued to decline, and on the fourth of January, 1789, he was numbered with the dead. His obituary, written by his bosom friend, Colonel Innes, fully portrays the character of this devoted patriot and deserves a place in this memoir.