11. On the 22d of August, General Greene marched toward Orangeburg.
The British retired to Eutaw Springs. There the Americans overtook
them on the 8th of September. One of the fiercest battles of the war
ensued, and General Greene was denied a decisive victory only by the
bad conduct of some of his troops. After losing five hundred and
fifty-five men, he gave up the struggle. The British lost in killed and
wounded nearly seven hundred. Stuart retreated to Monk's Corner; Greene
followed; and after two months of maneuvering, the British were driven
into Charleston. In the whole South only Charleston and Savannah were
now held by the king's army; the latter city was evacuated on the 11th
of July, and the former on the 14th of December, 1782. Such was the
close of the Revolution in the Carolinas and Georgia.
[Sidenote: =Cornwallis in Virginia.=]
12. In the beginning of May, 1781, Cornwallis took command of the
British army in Virginia. The country was ravaged, and property
destroyed to the value of fifteen million dollars. La Fayette, to
whom the defence of the State had been intrusted, was unable to meet
Cornwallis in the field. While the British were near Richmond, a
detachment under Tarleton proceeded to Charlottesville, and captured
the town and seven members of the legislature. Governor Jefferson
escaped into the mountains. The British marched to Portsmouth; but
early in August the army was conveyed to Yorktown, on the southern bank
of York River.
[Sidenote: =Cornwallis Blockaded in Yorktown.=]
13. La Fayette followed and took post eight miles from the British.
During July and August, Washington, from his camp on the Hudson,
looked wistfully to the South. Clinton was kept in alarm by false
dispatches, indicating that the Americans would immediately besiege New
York. When Clinton was informed that Washington was marching toward
Virginia, he would not believe it. Washington pressed rapidly forward,
and joined La Fayette at Williamsburg. On the 30th of August, a French
fleet, with four thousand troops on board, reached the Chesapeake and
anchored in the mouth of York River. Cornwallis was blockaded by sea
and land.
[Sidenote: =Surrender of Cornwallis.=]
14. Count de Barras, who commanded the French flotilla at Newport, also
arrived. On the 5th of September, Admiral Graves appeared in the bay,
and a naval battle ensued, in which the British ships were roughly
handled. On the 28th, the allied armies encamped around Yorktown and
began their intrenchments. On the night of the 14th, the enemy's outer
works were carried by storm. On the 16th the British made a sortie, but
were repulsed. The next day Cornwallis proposed a surrender; on the
18th terms of capitulation were signed; and on the afternoon of the
19th the whole British army, consisting of seven thousand two hundred
and forty-seven English and Hessian soldiers, laid down their arms and
became prisoners of war. This event virtually terminated the war of the
Revolution.
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