Life and Times of Washington, Volume 2: Revised, Enlarged, and EnrichedSchroeder, John Frederick
History
Life and Times of Washington, Volume 2: Revised, Enlarged, and Enriched
Schroeder, John Frederick
Presidents -- United States -- Biography; Washington, George, 1732-1799
4. Footnote: The whole number of prisoners, exclusive of seamen, was
over 7,000, and the British loss during the siege was between five and
six hundred. The army of the allies consisted of 7,000 American regular
troops, upward of 5,000 French, and 4,000 militia. The loss in killed
and wounded was about 300. The captured property consisted of a large
train of artillery--viz., 75 brass and 69 iron cannon, howitzers, and
mortars; also a large quantity of arms, ammunition, military stores, and
provisions fell to the Americans. One frigate, 2 ships of twenty guns
each, a number of transports and other vessels, and 1,500 seamen were
surrendered to de Grasse.
5. Footnote: On his departure, the Count de Grasse received from
Washington a present of two elegant horses as a token of his friendship
and esteem.
CHAPTER XXIV.
CLOSE OF THE WAR. 1782-1783.
After the surrender of Cornwallis, the combined forces were distributed
in different parts of the country, in the manner we have described
at the close of the last chapter. Having personally superintended
the distribution of the ordnance and stores, and the departure of the
prisoners as well as the embarkation of the troops, who were to go
northward under General Lincoln, Washington left Yorktown on the 5th of
November (1781) for Eltham, the seat of his friend, Colonel Basset.
He arrived there the same day, but he came to a house of mourning. His
stepson, John Parke Custis, was just expiring when he reached the house.
Washington was just in time to be present, with Mrs. Washington and Mrs.
Custis, her daughter-in-law, at the last painful moment of the young
man's departure to the world of spirits. Mr. Custis had been an object
of peculiar affection and care to Washington, who had superintended his
education and introduction to public life. He had entered King's college
in New York, in 1773, but soon after left that institution and married
the daughter of Mr. Benedict Calvert, February 3, 1774. He had passed
the winter of 1775 at headquarters in Cambridge with his wife and Mrs.
Washington. He had subsequently been elected a member of the House of
Burgesses of Virginia, in which office he acquitted himself with
honor, and he was now cut off on the very threshold of life being only
twenty-eight years of age at the time of his decease. He left a widow
and four young children. The two youngest of these children, one less
than two and the other four years old, were adopted by Washington, and
thenceforward formed a part of his immediate family. During the last
year of Mr. Custis' life, Washington, writing to General Greene, took
occasion to cite a passage from his correspondence. He says, "I have
received a letter from Mr. Custis, dated the 29th ultimo (March, 1781),
in which are these words: 'General Greene has by his conduct gained
universal esteem, and possesses, in the fullest degree, the confidence
of all ranks of people.'" He had just then returned from the Assembly at
Richmond.
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