"General Lincoln commanded the troops detailed for this service. So silently and so earnestly did they labor that they were not discerned by the British sentinels, and before daylight the trenches were sufficiently complete to shield the laborers from the guns of the enemy. On the afternoon of the ninth several batteries and redoubts were completed, and a general discharge of twenty-four and eighteen-pounders was commenced by the Americans on the right. "This cannonade was kept up without intermission during the night, and early next morning the French opened their batteries upon the enemy. For nearly eight hours there was an incessant roar of cannon and mortars, and hundreds of bombs and round shot were poured upon the British works. So tremendous was the bombardment that the besieged soon withdrew their cannon from the embrasures, and fired very few shots in return. At evening red-hot cannon balls were hurled from the French battery on the extreme left, at the _Guadaloupe_ and _Charon_. "The _Guadaloupe_ was driven from her post, while the _Charon_ and three large transports were burned. "The night was starry and mild, and invited to repose; but the besiegers rested not, and York Town presented a scene of terrible grandeur such as is seldom witnessed by the eye of man. "From the bank of the river I had a fine view of the splendid conflagration. The ships were enwrapped in a torrent of fire which spread with vivid brightness among the combustible rigging, and ran with amazing rapidity to the tops of the several masts, while all around was thunder and lightning from our numerous cannon and mortars, and in the darkness presented one of the most sublime and magnificent spectacles that can be imagined. "Some of our shells, over-reaching the town, were seen to fall in the river, and, bursting, threw up a column of water like the spouting of a monster of the deep. All night long the allies kept up a cannonade, and early the next morning another British transport was set in flames by a fiery ball, and consumed. "During the night of the eleventh the besiegers commenced a second parallel, between two and three hundred yards from the British works. The three succeeding days were devoted to the completion of this line of trenches, during which time the enemy opened new embrasures in positions from which their fire was far more effective than at first. "Two redoubts on the left of the besieged, and advanced three hundred yards in front of the British works, flanked the second parallel and greatly annoyed the men in the trenches. Preparations were made on the fourteenth to carry them both by storm. "To excite a spirit of emulation the reduction of one was committed to the American light infantry under Lafayette; the other to a detachment of French grenadiers and chasseurs commanded by the Baron de Viomenil, a brave and experienced officer.