By the vigilance of Governor Nelson and La Fayette Lord Cornwallis was snugly ensconced in Yorktown. A dark cloud hovered over his military fame. Awful forebodings haunted his blood-stained imagination. Retributive justice pierced his guilty conscience with a thousand viper stings. The cries of widows and orphans--the curling flames of hospitable mansions--the sweeping destruction of villages and towns--the dying groans of innocent victims--the damning fruits of his savage career, preyed upon his agonized soul like a promethean vulture. The die was cast. The siege was commenced. Washington was there. At the head of the Virginia troops was Governor Nelson--cool, brave, fearless, vigorous. His native town--his own mansion and properly were now to be razed to the ground. At first he observed the American batteries carefully avoid his house. The principal British officers had made it their head quarters for this reason. Learning it was out of respect for him he directed the gunners to point their cannon at his mansion. The first discharge after this order sent several shot through it--killed two of the officers and frightened the rest from a table well spread with edibles and wines. They were at dinner and feared no danger. The result of the siege was glorious and closed the war of the Revolution. The following extract from the general orders of the illustrious Washington of the 20th of October 1781 will best inform the reader of the estimate placed upon the services of Governor Nelson at that memorable siege. "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 acknowledgments to his excellency Governor Nelson, for the succors 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 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 resigned his office on the 20th November 1781 and retired from the public arena to private life. He spent the remainder of his days on a small estate he had gathered up from the wreck of his princely fortune, situated at Offly in the county of Hanover. His health continued to decline until the 4th of January 1789 when he was numbered with the dead. His obituary, written by his bosom friend Col. Innes, fully portrays the character of this devoted patriot and will best close this annal.