On this same sixth of September, Clinton disclosed his last move to check Washington’s advance, and take Cornwallis out of check. Arnold, who had been so summarily withdrawn from the South, landed at New London, Connecticut, wantonly destroying houses, stores, a church, the Court-House, ships, and whatever he could damage without personal danger to himself; and made forever memorable the cruel massacre of Colonel Ledyard and the garrison of Fort Griswold after their honorable surrender. He no less permanently made memorable their extraordinary defence, in which the British assailing column lost one hundred and sixty-three officers and men, a number exceeding that of the entire American resisting force. It was soon over; and Arnold did not dare delay, and risk his fate with the yeomanry of his native New England. The secret of Clinton’s cipher despatch to Cornwallis on the second of August, respecting the _use of Arnold_, was thus revealed. But the attention of the American Commander-in-Chief was not diverted from his own supreme purpose, whatever Clinton might undertake in his absence. The allied French and American armies remained at Head of Elk for transportation; but during that interval, Rochambeau accompanied Washington to Baltimore, where illuminations and civil honors attested the welcome of these distinguished guests. On the ninth, for the first time in six years, the American Commander-in-Chief visited his Mount Vernon home. On the tenth, his own staff, together with the Count de Rochambeau and staff, were his guests. On the eleventh, General Chastellux and aides-de-camp joined the party. On the twelfth, the visit came to its close. On the fourteenth of September, Washington reached the headquarters of General, the Marquis de Lafayette, commanding the Department, at Williamsburg, Virginia. CHAPTER XXXV. THE ALLIANCE WITH FRANCE VINDICATED.—WASHINGTON’S MAGNANIMITY.—HIS BENEDICTION. The story of the siege of Yorktown and the surrender of Earl Cornwallis, Lieutenant-General in command, has been so fully detailed by many writers that only a few features of the general conduct of that campaign, and some special incidents not so frequently noticed, are within the province of this narrative.