On June 10, Wayne joined the American force with 1,000 men, and 2 days
later Col. William Campbell—one of the famous American leaders at Kings
Mountain—provided an additional 600 “mountain men.” On the 19th, Von
Steuben appeared with his detachment. These reinforcements made
Lafayette’s corps strong enough for more aggressive action. His strength
was now about 4,500, but heavily weighted with untrained militia and
short of arms, artillery, and cavalry.
[Illustration: _Lieutenant General Earl Cornwallis, Commander of the
British forces which surrendered at Yorktown._]
On June 26, there was “a smart action” at “Hot Water Plantation”
(Spencer’s Ordinary), 7 miles northeast of Williamsburg, where Col.
Richard Butler with a detachment of the Pennsylvania Line engaged
Simcoe’s Queen’s Rangers. Following this, the British Army came to a
halt at Williamsburg, sending out patrols to various points on the York
and James Rivers, including Yorktown.
[Illustration: THE VIRGINIA CAMPAIGN OF 1781]
By this time, the controversy, or misunderstanding, between Cornwallis,
in Virginia, and Clinton, his superior, in New York, which involved
matters of strategy, the theater of operations, and troop deployment,
began to shape the direction of affairs in Virginia. Cornwallis received
instructions to take a defensive station at Williamsburg, or Yorktown,
reserve the troops needed for his protection, and send the remainder of
his army by transport to New York to help Clinton in the siege that he
expected there. In the execution of these orders Cornwallis readied his
army for a move across the James (a move for which Clinton severely
criticized him) and a march towards Portsmouth, where he could direct
the dispatch of troops to New York.
BATTLE OF GREEN SPRING.
On July 4, Cornwallis broke camp at Williamsburg and moved toward
Jamestown Island, the most convenient point for crossing the James. He
sent some troops immediately across the river, but ordered the bulk of
the army to encamp on the “Main” a little beyond Glasshouse Point,
within sight of Jamestown, as a precaution in the event Lafayette should
attempt to hinder the crossing.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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