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NARRATIVE

CAMPAIGN IN 1781

NORTH AMERICA.

BY

Sir HENRY CLINTON, K. B.

w

PHILADELPHIA :
JOHN CAMPBELL,
MDCCCLXV.

7.-M
Edition of 250 Copies,
Of which 75 copies are in quarto, and 25 copies
in folio.
CtrXJ 0 4 0

PRINTED BY HENRY B. ASHMEAD,
No. 1102 Sansom Street.

NARRATIVE O F
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL
SIR HENRY CLINTON, K. B.
RELATIVE TO HIS
CONDUCT DURING
PART OF HIS COMMAND OF THE KING'S TROOPS
I N
NORTH AMERICA;
Particularly to that which refpe&s the unfortunate Iffue of
the Campaign in 178 1.
WITH AN
APPENDIX, CONTAINING
Copies and Extracts of those Parts of his Correfpondence
WITH
LORD GEORGE GERMAIN,
EARL CORNWALLIS,
REAR ADMIRAL GRAVES, &c.
Which are referred to therein.

LONDON:
Printed for J. Debrett (fuccefTor to Mr. Almon) oppofite
Burlington-houfe, Piccadilly, 1783.

E

R R A T A.

Page.

Line.

In the note, 8,

3, 1781, vice 1782.

13,

12, either, vice each.

24,

19, probably before be, at the begin.

ning of the line.

46,

16, their, vice thus.

52,

20, &c . after accomplifhed.

NARRATIVE

O F

LIEUTENANT GENERAL

Sir HENRY CLINTON, &c.

T3EING confcious, that during my com
mand in North America, my whole
conduct was actuated by the moft ardent
zeal for the King's fervice, and the interefts
of the public, I was exceedingly mortified,
when I returned to England, after a fervice
of feven years in that country, to find that
erroneous opinions had gone forth refpecting
it; and that many perfons had, in confe-
quence, admitted impreftions to my preju-
a duce.

( 2 )
duce. Anxious, therefore, to explain what
had been mifinterpreted or mifreprefented,
(as indeed might well be expefted, from the
publication of Lord C.'s letter of the 20th of
October, without being accompanied by my
anfwer to it) I had propofed taking an op
portunity, in the Houfe of Commons, of
faying a few words on fuch parts of my
conduct as feemed not to be fufficiently un-
derftood : and I flatter myfelf I fhould have
been able to make it appear, that I acTred
up to the utmoft of my powers, from the
beginning to the end of my command; and
that none of the misfortunes of the very
unfortunate campaign of 1781 can, with
the fmalleft degree of juftice, be imputed to
me. But I arrived here fo late in the feftion,
that I was advifed to defer it; and it was
judged that the gracious reception I had juft
met with from my Sovereign rendered an
immediate explanation unneceffary. I was
not,

.:#

( 3 )
not, however, apprifed to what degree the
public prejudice had been excited againft
me elfe, I fhould probably have been in
duced to have taken an earlier opportunity
of offering to Parliament what I have to fay
on the fubject But the late change in pub
lic affairs, furnifhing fo much more impor
tant matter for their deliberation, deprived
me of the opportunity I thought I fhould
have had: and, as by the prefent recefs it
is probable that I may not be able to exe
cute my intentions before a late period, when
perhaps peculiar circumftances might force
me through delicacy to decline it, I beg
leave to lay before the public the following
plain Narrative, which will, I truft, remove
prejudice and error.
I have much to regret that, when this
bufinefs was difcuffed in the Houfe of Lords
laft feflion of Parliament, the whole of my
correfpondence, with the late American
Minifter, Lieutenant General Earl Corn-
wallis,

( 4 )
wallis, and the Admirals commanding on
the Weft-India and American ftations, was
not produced, or at leaft fuch parts thereof
as, being neceffary to explain my conduft,
might have appeared confiftently with ftate
policy. Becaufe the letters which compofe
that correfpondence, being written to the
moment as events happened, are certainly
the moft faithful records of my aftions and
intentions; and are confequently the clear-
eft, faireft, and moft unexceptionable tefti-
monies I can adduce in their fupport. I
hope, therefore, I fhall ftand exculpated
from the neceflity of the cafe, for any im
propriety there may be in my annexing to
this letter fuch of them as I may judge
moft requifite for that purpofe. Three of
them indeed will, I prefume, be found very
material, (Appendix No. IX.) as they con
tain my anfwers and obfervations upon Lord
Cornwallis's letters of the 20th of Oftober
and 2d of December on the fubjeft of
the

Mt

( 5 )
the unfortunate conclufion of the laft cam
paign in the Chefapeak ; — which latter I am
forry to obferve, were given to the public,
while mine in anfwer were withheld from
it; — I hope without defign.
Although I never dared promife myfelf
that any exertions of mine, with my very
reduced force (nearly one-third lefs than
that of my predeceflbr) could bring the war
to a happy conclufion; yet I confefs that
the campaign of 1781 terminated very dif
ferently from what I once flattered my
felf it would; as may appear, by the fub-
joined extrafts of letters, written in the be
ginning of that year, * and which were
tranf-
* " I am moft exceedingly concerned, my Lord, at
the very unfortunate affair of the 17th of January, (Cow-
per's.) I confefs I dread the confequences. But my
hope is, as it ever will be, in your Lordfliip's abilities
and exertions. I have much to lament, that Brigadier-
general Arnold's projected move in favour of your
Lordfliip's

( 6 )
tranfmitted to the Minifter. I was led,
however, into thefe hopes, more by the
apparent diftreffes of the enemy than any
material fucceffes we had met with.
The plan I had formed for the campaign
of 1 78 1, (upon the expeftation of a rein
forcement
Lordfliip's operations will have been ftopt by the appear
ance of the French fliips. Difcontent runs high in
Connecticut. In fliort, my Lord, there feems little
wanting to give a mortal ftab to rebellion, but a proper
reinforcement and a permanent fuperiority at fea for the
next campaign; without which any enterprize depending
on water movements muft certainly run great rifle. Until
Colonel Bruce arrives, I am uncertain what reinforce
ments are intended for this army. The Minifter has
however affured me, that every poffible exertion will be
made." — Letter from Sir Henry Clinton to Lord Corn-
wallis, March 5, 1 78 1.
"I cannot fufficiently exprefs my extreme joy at read
ing Wafliington's letter. It is fuch a defcription of
diftrefs, as may ferve to convince, that with a tolerable
reinforcement from Europe, to enable your Excellency
to determine on an offenfive campaign, the year 1781 may

( 7 )
forcement from Europe — from the Weft-
Indies — and from the Southward (after opeT
ration fhould ceafe in that quarter) — added
to what I might be able to fpare at the time
from the fmall force under my immediate
command at New- York) was calculated to
make a fair and folid effort in favour of our
friends — in a diftrift where I had fome rea
fon to believe they were numerous and
hearty ; and where I judged it might be made
with little danger, even from a temporary
naval fuperiority of the enemy. This plan
had been fuggefted to the Minifter in the
year 1780, and more particularly ex
plained to him in 1781 ; notwithftanding
which a preference was given to another,
(Appendix, No. I.) which feemed to be
forced
may probably prove the glorious period to your command
in America, by putting an end to the rebellion." — Letter
from Major-general Phillips to Sir H. Clinton, Portf-
mouth, Virginia, April 16, 1781.

( 8 )
forced (Appendix, No. II.) upon me by
Lord Cornwallis's quitting the Carolinas,
where I had left him in the command, and
marching into Virginia; a meafure, I muft
fay, determined upon without my approba
tion, and very contrary to my wifhes and
intentions. The Minifter directed me to
fupport Lord Cornwallis and folid operation
in Virginia ; the danger of which, without a
covering fleet, I had conftantly reprefented
to him. He repeatedly and pofitively pro
mifed me a covering fleet;* and when the
Admiral
* Extracts from Lord George Germain's letters to Sir
Henry Clinton:
April 4, 1782. "The latenefs of the feafon will, I
imagine, prevent Monf. De Graffe's undertaking any
thing againft the King's poffeffions in the Weft Indies.
But it is probable, as foon as he has thrown fupplies into
the feveral iflands, he will proceed to North America,
and join the French forces at Rhode Ifland, and endea
vour to revive the expiring caufe of rebellion. But as
Sir

( 9 )
Admiral arrived with the naval reinforce
ment from the Weft-Indies, he was clearly of
Sir George Rodney's force is little inferior to his, and he
will be watchful of his motions, I am not apprehenfive he
will give him time to do you any material injury before he
comes to your fuccour."
May 2, 1 78 1. "And as Sir George Rodney will
bring you three more regiments from the Leeward Iflands
before the hurricane months, the augmentation of your
force muft, I fhould think, be e'qual to the utmoft of your
wifhes." July 7, 1 78 1. "The arrival of the reinforcement
will, I hope, enable you to proceed immediately in the
execution of your purpofe, without waiting for the
three regiments from the Weft Indies; for I do not
expedt they will join you before the feafon for offenfive
operations there is over; when, I have reafon to believe,
the French fleet will pufh for North America, and Sir
George Rodney will certainly follow them, to prevent
them from giving you any interruption in your operations."
July 14, 1781. "The purpofe of the enemy was
long known here, and Sir George Rodney has been ap-
prifed of it, and will certainly not lofe fight of Monf.
De

( io )
of opinion himfelf, and of courfe convinced
me, that he had brought that covering fleet.
(Appendix, No. III.) Therefore, as Admi
ral Graves's fquadron was acknowledged to
be fuperior to that under Monfieur de Barras,
I could
De Graffe. The very proper ftep you took of tranfmit-
ting him copies of the letters you had intercepted, muft
confirm him in the refolution he had taken in confequence
of the former intelligence. But as in a matter of fo great
moment, no precaution fhould be omitted, or poffible con
tingency unguarded againft, extracts of the intercepted
letters will be fent to him from hence, and precife inftruc-
tions given to him to proceed direftly to North America,
whenever Monf. De Graffe quits the Leeward Mands."
July 24, 1781. "And I truft, that as Sir George
Rodney knows De Grade's deftination, and the French
acknowledge his fliips fail better than their's, that he will
get before him, and be in readinefs to receive him when
he comes upon the coaft."
September 25, 1781. "I truft, before the end of
Auguft, Sir Samuel Hood will have been with you, and
that after his junction with Admiral Graves our fuperiority
at fea will be preferved."

( » )
I could not but fuppofe that the arrival of
Admiral Digby (hourly expefted) would
give us a moft decifive naval fuperiority. —
And here, perhaps, it may not be improper
to remark, that though the Minifter direfts
me, by his letters of the 2d of May, and 6th
of June, to adopt folid operation in Virginia,
he fignifies to me his Majefty's approbation
of my own plan, in a fubfequent letter of
the 14th of July, telling me at the fame
time, that "he has not the leaft doubt Lord
"Cornwallis will have fully feen the rea-
"fonablenefs of it, and has executed it with
"his wonted ardor, intrepidity, and fuc-
"cefs." Under thefe circumftances, and with thefe
affurances, I never could have the moft distant
idea that Mr. Wafhington had the leaft hopes
of a fuperior French fleet in the Chefapeak ;
and I confequently never could fuppofe that
he would venture to go there. But if he
fhould, I was fatisfied from the reafons already ftated

( " )
ftated, that I fhould be able to meet him
there with every advantage on my fide, by
having the command of the waters of that
bay — without which he could not poflibly
feed his army. This opinion has been alfo
fince confirmed by a letter from him to
Count De Graffe, dated 26th of September
178 1, (No. IV. Appendix) wherein he tells
him, if he quits the Chefapeak, the enemy
will certainly get poffeflion of it, and he muft
difband his army.
Had my correfpondence been produced,
it would have appeared from it, and the
returns accompanying it, that inftead of
•feventeen, twenty, nay twenty-four thouf
and men, which it has been reported I had
at New York (after the very ample rein
forcements as the Minifter acknowledges
(No. V. Appendix) which I had fent to the
fouthward) I had not 12,000 effeftives, and
of thefe not above 9,300 fit for duty, re
gulars and provincials. But had I had
twice

( *3 )
twice that number, I do not know that,
after leaving fufficient garrifons in the
iflands and pofts depending (which it is ad
mitted by all would take 6000) I could, as
has been infinuated, have prevented the
iunftion between Monf. Rochambeau and
General Wafhington, which was made in the
highlands, at leaft 50 miles from me; or that
I could have made any direft move againft
their army when joined (confifting then of
at least 11,000 men, exclufive of militia,
affembled on each fide the Hudfon) with
any profpeft of folid advantage from it. Or
if I had as many reafons to believe that
Mr. Wafhington would move his army into
Virginia without a covering French fleet,
as I had to think he would not; I could
not have prevented his pafling the Hudfon
under cover of his forts at Verplanks and
Stoney Points. Nor (fuppofing I had boats
properly manned) would it have been ad-
vifeable to have landed at Elizabeth town, in

( H )
in the face of works which he might eafily
have occupied (as they were only feven
miles from his camp at Chatham) without
fubjefting my army to be beat, en detail.
Nor could I, when informed of his march
towards the Delaware, have paffed an army
in time to have made any impreflion upon
him before he croffed that river. But with
my reduced force, any attempt of the fort
would have been madnefs and folly in the
extreme. With what might poflibly be fpared from
fuch a force, nothing could be attempted
except againft detachments from Mr. Wafh
ington's army, or (when reinforced in a
fmall degree) againft fuch of it's diftant ma
gazines as might occafionally happen to be
unguarded. Two of the latter offered, one
againft Philadelphia, which I certainly fhould
have attempted in July, had Lord Corn-
wallis fpared me any part of 3000 men;
but as his Lordfhip feemed to think he
could

( *5 )
could not hold the ftations we both thought
eligible, if he fpared me any part of the
force with him, I was obliged to relinquifh
this defign. The other much more im
portant, was againft Rhode Ifland. I had
difcovered by intercepted letters from all the
French Admirals and Generals, that Count
Rochambeau's army had marched from
Rhode Ifland to join Mr. Wafhington at the
White Plains; that their battering train
and ftores for fiege were left at Providence
under little more than a militia guard; and
that their fleet remained in Rhode Ifland
harbour with orders, as foon as repaired, to
retire to Bofton for fecurity. By private in
formation, which I had at that time, I found
alfo that the works at Rhode Ifland were in
a great meafure difmantled, and had only a
few invalids and militia to guard them, and
that they were both there and at Providence
under great apprehenfions of a vifit from
us. From other motives as well as my own
knowledge

( 16 )
knowledge of thefe pofts, I had the ftrongeft
reafon to expeft the fulleft fuccefs to an at
tempt againft them, and I therefore immedi
ately propofed to Admiral Graves a joint ex
pedition for that purpofe; which he readily
confented to. It was accordingly agreed
between us, that it fhould be undertaken as
foon as he could affemble his fleet, and a
fmall reinforcement (hourly expefted) fhould
arrive from Europe. The reinforcement
joined me on the nth of Auguft, and the
Admiral (who had failed on a cruife) having
returned to the coaft on the 16th, I imme
diately renewed my propofal, (Appendix, No.
VI.) The Admiral informed me in anfwer,
that he was under the neceflity of fending
the Robufte to the yard to be refitted, and
that he fhould take the opportunity while
that was doing of fhifting a maft or two in
the Prudente; and when thofe repairs were
accomplifhed, he would give me timely
notice, (Appendix, No. VII.) The fhips
were

( i7 )
were not ready on the 28th; Sir Samuel
Hood, however, arriving on that day, I im
mediately ordered the troops to be embarked ;
and going to the Admirals on Long Ifland, I
propofed to them that the expedition fhould
inftantly take place : but receiving intelligence
that evening that Monfieur De Barras had
failed on the 25th, it was of courfe flopped.
Thus, to the Admirals great mortification
and my own, was loft an opportunity of
making the moft important attempt that had
offered the whole war.
Early in September, to my great furprife,
(for I ftill confidered our fleet as fuperior)
hearing that Mr. Wafhington was decidedly
marching to the fouthward, I called a council
of all the general officers, who unanimoufly
concurred with me in opinion, that the only
way to fuccour Earl Cornwallis was to go to
him in the Chefapeak.
Although I had every reafon to difapprove
of Earl Cornwallis's march into Virginia,
c without

( i8 )
without confulting me, (at the risk of en
gaging me in dangerous operations, for which
I was not prepared) yet, as I fuppofed he afted
with at leaft the approbation of the Minifter,
I left him as free as air, when he arrived
there, to plan and execute according to his
difcretion; — only recommending to him, in
cafe he had none of his own, the plan I had
offered to the Minifter ; which, notwithftand-
ing the opinion given in the letter of July 1 4,
before quoted,* I did not, however, find his
Lordfhip
* Extract from Lord George Germain's letter to Sir
Henry Clinton, July 14, 1781. — "It is with the moft
unfeigned pleafure I obey his Majefty's commands, in
expreffing to you his royal approbation of the plan you
have adopted for profecuting the war in the provinces
fouth of the Delaware, and of the fuccours you have
furnifhed, and the inftru£tions you have given for car
rying it into execution. The copies of the very impor
tant correfpondence which fo fortunately fell into your
hands, (inclofed in your difpatch) fhew the rebel affairs
to be almoft defperate, and that nothing but the succefs of

( 19 )
Lordfhip the leaft inclined to adopt. And
that letter, which I did not receive till Sep
tember, found me deeply and dangeroufly en
gaged in the operation he had forced me into.
And here, perhaps, it may be proper to
give the reafons which induced me to recom mend
of fame extraordinary enterprize can give vigour and
activity to their caufe; and I confefs I am well pleafed
that they have fixed upon New York as the objeft to be
attempted, as I have not the leaft doubt but that the
troops you had remaining with you, after the ample rein
forcements you fo judicioufly fent to the Chefapeak,
would be fully fufficient under your command to repel
any force the enemy could bring againft you. I cannot
clofe this letter, without repeating to you the very great
fatisfadtion your difpatch has given me; and my moft
entire and hearty coincidence with you in the plan you
have propofed to Lord Cornwallis, for diftreffing the
rebels, and recovering the fouthern provinces to the King's
obedience. And as his Lordfhip, when he received your
letters of the 8th and nth of June, will have fully feen
the reafonablenefs of it, I have not the leaft doubt but his
Lordfhip has executed it with his wonted ardor, intrepidity,
and fuccefs."

( 20 )
mend to Lord Cornwallis to fecure a naval
ftation for large fhips, if one could be found
that was capable of being fortified and main
tained againft a temporary fuperiority of the
enemy at fea, agreeable to the inftruftions
which I had before given to General Phil
lips, and which were of courfe to be now
confidered as fuch to his Lordfhip, (Ap
pendix, No. X.)
Although I ought not to have apprehend
ed that the enemy could have had a fuperi
ority at fea, after the affurances I had re
ceived from the Minifter, I yet always
wifhed to guard againft even a poflibility
of it. Finding, therefore, by Lord Corn-
wallis's letters, that on his arrival in the
Chefapeak, he had no plan of his own to
propofe, and that he did not incline to
follow the one I had offered to his con
fideration, I recommended the taking a re-
fpeftable defenfive ftation either at Williamf-
burg, or York (the latter of which his
Lordfhip

( 21 )
Lordfhip had informed me in a letter, dated
26th of May, he was inclined, from the
reports which had been made to him, to
think well of as a naval ftation and place
of arms) and left his Lordfhip at liberty
to keep all the troops he had in Virginia,
(amounting to about feven thoufand men).
But thinking that he might well fpare three
thoufand; I defired he would keep all that
were neceffary for a refpeftable defenfive,
and defultory water movements, and fend
me of three thoufand men all he could.
His Lordfhip mifconceiving my intentions
(as will, I truft, be manifeft to whoever
reads our correfpondence) and confidering
my call for three thoufand men as uncon
ditional, tells me that he could not with
the remainder keep York and Gloucefter;
and that he fhould, therefore, repafs James-
river and go to the ftation at Portfmouth.
Which refolution (I confefs) furprifed me, as

( 22 )
as he had a little before, in the letter above
quoted, reprefented that poft as unhealthy,
and requiring an army to defend it. On
receipt of his Lordfliip's letter, I immedi
ately confulted the Admiral, who was of
of opinion, that a naval ftation for large fhips
was abfolutely neceffary, and recommended
Hampton-road. Therefore in my letter of
the nth July, I direfted his Lordfhip to
examine and fortify Old Point Comfort,
which the Admiral and I thought would
cover that Road, and in which there had been
a fort for that purpofe for fifty years, though
probably then in ruins. But his Lordfhip in
forming me in his letter of the 27th of July,
that it was the opinion of the captains of the
navy, the engineers, and himfelf, that any
works erefted on Old Point Comfort, " might
"be eafily deftroyed by a fleet, and would
"not anfwer the purpofe; and that there-
"fore, according to the fpirit of my orders,

"he

( 23 )
"he fhould feize York and Gloucefter, as
"the only harbour in which he could hope
"to be able to give effeftual proteftion to
" line of battle fhips ;" I fuppofed his Lord
fhip had entirely approved of thofe pofts;
and that after examining them with the
officers of the King's fhips and his engineer,
he would let me know if he fhould fee
reafon to alter his opinion; and confequently
I did not objeft to the choice he had made;
nor indeed had I ever caufe to do fo before
I faw his letter of the nth of Oftober,
which I did not receive until the 16th, the
day before he offered to capitulate, when for
the firft time I found his Lordfhip thought
unfavourably of them. For on the 16th of
Auguft, his Lordfhip told me that he fhould
apply to the Commodore for a fhip to send
me a ftate of things at York, and bring him
back my commands; by which I was of
courfe to underftand that his Lordfhip would
fend me his own and the Commodore's opi
nion

( 24 )
nion of York and Gloucefter, after his en
gineer had made a moft exaft furvey, which
he told me he was employed in, and of
which I expefted a copy, as his Lordfhip
had before fent me of the one taken of Old
Point Comfort. But not receiving thefe
from his Lordfhip, I naturally concluded that
the poft of York and Gloucefter was fuch as
his Lordfhip and the Commodore approved ;
efpecially, as his Lordfhip, in his letter of the
2 2d of Auguft, was pleafed to fay, "the
"engineer has finifhed his furvey and exa-
"mination of this place, (York) and has
"propofed his plan for fortifying it; which
"appearing judicious, I have approved, and
" direfted to be executed." And in the same
letter it was farther implied, that through
the exertion of the troops, the works would
be tolerably complete in about fix weeks
from that period: and from his faying also
in the same letter, "I will not venture to
"take

( 25 )
"take any ftep that might retard the efta-
" blifhing this poft. But I requeft that your
"Excellency will pleafe to decide whether
"it is moft important for your plans, that a
"detachment of a thoufand or twelve hun-
"dred men (which I think I can fpare from
"every other purpofe but that of labour)
" fhould be fent to you from hence, or that
" the whole of the troops here fhould con
tinue to be employed in expediting the
"works,") I naturally concluded that his
Lordfhip had not only fufficient to complete
his works by the time he mentioned, but that
he could fpare that number from the defence
of them afterwards. His Lordfhip's letter of
the 29th of September moreover told me, " I
"have no doubt, if relief arrives in any reafon-
"able time, that both York and Gloucefter
"will be in poffeflion of his Majesty's troops ;"
and again, that of the 3d of Oftober, "My
"works are in a better ftate of defence than

D

( 26 )
"we had reafon to hope." In fhort, I think
his Lordfhip appears to have implied in all
his letters, (except that of the 17th of Sep
tember, the day he heard from Lieutenant
Conway of the navy, that Monf. De Graffe,
by the junftion of Monfieur de Barras, had
thirty-five or thirty-fix fail of the line) that
he could hold out as long as his provifions
lafted — which was, by his Lordfhip's own
calculation, to the end of Oftober at leaft.
From all thefe circumftances, I had flat
tered myfelf, that the works at York would
have been tolerably complete by the 9th of
Oftober, the day Mr. Wafhington opened
his batteries againft them : and from the opi
nion given me by certain officers of rank,
who had lately come from Lord Cornwallis
at York, I was under no apprehenfions for
his Lordfhip before the latter end of that
month; as I could not conceive that the
enemy could poflibly bring againft him fuch
a powerful

( 27 )
a powerful battering train as would demolifh
his defences (fuch as I had reafon to hope
they would be) in fo fhort a fpace of time as
nine or ten days.
Although I never gave Lord Cornwallis
affurances of the exertions of the navy before
my letter of the 24th of September, when I
did it in confequence of a council of war,
compofed of flag and general officers; I cer
tainly never gave his Lordfhip the leaft reafon
to fuppofe they would not be made; as I
always took it for granted, before Admiral
Graves's letter to me of the 9th of September,
that our fleet was fuperior to that of the enemy.
Nor, indeed, did I know before I received
Lord Cornwallis's letter of the 17th, (which
was not until the 23d of September) that the
enemy had thirty-fix fail of the line, or that
Monfieur de Barras had not already joined
Monfieur de Graffe before the aftion of the
5th of September. But even againft this
fuperiority, great as it was, the Admirals were

( 28 )
were clearly of opinion, that a joint attempt
fhould be made by us to fuccour the fleet
and army in the Chefapeak. I certainly,
therefore, never could have hinted to his
Lordfhip that their exertions would not be
made. The whole of this matter may, I
think, be fummed up as follows :
Lord Cornwallis's march into Virginia,
without confulting his Commander in Chief,
forced us into folid operation in that province.
Being there, as his Lordfhip could not fub-
fift his army without having a place of arms
to cover his magazines, &c. &c. &c. it became
abfolutely neceffary to fix on fome healthy
and refpeftable ftation, that could be made
fecure againft a temporary fuperiority of the
enemy at fea ; and York and Gloucefter feem
to have been originally thought of by Lord
Cornwallis, and approved by me for that pur
pofe. But by his Lordfhip's mifconceiving
my orders, he quitted the Neck of York, and
confequently relinquifhed every idea of occu
pying

( 20 )
pying thofe pofts. Soon afterwards, the
Admiral thinking a naval ftation for large
fhips abfolutely neceffary, and recommend
ing Hampton Road, I direfted Lord Corn
wallis to examine and fortify Old Point
Comfort in James River; but his Lordfhip
not approving of that ftation, made choice of
York and Gloucefter.
I perfeftly agree with Lord Cornwallis,
that to abandon his pofts, after he had once
fixed himfelf, (although by doing fo he
might fave part of his army) would have
been difgraceful, nay, perhaps fatal to our
future profpefts of eftablifhment in the Che
fapeak, when fuch a meafure fhould be au-
thorifed by a covering fleet. But even that
misfortune, great as it may be reprefented,
would have been preferable to the one which
happened ; and therefore I told his Lordfhip,
in a converfation I had with him before I
fent his letter of the 20th of Oftober to be
printed at New York, I had conceived hopes, that

( 3° )
that between the time of the French fleet's
arriving in the Chefapeak, and his receiv
ing information from me that Sir Samuel
Hood had joined Mr. Graves, which was not
until the 1 3th of September, or between that
time and the junftion of Mr. Wafhington
with the Marquis De la Fayette, when his
Lordfhip heard from Lieutenant Conway of
the navy, that the enemy were thirty-fix fail
of the line, he would have tried to efcape
with part of his army to the fouthward; a
ftep which certainly would have been jufti-
fiable, although in the converfation alluded
to, his Lordfhip did not feem to think it
would, unlefs I had given him affurances
that the navy could not attempt to fuccour
him; which affurances, however, I certainly
could not poflibly have given him.
If, therefore, Lord Cornwallis's letter of
the 20th of Oftober, giving an account of
the unfortunate conclufion of the campaign,
by the furrender of York Town, (Appendix, No.

( 3i )
No. VIII.) could ever have been underftood
to imply that the pofts of York and Glou
cefter were not his Lordfhip's own choice,
in preference to Old Point Comfort, which
I had recommended to him ; or that I had
ever received information from his Lordfhip,
that the ground at either was unfavourable,
till the day before he had offered to capitu
late ; or that I had ever given him any affu
rances of the exertions of the navy, before
my letter to him of the 24th of September,
which he acknowledges he did not receive
till the 29th ; or that any affurances whatfo
ever given by me could have prevented his
attacking the Marquis De la Fayette, before
Mr. Wafhington joined that General, which
was on the 27th of September; I am per-
fuaded it will appear that thofe implications
are not founded on any orders I gave his
Lordfhip, and cannot be fupported by any
part of our correfpondence. And as I took
an opportunity of telling his Lordfhip the
fame.

( 32 )
fame, in a letter I fent him before he failed
from New- York, dated the 2d and 10th of
December (which letter, however, did not
appear when this part of our correfpondence
was produced before the Houfe of Lords) I
cannot doubt his Lordfhip is convinced that
what I therein afferted is right.
Lord Cornwallis was pleafed to tell me
that his letter of the 20th of Oftober, was
written under great agitation of mind and in
a great hurry. No man could poflibly feel
for his Lordfhip, and his dreadful fituation,
more than I did. And I will venture to fay,
no man could be more anxious, or would
have gone greater lengths to fuccour him.
Nor will this, I truft, be doubted, when it is
recollefted that the propofal firft came from
me for embarking fix thoufand men for that
purpofe on board an inferior fleet of twenty-
feven fail of the line, including two fifties, to
thirty-fix; and thereby putting the fate of
the American war on the joint exertions of
the

( 33 )
the fleet and army, to relieve that noble Lord
and his gallant corps.
I have to lament that thefe exertions could
not have been made in time. All the Admi
rals feemed of opinion at the council of war
of the 24th September that there was every
reafon to hope that the fleet would be ready
to fail on the 5th of Oftober. The troops
intended for the expedition had been for
fome time in readinefs to embark, and did
aftually do fo early in Oftober. It feemed
alfo to be the general opinion of the Admi
rals, that the enemy, although fuperior in
number, could not obftruft the channel to
York-river, fo as to prevent the paffage
of our fleet, much lefs both paffages of
the Chefapeak. Could the troops, which
embarked under my immediate command,
have been put on fhore on the Gloucefter
fide, a junftion with the part of Lord Corn-
wallis's corps on that fide was easy: but if
they

( 34 )
they had been put on fhore, even in James
River, although a junftion with his Lord
fhip in York would have been fcarcely practi
cable, it might have been made in fome other
part; or at leaft fuch diverfions might have
been made by the troops under my command
as might have faved part of his Lordfhip's
corps, (Appendix, No. XI.)
I muft, therefore, repeat that I lament,
and ever fhall, that thofe exertions could
not have been made in time. Becaufe, from
the profeflional merit of the Admirals who
were to conduft us, and from the zeal
which appeared fo confpicuous when I pro
pofed the move to them ; and which, from
their example was communicated to all
ranks in the fleet ; and with which, it is to
be prefumed, thofe of the army kept fully
equal pace; I have every reafon to think we
fhould have had moft complete fuccefs.
But at the fame time, that truth com pels

( 35 )
pels me to impute our misfortunes ulti
mately to the want of a covering fleet in
the Chefapeak, I think it right to declare
that, as a land officer, I do not feel myfelf
a competent judge of the propriety and
practicability of naval operations. Nor can
I, as a fervant of the State, entrufted with
an important, but partial command, pre-
fume to enter into the counfel of Minifters ;
who, from a more elevated ftation, furvey
and balance the whole fyftem of the cam
paign, and the general fafety and welfare of
the empire.* Upon
* "I am, however, aware of the difficulties Adminis
tration muft neceffarily be expofed to, from the variety of
important matters which demand its attention. And far
be it from me, my Lord, to impute the delays I have ex
perienced to any of the King's Ministers; but I cannot
avoid lamenting that they do happen, and I tremble for
the fatal confequences which may poffibly fome time or
other enfue." — Sir Henry Clinton's letter to Lord George
Germain, dated April 30, 1781.

( 36 )
Upon the whole, I am perfuaded, that had
I been left to my own plans, and a proper
confidence had been earlier repofed in me,
the campaign of 178 1 would not probably
have ended unfortunately. But though that
apparent want of confidence was at laft re
moved,* and the fulleft approbation I could with
* "The uneafinefs you exprefs on a certain occafion,
muft have ceafed long before this reaches you, and, I
truft, in full time to prevent your refigning the command
to Earl Cornwallis. The meffage I fent you by Lieu
tenant-colonel Bruce was taken in writing to avoid any
miftakes: for, as I was confcious of your having every
reafon to be fatisfied with the protection fhewn to you by
the King, and with the conftant defire of his Minifters to
give you all poffible fupport, I could not help regretting
that there fhould have been the leaft appearance, of that
want of confidence between us, which might prejudice
the public fervice. Your explanation upon that fubjeft
is perfectly fatisfaftory ; and you may depend upon find
ing every attention on my part to thofe requifitions which
you may have occafion to make. The variety of fervices
now carrying on in different parts of the world muft
account

( 37 )
with given to the operations I had projefted,
my knowledge of the change happened too
late to extricate me from the confequences
of Lord Cornwallis's ill-fated march into
Virginia, and the orders they had probably
occafioned. Forefeeing many of the evils
which would refult from this fatal move
the inftant I heard of it, I immediately at
the time communicated my apprehenfions to
the American Minifter. And as my letter
to him of the 18th of July, 178 1, fpeaks
very fully on this and other matters, of which
I fear the public has been hitherto equally
mifinformeii, I fhall take the liberty to con
clude this Narrative with the following ex-
traft from it : "I can
account for the difappointments you fometimes fuffer.
But you may reft affured, that every department of
Government is anxious to furnifh you with the moft
effectual means of carrying on the war with honour to
yourfelf, and with advantage to the State." — Extracx from
Lord George Germain's Letter to Sir Henry Clinton,
dated July 7th, 1781.

( 38 )
"I can fay little more to your Lord
fhip's fanguine hopes of the fpeedy reduc
tion of the fouthern provinces, than to la
ment that the prefent ftate of the war there
does not altogether promife fo flattering an
event. Many untoward incidents, of which
your Lordfhip was not apprifed, have thrown
us too far back to be able to recover very
foon, even what we have lately loft there.
For if (as I have often before fuggefted) the
good-will of the inhabitants is abfolutely
requifite to retain a country, after we have
conquered it ; I fear it will be fometime be
fore we can recover the confidence of thofe
in Carolina, as their paft fufferings will of
courfe make them cautious of publicly for
warding the King's interefts before there is
the ftrongeft certainty of his army being in
a condition to fupport them. I fhall, there
fore, moft cordially join with your Lord
fhip, in condemning the bad policy of taking
poffeffion of places at one time, and abandon ing

( 39 )
ing them at another; and in the opinion
that the war fhould be condufted upon a
permanent and fettled plan of conqueft, by
fecuring and preferving what has been re
covered. But if thefe maxims have been,
on any occafion, deviated from in the paft
progrefs of the war; I muft, in juftice to
myfelf declare, that it has never been war
ranted by my orders, except, only in the
cafe of Rhode-Ifland. This I doubt not
,will appear from the inftruftions I gave to
General Leflie, and the other general offi
cers, whom I fent on expeditions to the
Chefapeak. For if Lord Cornwallis made
a defultory move into North Carolina, , and
without a force fufficient to proteft, or pro
vifions to fupport them, invited by procla
mation, the Loyalifts to join him, and after
wards found it neceffary to quit the friendly
diftrifts of that province, before he could
have time to give them a fair trial, I am
perfuaded your Lordfhip will acknowledge he

( 4° )
he did not aft under my inftruftions : —
nor were his Lordfhip's retreat to Wilming
ton, and fubfequent move from thence to
Virginia, in confequence of my orders: on
the contrary, as I forefaw all the unhappy
confequences of them, I fhould certainly
have endeavoured to have ftopt him, could
I have known his intentions in proper time.
But though his Lordfhip's movements,
(which it muft be confeffed have been as
rapid as your Lordfhip expefted) have not to
my fincere concern been fuccefsfully decifive ;
I am convinced he is, as I hope we all are,
impreffed with the abfolute neceflity of vigor
ous exertions in the fervice of his country at
the prefent crifis. If mine, however, have
not been equal to my inclinations, I have
little doubt they will be found to be at leaft
equal to my powers.
" I fhall now, my Lord, beg leave to con
clude with the ftrongeft affurances, that no
man can be more fervently defirous than I
am

( 4i )
am to fee an honourable end put to this
moft burthenfome war. And if I remain in
the command, that no endeavours of mine
fhall be wanting to execute, in the fulleft
manner, the King's pleafure and commands.
Of the 10,000 men I folicited, only 4000
were even promifed; and no portion of
thefe, except a few recruits, has yet joined
this part of the army. Your Lordfhip's
laft letters, however, give me hopes, that
three Britifh battalions and two thoufand
fix hundred German troops may be immedi
ately expefted. If all thefe arrive, I fhall
then be able, at a proper feafon to reinforce
the Chefapeak corps very confiderably ; and
if a reinforcement does not likewife come
to the French armament already here, fuch
operations may be carried on as may perhaps
produce fome advantages in the courfe of
the Winter. But if our reinforcement does
not arrive, and the French fhould receive theirs,

( 42 )
theirs, I think we fhall have every thing to
apprehend. Before I clofe, however, I beg leave to fay
a word or two in explanation of two obfer-
vations, in the Commiflioners of Accounts
Seventh Report; in order to obviate any im
plied cenfure, they may be fuppofed to point
againft me as Commander in Chief of the
army in North America.
The Commiflioners are pleafed to fay,
"It appears that the number of the forces
"decreafed every year, from 1778, but the
"iffue for the extraordinary fervices of that
"army greatly encreafed, during the fame
"period." And again, " In the account of the iffues
"to the officers in the four departments,
"we find that the warrants iffued to the
"Quarter-mafter's-general, fince the 16th
"July 1780, and to the Barrack-mafter's-
" general fince the 29th June 1780, and to
"the Commiffaries-general, fince the 25th "of

( 43 )
"of May 1778, have been all temporary, for
"fums on account; and that no final warrant
" has been granted fince thofe feveral periods.
"So that thefe fums have been iffued, with-
"out even the ceremony of a quarterly
"abftraft, and the confidential reliance on
"the officer, that his vouchers are forth
"coming." I arrived in London many days before the
Commiflioners of Accounts delivered in their
Seventh Report to the House of Commons.
Had thofe Gentlemen called upon me, as
they did on Sir William Howe, and Lord
Cornwallis; had they examined certain offi
cers of the different departments, who arrived
in England at the time I did, and who an
nounced themfelves to them ; and had they
read all the Reports of the different Boards
of General Officers and Magiftrates, that
had been appointed by me at New York, to
enquire into the expenditure of public mo
ney, (all which reports had been fent to the
Lords

( 44 )
Lords Commiflioners of the Treafury many
months before) I am perfuaded that their
Report would not have appeared on the
table of the Houfe of Commons in the fhape
it has done. For when they were informed
(as they would have been by the means juft
ftated) that all the rum purchafed for the
fupply of the army during the whole period
of my command, was paid for in America
by my warrants, whereas before then it ufed
to be paid for in England ; that confiderable
fums of money were paid on my warrants
for expences incurred during the command
of my predeceffor, which could not be brought
to account fooner; that provifions to a very
confiderable amount were purchafed in Ame
rica, and paid for in America on my war
rants, for the fupply of the army, which
might otherwife have been expofed to the
greateft diftrefs ; all which together amount
ed to nearly 1,500,0001. and that the in-
creafe of pofts, during my command, at
Savannah,

( 45 )
Savannah, Charles Town, Cape Fear, Portf-
mouth, Penobfcot, &c. requiring each their
refpeftive eftablifhments, added of courfe to
the extraordinaries of my army; and that,
befides thefe, and many others which I
could enumerate, the peculiar circumftances
of my command expofed me to many ex
pences unknown to my predeceffor; it is
prefumed, thofe Gentlemen would have ad
mitted, that the increafe of the iffues for
the extraordinary fervices of the army un
der my command, was accounted for.
This matter, however, went, by my de-
fire, through a very full and formal invefti-
gation, in Auguft 1781, before a Board of
general officers and magiftrates (of which
Lieutenant-general Robertfon was Prefident)
under the title of a Comparative View of
Expences incurred, from the 31ft December,
1775, to the 1 6th of May, 1778 (the time
of Sir William Howe's command) and of
what was paid by me, between the 26th of
May

( 46 )
May 1778, and the 31ft of December 1780.
Which produced the following report from
that Board.
"The great national expence in the
"firft period of Sir William Howe's com-
"mand, arofe from the whole navy, and
"a very numerous fleet of tranfports, be-
"ing employed in attending the move-
"ments of the army; no part of which
"appears in Sir William Howe's war-
" rants. "The expence of the Quarter-mafter-
" general, Barrack-mafter-general, and En
gineer departments, were neceffarily fmall,
"while the troops were on board fhips, or
"had thus fupplies from tranfports.
"During part of the firft period, the
"great article of expence, rum, was pro
vided for by a contraft made in Eng-
"land, and paid for there. Whereas, du-
"ring the fecond period, the rum was pur
chafed

( 47 )
"chafed by the Commiffary-general, and
"paid for by the Commander in Chief's
"warrants. A very large quantity of pro-
"vifions purchafed alfo, during the latter
"period, fwells the amount of the war
rants. "But what deftroys a poflibility of draw-
"ing any juft conclufion from a comparifon
"of the amount of the warrants in thefe
" two periods, arifes from this ; that a great
"part of the expence incurred by Sir Wil-
"liam Howe, was paid by warrants granted
"by Sir Henry Clinton."
This report having been regularly tranf
mitted to the Treafury, I muft fuppofe it
was laid before the Commiflioners of Ac
counts. Had it been read by thofe Gentle
men, it is prefumable it would have, at leaft,
accompanied theirs.
With regard to the fecond obfervation
alluded to, refpefting my not granting final
warrants to certain departments from certain
periods ;

( 48 )
periods ; if the commiffioners had read all the
above papers, I think it would have occurred
to them; that as a Commiffary of Accounts
had been commiflioned, and was aftually
employed in auditing the accounts of the
different departments, I could not, with
propriety, grant final warrants to any of the
departments upon their quarterly abftrafts
(as had been before praftifed) untill their
accounts had been firft audited and certified
by, the Commiffary.
As to the mode of fupply which I found
eftablifhed, when I fucceeded to the com
mand of the army in North America, and
which I underftood had been approved by
Government, I certainly could not, in pru
dence, have made any alterations or reduc
tion in it, as long as I had offenfive opera
tion in view. The inftant, however, that
I received orders to place the army upon a
ftrift defenfive, I propofed fuch a reduftion
as could take place. And when I obtained his

( 49 )
his Majefty's permiffion to refign the com
mand, I recommended it to General Ro-
bertfon, who was appointed to fucceed
me. (Signed) "H. CLINTON."

APPENDIX.

5- )

APPENDIX.

NUMBER I.

Extract of a Letter from Lord George Ger
main to Sir Henry Clinton, dated May
2, 1781.
' Conceiving therefore fo highly as
I do of the importance of the Southern pro
vinces, and of the vaft advantages which muft
attend the profecution of the war upon the
prefent plan of extending our conquefts from '
fouth to north; it was a great mortification
to me to find, by your inftruftion to Major-
General Phillips, that it appeared to be your
intention that only a part of the troops he
carried with him fhould remain in the Chefa peak;

52 APPENDIX.
peak ; and that he and General Arnold
fhould return to New York, leaving only a
fufficient force to ferve for garrifons in the
pofts they might eftablifh in Virginia. Your
ideas, therefore, of the importance of reco
vering that province appearing to be fo dif
ferent from mine, I thought it proper to afk
the advice of his Majefty's other fervants
upon the fubjeft; and their opinions concur
ring entirely with mine, it has been fubmit
ted to the King; and I am commanded by
his Majefty to acquaint you that the reco
very of the Southern Provinces and the pro
fecution of the war, by pufhing our conquefts
from fouth to north, is to be confidered as
the chief and principal objeft for the em
ployment of all the forces under your com
mand, which can be fpared from the defence
of the places in his Majefty's poffeflion, until
it is accomplifhed.
"The three regiments from Ireland, and
the Britifh recruits that went with them, are,
I truft,

APPENDIX. 53
I truft, well on their way by this time to
Charles Town; and as Sir George Rodney
will bring you three more regiments from
the Leeward Iflands before the hurricane
months, the augmentation of your force
muft, I fhould think, be equal to the utmoft
of your wifhes. NUMBER II.
Extract of a Letter from Lord George Ger
main to Sir Henry Clinton, dated fune 6,
1781.
" I SHALL therefore only obferve in ad
dition to all I have hitherto written upon the
the fubjeft, that I am well pleafed to find
Lord Cornwallis's opinion entirely coincides
with mine of the great importance of pufhing
the war on the fide of Virginia with all the
force that can be fpared until that province
is reduced." NUMBER

54 APPENDIX. NUMBER III.
Copy of a Letter from Rear Admiral Sir
S. Hood to Sir H. Clinton, dated off Cape
Henry, Auguft 25, 1781.
"S I R,
" HEREWITH you will receive a dupli
cate of the letter I had the honour to write
you by Lieut. Delanoe of the Aftive brig, in
cafe any misfortune fhould have befallen her
in returning to New York. I am now
fleering for Cape Henry, in order to examine
the Chefapeak. From thence I fhall proceed
to the Capes of the Delaware ; and not feeing,
or hearing any thing of De Graffe, or any
detachment of fhips he might have fent upon
this coaft, fhall then make the beft of my
way off Sandy Hook. This I have commu
nicated to Rear Admiral Graves, in order
that he may determine my anchoring or not,
as the King's fervice may require. "I have

APPENDIX. 55
"I have the honour to fend you my line
of battle, by which you will fee the number
and force of his Majefty's fquadron under my
command; and, I truft, you will think it
equal, fully to defeat any defigns of the ene
my, let De Graffe bring or fend what fhips
he may, in aid to thofe under De Barras.
"I have the honour to be, &c.
(Signed) "SAM. HOOD."
NUMBER IV.
Copy of a Letter from General Wajhington to
Count De Graffe, dated Williamjburg, Sep
tember 26, 1 78 1.
"I AM unable to defcribe to your Excel
lency the painful anxiety under which I have
laboured fince the reception of the letter you
did me the honour to write me of the 23d
inftant. The motions of the naval force under
your command, which your Excellency fays
may poflibly happen, fince the information
communicated

56 APPENDIX.
communicated to you by the Baron de
Clozen, obliges me to point out the confe
quences that may follow; and warmly to
urge a perfeverance in the plan agreed upon
between us. Permit me, in the firft place, to
repeat to your Excellency, that the attempt
upon York, under the proteftion of your
flapping, is as certain of fuccefs as a fuperior
force and a fuperiority of meafures can render
any military operation; that the duration of
the fiege may be exaftly afcertained ; and that
the capture of the Britifh army is a matter fo
important in itself, and in its confequences,
that it muft greatly tend to bring an end to the
war, and put our allied arms in certain poffef
fion of the moft ineftimable advantages.
" If your Excellency quits the Bay, an ac-
cefs is open to relieve York, of which the
enemy will inftantly avail themselves. The
confequences of this will be not only the dif-
grace of abandoning a defign on which are
founded the faireft hopes of the allied forces, after

APPENDIX. 57
after a prodigious expence, fatigue, and exer
tions; but. the probable difbanding of the
whole army; for the prefent feat of war be
ing fuch, as abfolutely precludes the ufe of
waggons, from the great number of large
rivers which interfeft the country, there will
be a total want of provifions, unlefs this in
convenience is remedied by water carriage.
This province has been fo exhaufted by the
ravages of the enemy, and by the support
already given to our forces, that fubfiftence
muft be drawn from a diftance, and that can
be done only by a fleet fuperior in the Bay.
"I earneftly beg your Excellency would
confider, that if, by moving your fleet from
th'e fituation agreed on, we lofe the prefent
opportunity, we fhall never hereafter have it
in our power to ftrike fo decifive a ftroke,
that the Britifh will labour without intermif-
fion to fortify a place fo ufeful to their flap
ping ; and that then the period of aahonoura-
ble peace will be farther diftant than ever.
h "The

58 APPENDIX.
" The confidence I have in your Excellen
cy's manly fpirit and naval talents leaves me
no doubt that the confideration of the confe
quences that muft follow your departure from
the Bay will determine you to ufe all poffible
means for the good of the common caufe.
From the affurances of the moft expert failors,
I am perfuaded that your Excellency may
take fuch a pofition in the Bay as to leave no
thing to be apprehended from an attempt of
the Englifh fleet ; that this pofition will at the
fame time facilitate the operations of the fiege,
fecure the tranfportation of our provifions by
water, and accellerate our approaches by land
ing our heavy artillery and warlike neceffaries
in York River almoft clofe to our trenches.
" The force faid to have arrived under Ad
miral Digby, as the news comes from the Bri
tifh themselves, may not only be exaggera
ted, but perhaps abfolutely falfe; but fuppo-
fing it to be true, their whole force united
cannot be fuch as to give them any hopes of
fuccefs

APPENDIX. 59
fuccefs in the attacking your fleet. If the
pofition for your fhips to lie at an anchor,
which we agreed upon, has fince appeared
impracticable, there is ftill another meafure
may be adopted; which, though much in
ferior as to the fecurity and facility it will
give to our land operations, may ftill be of
advantage to our affairs. The meafure, I
mean, is to cruife off the Bay, fo as to keep
the Capes always in fight, and to prevent any
Englifh veffels getting in.
"Whatever plan you may adopt, I am to
prefs your Excellency to perfevere in the
fcheme fo happily concerted between us ; but
if you fhould find infurmountable obftacles
in the way, let me ultimately beg of you not
to relinquifh the laft mentioned alternative
of preventing all veffels from the enemy
entering the Bay of Chesapeak.
"The Britifh Admiral may manoeuvre
his fleet, and endeavour to draw you from
the main objeft we have in view; but I can
never

60 APPENDIX.
never believe, that he will ferioufly wifh to
bring on a general aftion with a fleet, whofe
force, I will anfwer for it, is fuperior to the
moft exaggerated accounts we have of theirs.
Paffed experience has taught them not to
hazard themfelves with equal numbers ; and
has drawn from them, though unwillingly,
the moft refpeftful opinions of their enemy.
"Permit me to add that the abfence of
your fleet from the Bay may fruftrate our de
fign upon the garrifon at York. For in the
prefent fituation of matters, Lord Cornwallis
might evacuate the place with the loss of his
artillery, baggage, and a few men, facrifices;
which would be highly juftifiable from the
defire of faving the body of the army.
"The Marquis de la Fayette, who does
me the honour to carry this letter to your
Excellency, will explain to you better than
any other perfon, or than I can do by letter,
many particulars of our prefent pofition. Your
Excellency is acquainted with his candour and
talents,

APPENDIX. 61
talents, which entitles him to your confidence
I have ordered him not to pafs the Cape for
fear of accident, in cafe you fhould be at fea.
If this be fo, he will inclofe this difpatch in
a letter from himself,
"I have the honour, &c.
"G. WASHINGTON."

NUMBER V.
Extract from Lord George Germain's Let
ter to Sir Henry Clinton, dated October 12,
1781.
" IT is a great fatisfaftion to me to find
your ideas of the importance of fecuring a
naval ftation in the Chefapeak capable of
giving protection to the King's fhips, ap
pointed to intercept the navigation of that
Bay, fo entirely coincided with my own ; and
that the plan you had concerted for con
ducting the military operations in that quarter
correfponds

62 APPENDIX.
correfponds with what I had fuggefted in my
former letters to you on that fubjeft. I truft,
therefore that Lord Cornwallis will retain the
whole of the troops you fo very properly
fpared for the fervice in the Chefapeak : or
if he has fent you any part, that you will re
turn them to him. And as foon as the heats
are abated, tranfport a ftrong detachment to
Baltimore, &c.
" The provifion you made for the fouthern
fervice was certainly moft ample. And I have
always confidered and fpoke of it as a circum-
ftance highly to your honour; and as an evi
dence of your being aftuated by the pureft
zeal for the public fervice. And though I
lament exceedingly that from a concurrence
of untoward events, the fuccefs was not equal
to the fanguine expectations I had enter
tained, I never imputed any part of the difap-
pointment to a deficiency in your fupplies." NUM-

APPENDIX. 63
NUMBER VI.
Extratt from Sir Henry Clinton's Letter to
Rear- Admiral Graves, dated Augufl 16,
1 781.
" I CANNOT fay I credit the reports of
the French being upon the coaft. Should
they prove falfe, and there was little probabi
lity of their coming for a week or ten days,
I think thofe could not be better employed
than in a vifit to Rhode-Ifland. The recruits
I have lately received enable me to make this
offer, whenever you think it prudent to at
tempt it. If you determine, I requeft that
Captain Duncan may direft the water-move
ments of the army."
Extract from Sir Henry Clinton's Letter to
Rear- Admiral Graves, dated Augufl 18,
' 1781.
"WHENEVER, Sir, you think the fleet
under your command is in number and ftate
equal

64 APPENDIX.
equal to the undertaking, and you will give
me twenty-four hours notice, every thing
fhall be immediately embarked; and I fhall
with pleafure accompany you myself on it."
NUMBER VII.
Extracts from Rear- Admiral Graves's Letters
to Sir H. Clinton, dated 1 8 and 2 1 Augufl,
1781.
"IN anfwer to your propofition, I can
only affure you by letter, what I had the ho
nour to declare in perfon, that I am ready to
concur with your Excellency in any enter
prize where you found a probability of fuc-
cefs; and that I would rifk the fquadron
whenever you thought it advifeable to rifk
the army.
"The Robufte is fo leaky, I am forced to
fend her to the yard for reparation; and I
fufpeft that her guns and heavy furniture
muft be taken out to enable the fhipwrights to

APPENDIX. 65
to examine as much of her bottom as poffible.
Whilft that is doing, the Prudent will change
one of her mafts, if not two. By this ftate
you will fee our naval capacity. 21 Auguft,
1 78 1. How foon the Robufte will be ready
is yet impoffible to form a judgement upon,
as we cannot yet learn the extent of her de-
fefts. The Prudent will, I am confident, be
ready in much lefs time; and fo will all the
other fhips, I have not a doubt.
"Your Excellency may reft affured that
timely notice fhall be given, and as early as
poffible to determine upon the day the fqua-
dron will be fit to aft; for I would not wifh
that a fingle day fhould be loft."
NUMBER VIII.
Extract from Lord Cornwallis' s Letter to Sir
H. Clinton. Tork Town, Virginia, 20 Oc
tober, 1 78 1.
" I HAVE the mortification to inform
your Excellency, that I have been forced to
1 give

66 APPENDIX.
give up the pofts of York and Gloucefter,
and to furrender the troops under my com
mand, by capitulation, on the 19th inftant,
as prifoners of war to the combined forces
of America and France.
" I never faw this poft in a favourable
light. But, when I found I was to be at
tacked in it, in fo unprepared a ftate, by fo
powerful an army and artillery, nothing but
the hopes of relief would have induced me to
attempt its defence. For I would either
have endeavoured to efcape to New York, by
rapid marches from the Gloucefter fide, im
mediately on the arrival of General Wafhing
ton's troops at Williamfburg ; or I would,
notwithftanding the difparity of numbers,
have attacked them in the open field, where
it might have been just poffible that Fortune
would have favoured the gallantry of the hand
ful of troops under my command. But, being
affured by your Excellency's letters that every
poffible means would be tried, by the navy and

APPENDIX. 67
and army, to relieve us, I could not think
myfelf at liberty to venture on either of thofe
defperate attempts. Therefore, after remain
ing two days in a ftrong pofition, in front
of this place, in hopes of being attacked,
upon obferving that the enemy were taking
meafures which could not fail of turning my
left flank in a fhort time; and receiving, the
fecond evening, your letter of the 24th Sep
tember, informing me that the relief would
fail about the 5th of Oftober, I withdrew
within the works on the night of the 29th of
September, hoping, by the labour and firm-
nefs of the troops, to protract the defence un
til you could arrive. Every thing was to be
expefted from the firmnefs of the troops.
But every difadvantage attended their labour ;
as the works were to be continued under the
enemy's fire; and our ftock of intrenching-
tools, which did not much exceed four hun
dred when we began to work in the latter
end of Auguft, was now much diminifhed. "A

68 APPENDIX.
"A fuccefsful defence, however, in our
fituation, was perhaps impoflible; for the
place could only be reckoned an intrenched
camp, fubjeft in moft places to enfilade; and
the ground in general fo difadvantageous,
that nothing but the neceflity of fortifying it
as a poft to proteft the navy could have in
duced any perfon to ereft works upon it."

Copy of a Letter from Sir Henry Clinton to
Earl Cornwallis, dated 30 November, 1781.
[This letter was not produced in the House of Lords.]
" My Lord,
"AFTER the converfation I had with
your Lordfhip before I fent your letter to be
publifhed, in which we feemed fo perfectly
to agree, I muft beg your Lordfhip's pardon
for again troubling you on the fubjeft. But,
being informed, perhaps officioufly, that fome
people here fuppofe there are paffages in that
letter

APPENDIX. 69
letter which convey an idea that you had
been compelled by my orders to take the
poft of York, (though it was not your own
preference;) that you had reprefented the
defefts of the ground; and were detained
there contrary to your own judgement; — and
likewife that I had promifed the exertions
of the navy before my letter of the 24th of
September : I am perfuaded your Lordfhip
will readily excufe my requefting a more
formal avowal of your fentiments, left I
fhould have then miftaken them. Becaufe,
if that fhould unfortunately be the case, I
may perhaps be under the neceflity of taking
meafures to obviate your letter being viewed
in the fame light in England.
" I have the honour, &c.
"H. CLINTON."

70 APPENDIX.

NUMBER IX.
Copy of Earl Cornwallis' s Letter to Sir Henry
Clinton, dated New York, id December,
1781.
[This letter was read in the House of Lords.]
"SIR,
"YESTERDAY afternoon I was ho
noured with your Excellency's letter of the
30th of November.
" I do not recollect that any converfation
paffed between us the other day, before the
publication of my letter, relative to my rea-
fons for taking poffeffion of the pofts of York
and Gloucefter. But, in my anfwers to your
difpatches, dated the 8th and nth of July,
direfting me fo positively to poffefs a harbour
in the Chefapeak for line of battle fhips, your
Excellency will fee, that, after finding that
works on Point Comfort could not proteft a
naval

APPENDIX. 71
naval force in Hampton Road, I thought that
I acted in ftrift obedience to your orders by
taking poffeffion of thofe pofts. I thought it
unneceffary to enter into a minute detail of
the difadvantages of the ground, either on my
firft examination of it in the month of June,
or on my return to it in Auguft; becaufe, on
the firft occafion, as I have already had the
honour of explaining to your Excellency, I
did not, after feeing it, entertain for a moment
an idea of occupying it, not thinking myfelf
at liberty, by the inftruftions under which I
then acted, to detain the greater part of the
force in Virginia for the purpofe of fecuring a
harbour for fhips of the line ; and, on my re
turn to it in Auguft, I thought it then became
my duty to make the beft of it I could, having
no other harbour to propofe in its place.
" In regard to the promife of the exertions
of the navy previous to your letter of the 24th
of September, I can only repeat what I had the

72 APPENDIX.
the honour of faying to your Excellency in
the converfation to which you allude; that,
without any particular engagement for the
navy before that date, all your letters held out
uniformly hopes of relief; and that I had no
reafon, from any of them, to fuppofe that you
had loft fight of the poflibility of effecting it.
And that, under thofe hopes, after serious re
flection, I did not think that it would have
been justifiable in me to abandon thofe pofts,
with our numerous fick, artillery, ftores, and
fhipping; or to rifk an aftion, which, in all
probability, would in its confequences have
precipitated the lofs of them.
"My letter from York, dated the 20th of
Oftober, was written under great agitation of
mind and in great hurry, being conftantly in
terrupted by numbers of people coming upon
bufinefs or ceremony. But my intention in
writing that letter was to explain the motives
that influenced my own conduft, and to nar rate

APPENDIX. 73
rate the incidents that preceded the extremity
that forced us to furrender. " I have the honour, &c.
" CORNWALLIS."
NUMBER IX.
Copy of a Letter from Sir Henry Clinton to
Earl Cornwallis, dated New York, 2d and
10th December, 1781.
[This letter was not read in the House of Lords.]
" My Lord,
" AS your Lordfhip is pleafed, in your
letter of this day, to revert to the circumftance
of your quitting Williamfburg Neck and re-
pafling the James River, fo contrary to the
intentions I wifhed to exprefs in my letters of
the 1 ith and 15 th of June, and thofe referred
to by them, and which I thought they would
have clearly explained. Your Lordfhip will, I
hope, forgive me, if I once more repeat that I
K am

74 APPENDIX.
am of opinion, if thofe letters had been proper
ly underftood by your Lordfhip, you would
at leaft have hefitated before you adopted that
meafure. For I humbly prefume it will ap
pear, upon a re-perufal of them, that it was
my defire to recommend to your Lordfhip the
taking a healthy defenfive ftation, either at
Williamfburg or York; and, after keeping
what troops you might want for the ample
defence of fuch a poft, and defultory move
ments by water, to fend me fuch a proportion
of the corps (mentioned in a lift) as you could
fpare, taking them in the fucceflion they are
there placed. Your Lordfhip, on the con
trary, underftood thefe as conveying a pofitive
order to fend me three thoufand men, (by
which you fay your force would have been
reduced to about two thoufand four hundred
rank and file fit for duty; — having, it is
prefumed, above 1500 fick;) and was pleafed
to tell me, in your answer, that you could not,
confiftent with my plans, make fafe defenfive pofts

APPENDIX. 75
pofts at York and Gloucefter, (both of which
would be neceffary for the protection of flap
ping;) and that you fhould immediately re-
pafs James River, and take meafures for com
plying with my requifition.
" I own, my Lord, that my opinion of the
obvious meaning of the letters referred to,
continues ftill the fame ; and I am exceedingly
forry to find, by the letter you have now
honoured me with, that it differs fo widely
from your Lordfhip's. It is plain, however,
we cannot both be in the right.
" My letter of the 1 1 th of July direfts your
Lordfhip to fortify Old Point Comfort, in
the mouth of James River, with the inten
tion of fecuring Hampton Road, which the
Admiral recommended as the beft naval fta
tion, and requefted I would occupy. But your
Lordfhip's letter of the 27th of July informs
me, you had examined Old Point Comfort,
with the officers of the navy^ and the engi
neers, and that you were all of opinion, a poft
there

76 APPENDIX.
there would not anfwer the purpofe; and
that you fhould, therefore, in compliance
with the. fpirit of my orders, feize York and
Gloucefter, being the only harbour in which
you could hope to be able to give effectual
protection to line of battle fhips. Suppofing,
therefore, of courfe, that your Lordfhip ap
proved, in every refpeft, of York and Glou
cefter, from the preference you had thus
given them "to the poft I had recommended,
I did not oppofe the choice you had made ;
having never received the leaft hint from
your Lordfhip that the ground of York was
unfavourable, or liable to be enfiladed till
after you had capitulated.
"With refpeft to your Lordfhip's having
been influenced in your conduft, by the hopes
of relief, (which you fay was uniformly held
out to you in all my letters) your Lordfhip
cannot be infenfible, that the poffibility of
effecting it muft have entirely depended upon
the exertions of the navy ; which, as I was not

APPENDIX. 77
not authorifed to promife before the 24th of
September, I am perfuaded your Lordfhip
will readily acknowledge, that if your letter
of the 20th Oftober implies I had done fo
before that period, the implication cannot
be fupported by any thing I wrote previous
to my letter of that date, which you received
on the 29th.
"As, therefore, my letters of the 2d and
6th of September, which promife only my
own exertions, did not reach your Lordfhip
before the 13th and 14th of that month, and
you did not before then know of Sir Samuel
Hood's arrival, or of Mr. Graves's having
more than feven fail of the line to combat
Monfieur De Graffe's force, which on the
29th of Auguft you had heard confifted of at
leaft twenty-five fail of the line ; your Lord
fhip confequently could have no hopes of re
lief before that time. And with refpeft to
your efcape to New- York, immediately on
the arrival of General Wafhington's troops at
Williamfburg,

78 APPENDIX.
Williamfburg, which your letter of the 20th
of Oftober implies you were prevented from
undertaking, by the receipt of mine of the
24th of September; I muft beg leave to ob
ferve, that if it had been ever practicable
after the time your Lordfhip mentions (which
I am free to own I do not think it was) it
muft have been between that period and the
time of the enemy's force appearing before
your lines. It may, therefore, be prefumed,
you could not have been prevented by any
thing I faid in that letter, as you did not re
ceive it until after the latter event took place.
But I readily admit, my Lord, that none of
my letters could give you the leaft reafon to
fuppofe that an attempt would not be made
to fuccour you.
"Your Lordfhip will, I am perfuaded, alfo
forgive me, if I again take notice of the too
pofitive manner in which you are pleafed to
fpeak of the opinion I gave you about the
failing of the fleet ; as my words were, " there is

APPENDIX. 79
"is every reafon to hope we fhall ftart from
"hence about the 5th of Oftober." And in
my letter of the next day, for fear that fhould
appear too pofitive, I fay, "It is fuppofed
" the neceffary repairs of the fleet will detain
"us here to the 5th of next month; and your
"Lordfhip muft be fenfible that unforefeen
"accidents may lengthen it out a day or two
"longer." With regard to entrenching tools, the want
of which your Lordfhip fo much complains
of, I can only fay, that by the returns made
to me by the Adjutant-general, it appears that
two thoufand five hundred had been fent to the
Chefapeak by the Engineer, fince General
Arnold's expedition, inclufive; and that the
firft moment a requisition was made for more,
(which was not before the 23d of Auguft) I
ordered an additional fupply to be fent, which
were prevented from going, by the arrival of
the French fleet. I own, however, that I was
not at that time very uneafy on this fcore, as
I fup-

80 APPENDIX.
I fuppofed it poffible for your Lordfhip to
have collected a fufficiency from the neigh
bouring plantations any time before the in-
veftiture was begun.
"December 10.  1 had wrote thus tar,
my Lord, immediately after the receipt of your
Lordfhip's letter of the 2d inftant. But con-
fidering that it was poffible you might not
have adverted to the implications, which your
letter of the 20th of October may be thought
to bear, from the great agitation of mind and
hurry in which you tell me it was written, I
was unwilling to give you at that time more
trouble on the fubjeft; — in the honeft hope
that your Lordfhip's candour will induce you
moft formally to difavow your having any
fuch intentions by writing that letter, in cafe
you find, on your arrival in England, that
the paffages of it (which I have taken notice
of) are underftood as I fufpeft they may be.
And I therefore intended to have fent this
letter to a friend to be delivered to you in
London,

APPENDIX. 81
London ; but upon confidering your letter of
the 2d inftant, (which I have had more leifure
to do fince my public difpatches were clofed)
I am of opinion, that it is properer your Lord
fhip fhould receive my anfwer to it here.
" I have the honour, &c.
(Signed) "H. CLINTON."
" P. S. Having forgot to fpeak to the part
of your Lordfhip's letter of the 2d inftant,
where you fay, ' I do not recolleft that any
'converfation paffed between us the other
'day, before the publication of my letter,
'relative to my reafons for taking poffeffion
'of the the pofts of York and Gloucefter,' I
beg leave to do it here.
"It is true, my Lord, no converfation
paffed from your Lordfhip on that fubjeft.
But when, in the converfation alluded to, I
mentioned that I had direfted you to examine
Old Point Comfort, and fortify it, but that,
difapproving of that poft, you had feized
l York,

82 APPENDIX.
York, and that therefore York was your Lord
fhip's preference ; as you were pleafed not to
make me any anfwer, I took it for granted
you agreed with me. "H. CLINTON.
" Lieutenant-general
"Earl Cornwallis." NUMBER IX.
Extract of a Letter from Sir Henry Clinton,
to Lord George Germaine, dated December
3> i781-
"YOUR Lordfhip will have received
in my Difpatch, No. 146, the copies of Lord
Cornwallis's letter to me of the 20th of Oc
tober, his capitulation for the pofts of York
and Gloucefter, and the other papers which
accompanied it. But your Lordfhip will per
ceive, that I declined making any remarks
upon his letter until I faw his Lordfhip;
knowing that my whole correfpondence with
him being in your Lordfhip's poffeffion, every
thing

APPENDIX. 83
thing which wanted explanation could readily
be cleared up. His Lordfhip having arrived
here on the 1 9th ultimo, I have had feveral
converfations with him ; and I have now the
honour to inclofe, for your Lordfhip's infor
mation, the copy of a letter I wrote him on
the fubjeft, with his Lordfhip's anfwer.
"I perceive by Lord Cornwallis's letter of
the 20th of Oftober, that his opinion of the
poft of York is very unfavourable; and he
fince tells me, that he does not think the
enemy will be able to make a ftrong one of
it. Had his Lordfhip, however, not been fo
very decided in his fentiments of the poft, all
the accounts I had ever before received of
the fituation and defenfibility of the ground
would, I confefs, have inclined me to have
thought well of it."

84 APPENDIX.
NUMBER IX.
Copy of a Letter from Sir Henry Clinton, to
Lord George Germain, dated December 6,
1781. "My Lord,
" I have fo often had the honour of deliver
ing the fame fentiments to your Lordfhip,
that I muft beg your pardon for again troubling
you with the repetition, that I have ever been
of opinion that operation fhould not be under
taken in the Chefapeak, without having a
naval fuperiority in thefe feas; and to the
want of it, and perhaps to that alone, are we
to impute our late misfortune in that quarter.
Therefore, when I did myfelf the honour of
fending you a copy of Lord Cornwallis's letter
to me of the 20th of Oftober, I did not think
it neceffary to trouble your Lordfhip with any
remarks upon fome paffages of it, which
might feem to imply, that his Lordfhip had
been

APPENDIX. 85
been forced into a bad poft by my orders,
notwithstanding he had reprefented its de
fefts, and had been induced to remain there
contrary to his judgment by the pofitive affu
rances I had given him of relief; efpecially
as your Lordfhip was poffeffed of our cor
refpondence, which could in the fulleft man
ner invalidate every implication of that fort,
and I wifhed to have an opportunity of
fpeaking to Lord Cornwallis before I faid
any thing on fo delicate a fubjeft.
"Since Lord Cornwallis's arrival here, I
have had a good deal of converfation with his
Lordfhip upon this bufinefs; by which, and
by the anfwer he has fent me to a letter I
wrote him thereon, (copies of which are in
clofed) it appears, that his Lordfhip admits
this was not the cafe. But as Lord Cornwal
lis's difavowal is not fo explicit and direct in
bis letter, as I could wifh, and I think juftice
to my character requires, I beg your Lord
fhip's attention to the following obfervations ;
which

86 . APPENDIX.
which I hope the anxiety I muft naturally
feel on this occafion, will plead my excufe for
troubling you with ; though they may not be
neceffary to vindicate me with your Lord
fhip, who is already fo competent to judge.
"I am perfuaded that it will appear by
my letters to Lord Cornwallis of the nth
and 15th of June, and thofe referred to l>y
them, that I recommended his taking a
healthy, defenfive ftation, either at Williamf
burg, or York; and defired that, after keep
ing what troops he might want for its moft
ample defence and defultory movements by
water, his Lordfhip would fend me fuch a
proportion of the corps (mentioned in a lift)
as he could fpare, taking them in the fuc-
ceflion they are there placed. But his Lord
fhip, on the contrary, understanding that
thefe letters conveyed a pofitive order to fend
me three thoufand men, (by which he fays
his force would have been reduced to about two

APPENDIX. 87
two thoufand four hundred rank and file fit for
duty, having probably at that time a numerous
fick) told me in his anfwer, that he could
not, confiftent with my plans, make fafe
defenfive pofts at York and Gloucefter, (both
which would be neceffary for the proteftion
of flapping) and that he fhould immediately
repafs James River, and take meafures for
complying with my requifition. Finding,
therefore, that his Lordfhip had fo entirely
mifconceived my intentions, I immediately
confulted with Rear Admiral Graves upon
the fubjeft of his letter; and the Admiral
being of opinion that a naval ftation in
Chefapeak for large fhips was abfolutely re
quifite, and that Hampton Road appeared
to be the fitteft for the purpofe, I defired
his Lordfhip, at the Admiral's requeft, to exa
mine Old Point Comfort in the mouth of
James River, and fortify it, upon the fup-
pofition that a work there would fecure that
harbour ;

88 APPENDIX.
harbour; and if his Lordfhip thought a poft
at York neceffary to cover Old Point Com
fort, he was at liberty to take that alfo.
This order was fent to Lord Cornwallis
in my letter of the nth of July, and his
Lordfhip's anfwer to it is dated the 27th;
wherein he informs me, that having exa
mined Old Point Comfort with the Cap
tains of the King's fhips and the engineers,
and being all of opinion a poft there would
not anfwer the purpofe, he Should, in com
pliance with the fpirit of my orders, feize
York and Gloucefter, being the only harbour
in which he could hope to be able to give
effectual proteftion to line of battle fhips.
Copies of thefe letters are inclofed for your
Lordfhip to refer to; and I truft it will ap
pear from them, that the poft at York was
in this inftance entirely his Lordfhip's choice.
But never having received any representation
from his Lordfhip, by which I could have the

APPENDIX. 89
the leaft conception he thought the ground
disadvantageous and liable to enfilade, (as
ftated in his letter of the 20th of Oftober)
and, fuppofing from the preference his Lord
fhip had thus given it to the one I had re
commended, that he fully approved of York
and Gloucefter, I own I did not oppoSe his
laying hold of them, as I could not enter
tain the fmalleft doubt of their being defen-
fible, and fuch a poft as I had told his Lord
fhip I wanted. And, indeed, if his Lord
fhip had not now informed me that it was a
bad one, the eagernefs with which I under
stand the French have fince feized and are
fortifying it, would incline me ftill to think
well of it.
"With refpeft to his Lordfhip having
been influenced in his conduft by the hopes
of relief, (which he is pleafed to fay I uni
formly held out to him in all my letters) his
Lordfhip could not be infenfible that the pof-
m Ability

90 APPENDIX.
Ability of effecting it muft have entirely de
pended upon the exertions of the fleet, which,
as I was not authorized to promife him be
fore the council of war held on the 24th of
September, I am perfuaded that the implica
tion in his Lordfhip's letter that I had done
fo before that period, cannot be fupported (as
indeed his Lordfhip now feems to acknow
ledge) by any thing I wrote to him, previous
to my letter of that date, which he received
on the 29th. As, therefore, my letters of
the 2d and 6th of September, which promife
only my own exertions, did not reach his
Lordfhip before the 13th and 14th of that
month, and he did not before then know of
Sir S. Hood's arrival, or that Admiral Graves
had more than feven fail of the line to com
bat Monfieur de Graffe's force, whofe arrival,
it appears from his Lordfhip's letters, he
knew of on the 29th of Auguft, and SuppoSed
it to be twenty-five Sail of the line, his Lord fhip

APPENDIX. 9i
fhip confequently did not receive from me -
any hopes of relief before that time.
"With regard to his Lordfhip's efcape
to New York, immediately on the arrival
of General Wafhington's troops at Williamf
burg, which his letter of the 20th of Oftober
implies he was prevented from undertaking
by the receipt of mine of the 24th of Sept.
I cannot help being of opinion, that a re
treat, after Mr. Wafhington joined, was im
practicable, and that it was at no time to be
effected to the northward, for reafons which
I gave his Lordfhip. But had it been ever
poffible, after the time his Lordfhip men
tions, it muft, I think, have been between
that period and the time of the enemy's force
prefenting itfelf before the lines of York;
and it is confequently prefumabje, his Lord
fhip was not prevented by any thing I faid
in that letter, as he acknowledges he did not
receive it until after the latter event took
place. But I readily admit, my Lord, that
none

92 APPENDIX.
none of my letters could give his Lordfhip
the leaft reaSon to SuppoSe that an attempt
would not be made to Succour him, though,
I muft confefs, I think his Lordfhip fpeaks
in his letter rather too pofitively of the opi
nion I gave in mine, as to the time of the
fleet's failing. My words being, 'There is
'every reafon to hope we fhall Start from
'hence about the 5th of October.' And
left even that fhould be thought pofitive,
I the next day told him, 'that unforefeen
'accidents may lengthen it out a day or two
'longer.' "The complaint his Lordfhip makes of
the want of intrenching tools, I can only
anfwer, by faying, that it appears from the
Adjutant-general's returns to me, that two
thoufand five hundred had been fent by the
engineer to the Chefapeak with the different
expeditions, fince the one commanded by
General Arnold inclufive; and the firft mo
ment a requifition was made for more (which was

APPENDIX. 93
was not before his Lordfhip's letter of the
22d of Auguft) I ordered an additional fup
ply to be fent, which were prevented from
going by the arrival of the French fleet.
But I muft own, my Lord, that I was not
then very uneaSy on this fcore, as I flattered
myfelf it was poffible for his Lordfhip to
have collected what he wanted from the
neighbouring plantations any time before the
inveftiture was begun.
" No man, my Lord, can feel more fenfibly
than I did for the unhappy fituation of Lord
Cornwallis and his gallant army, whofe me
ritorious conduft, fpirit, and zeal, on all oc-
cafions, muft heighten our anxiety and con
cern for their prefent fate; and therefore as
his Lordfhip is pleaSed to tell me that his
letter of the 20th of Oftober was written
under great agitation of mind and in great
hurry, which might poffibly have prevented
his adverting to the implications which it
may be thought to bear, I cannot, at prefent, wifh

94 APPENDIX.
wifh to give his Lordfhip more trouble on
the fubjeft, although his anfwer of the 2d
inftant is not So explicitly Satisfactory as I
expefted it would have been; for, if the
paffages in that letter, which I have taken
notice of, fhould be underftood in Europe in
any reSpeft to my prejudice, I cannot doubt
his Lordfhip will have candour enough moft
formally to difavow his having any fuch in
tentions. But if his Lordfhip, contrary to
my expectation, fhall not be inclined to do
fo, I muft be obliged, though reluctantly,
moft earneftly to requeft your Lordfhip to
render me that juftice, (which I am perSuaded
you think I deServe) by publishing this letter.
"I have the honour, &c.
"H. CLINTON."

NUM-

APPENDIX. 95
NUMBER X.
ExtraB from Sir H. Clinton's Inf ructions to
Major-General Philips, dated March 10,
1781.
"IF the Admiral difapproving of Portf-
mouth, and requiring a fortified ftation for
large fhips in the Chefapeak, fhould propoSe
York Town, or Old Point Comfort, if pof
feffion of either can be acquired and main
tained without great rifk or lofs, you are at
liberty to take poffeffion thereof. But if the
objections are fuch as you think forcible, you
muft, after Stating thofe objections, decline it
till folid operations take place in the Chefa
peak."

Extract

96 APPENDIX.
ExtraB from the Subjiance of Converfations
held with General Philips, fent to that
General Officer for his Guidance.
" BUT if the heights of York, and thofe
on the Gloucefter fide, canndt be fo well and
fo foon fortified as to render that poft hors
d'infult before the enemy can move a force,
&c. againft it, it may not be adviSeable to
attempt it. In that caSe Something may pof-
fibly be done at Old Point Comfort to cover
large fhips lying in Hampton road, which is
reckoned a good one. If neither can be fe
cured, we muft content ourfelves with keep
ing the Chefapeak, with frigates and other
armed veffels, which will always find fecurity
againft a fuperior naval force in Elizabeth
River."

NUM-

APPENDIX.

97

NUMBER XI. Vide p. 7. 1. 15.
ExtraB from Sir Henry Clinton's Letters to
Lord George Germain.
OCTOBER 30, 1780. "I fhall in a few
days fend to Charles-town, all the recruits
belonging to the fouthern army, which will
be about eight hundred. And then, includ
ing the corps under General Leflie, Lord
Cornwallis will have full n 306 effective
rank and file under his orders.
April 5th, 1 78 1. "After the reduction
of Charles-town, Lord Cornwallis informed
me, that he thought the force I left with him
fully competent to the defence of South, and
moft probably the reduction of North Caro
lina. I had, therefore, at that time no other
intention (threatened as we were, by the ex
pected arrival of a French fleet and army in
Rhode-Ifland) than to Send an expedition
into Chefapeak, merely by way of making a
n diverfion

98 APPENDIX.
diverfion in his Lordfhip's favour, until more
folid operation might take place. Which I
was in hopes that adequate reinforcements
from Europe, would have enabled me to un
dertake early in the prefent year. Events,
however, notwithftanding the very glorious
exertions which were made at Camden, al
tered Lord Cornwallis's fituation So much as
to make it neceffary for him to call the corps
I had fent to Chefapeak with General Leflie,
(and which I had put under his Lordfhip's
orders) to a nearer co-operation. Being,
therefore, ftill defirous to fecure a poft in
that bay to cover the King's frigates which
might be acting there; and at the fame time
wifhing to give Lord Cornwallis every affift
ance in my power; I fent thither another
detachment, under the orders of Brigadier-
general Arnold ; which, though not fo con
fiderable as the former met with the fulleft
fuccefs, and will, I doubt not, have greatly
aided the movements of the army in Caro lina.

APPENDIX. 99
lina. General Wafhington having detached
a body of troops to the fouthward, and the
French having embarked in their fleet, ano
ther from their army at Rhode-ifland, with
an apparent intention of interrupting our
operations in Virginia, and the Carolinas;
I was induced to fend to the Chefapeak ano
ther expedition (drawn principally from the
elite of my army) under Major-general Phil
lips. All thefe feveral detachments, your
Lordfhip will perceive are acting, either with
or in favour of Lord Cornwallis. But, as
General Wafhington's letter to Mr. Harrison
(a copy of which your Lordfhip will fee
amongft the intercepted letters inclofed) inti
mates, that there will not be oppofed to his
Lordfhip, above two thouSand continentals
more than General Green had with him be
fore; I am led to hope that, when his
Lordfhip has eftablished himSelf in North-
Carolina, a very confiderable portion of his
army may be fpared to affift in carrying into
execution

ioo APPENDIX.
execution fuch further operations, as Lord
Cornwallis may have to propofe; or the
whole or fuch part as fhall be found practi
cable of thofe I had defigned, and accordingly
explained to Major-general Phillips, in fome
converfations I had with him before his de
parture. " If an attempt upon the forts in the high
lands fhall not, on mature deliberation, be
thought advifeable, and nothing elfe offers in
this quarter; I fhall probably reinforce Ma
jor-general Phillips, and direft him to carry
on fuch operations as may moft effectually
favour thofe of Lord Cornwallis, until fome
plan can be determined on for the campaign.
For, until I know his Lordfhip's Succefs, the
force he can, in confequence of it, fpare from
the Carolinas, and the certainty of the arrival
of the fix regiments intended to reinforce us,
it will be impoflible to decide finally upon it.
Your Lordfhip will, however, fee by the in
clofed opinions, what were the operations I
had

APPENDIX. 101
had planned for the enfuing campaign, upon
the Supposition, that Lord Cornwallis Suc
ceeded in the Carolinas, and was able to
fpare a confiderable force from thence. With
the ten thoufand men I requefted, I fhould not
have had a doubt of fuccefs. But in my
prefent reduced ftate and profpefts I dare not
flatter myfelf with any. And if the French
fhould ftill be reinforced, your Lordfhip will,
I am perfuaded, judge our fituation to be
even critical. For with regard to our efforts
in the Chefapeak, your Lordfhip knows
how much their Succefs and even the fafety
of the armament there, will depend upon our
having a decided naval fuperiority in thefe
feas. And I, therefore, cannot doubt that
every precaution will be taken, to givd me,
at leaft, timely notice of the contrary being
likely to happen ; as my ignorance of fuch
an event, might be moft fatal in its confe
quences. The

102 APPENDIX.
"The reinforcement I afked for, was
only what I judged to be barely adequate
to the fervices required ; and I moft sincerely
wifh it had been poffible to have fent it in
the full extent of numbers, and in the time
I requefted. However, the preSent reduced
ftate of General Wafhington, the little proba
bility there is, I hope, of an augmentation to
the French armament, and the certainty
there is, I likewife hope, of the fix Britifh
regiments, and one thouSand recruits joining
me in a Short time, together, with the ex
pectation I have of Lord Cornwallis's SucceSs
in Carolina, enabling him to fend me a con
fiderable reinforcement from thence, render
the appearances of my fituation lefs critical.
And I Shall, therefore, only add, my Lord,
that while the King does me the honour, to
truft me with the command of this army,
I will employ it to the utmoft of my poor
abilities, for the promoting his fervice; —
taking the liberty, however, to reprefent (as
I think

APPENDIX. 103
I think it my duty) what advantages may
be obtained by an additional force, and what
evils may be apprehended from the want of
a fufficient one.
April 30, 1 78 1. "Your Lordfhip will
have feen in the paper I had the honour to
fend you in my laft difpatch, what force I
judged would be requifite for this fervice.
Not lefs, my Lord, than 10,000 men rank
and file, fit for duty, indeed I wifh they
could be more. But the incloSed returns
will fhew your Lordfhip that after leaving
thefe pofts to their preSent garriSons, and
leaving 1000 men in the poft in Elizabeth
River (fuppofing it may not be found ne
ceffary to occupy another ftation) I fhall not
have quite 5000 men for it, unless the three
battalions expected from the Weft Indies
arrive in proper time and condition for fer
vice, or Lord Cornwallis Should be able
to fpare from his defenfive in Carolina (when
he determines upon it) a confiderable part of
the

104 APPENDIX.
the army under his immediate command;
which, however, his Lordfhip's letter of the
I oth inftant, gives me no hopes of, or indeed
that he will even fpare me the three regi
ments coming from Ireland.
"With thefe 5000, however, my Lord,
I may poffibly determine to rifk, even by
deSultory movements, the trial of this experi
ment, fhould I find, the report given me of
our friends in that country properly founded.
If it fucceeds as fully as our fanguine friends
would perfuade us to hope, we may poffibly
be able to maintain ourfelves there with a
fmall force ; but if we are in a fituation to
give the experiment a fair trial, and it then
fails, I Shall, I confefs, have little hopes after
wards of re-eftablifhing order on this conti
nent; which I am free to own I think can
never be effected without the cordial affift
ance of numerous friends, &c. [Inclofed

APPENDIX. 105
Inclofed in the above letter the following
extraBs from Sir Henry Clinton' s letters to
Major General Phillips. April ib, 1781.
" Lord Cornwallis's arrival at Wilmington
has confiderably changed the complexion of
our affairs to the fouthward; and all ope
rations to the northward muft probably give
place to thoSe in favour of his Lordfhip,
which at prefent appear to require our more
immediate attention. I know nothing of his
Lordfhip's fituation, but what I have learnt
from his letter to me of the 1 oth, which you
have read. I had great hopes, before I re
ceived this letter that his Lordfhip would
have been in a condition to fpare me a confide
rable part of his army from Carolina for the
operations in Chefapeak ; but you will obferve
from it, that inftead of fending any part of his
prefent force thither, he propofes to detain
a part of the reinforcement coming from Eu
rope for his more fouthern operations, even
o though

106 APPENDIX.
though they fhould be defenfive. I fhall
therefore take the opinions of the general of
ficers near me, upon the prefent ftate of our
affairs, and afterwards fend you fuch a rein
forcement from this army, as we may judge
can be done with tolerable fecurity to this
poft, at leaft, while we remain Superior at fea.
April 30, 1 78 1. To the fame. "If Lord
Cornwallis propofes no operation to you foon
(that is, before the month of June) and you
fee none that will operate for him direBly. I
think the beft indireB one in his favour will
be what you and General Arnold have pro
pofed to me in Number 1 o of your joint letter
of the 1 8th inftant. The only rifk you run is
from a temporary fuperiority of the enemy at
fea; it is, however, an important move, and
ought, in my opinion, to be tried even with
fome rifk. Give me timely information of
your intended move, and if poffible I will fol
low you into  with fuch a fmall rein
forcement as I can at the time fpare. "If

APPENDIX.

107

" If the next packet does not fatisfy me in
 I fhall probably retire and leave the

command to Lord Cornwallis; to whom it
will be my advice to try the only experiment
that in my opinion can operate, if the one in
Carolina has failed. For as to Virginia, I
know none which can reduce that province
in one campaign.
"As you feemed to think, before you re
ceived Lord Cornwallis's letter that all direft
operation in favour of his Lordfhip would
ceafe by the end of May, &c. pray let me
receive General Arnold's, and your opinion
as foon as poffible ; I confefs, I am not fan
guine, but if the experiment can be tried with
out any other rifk than from the enemy's fu
periority at fea I Should wifh to do it.
"Should Lord Cornwallis determine on a
defenfive in the Carolinas, he furely cannot
want any of the European reinforcement, and
will of courfe, fend it to you, and all fuch
other as fhall arrive ; thus reinforced, if after
leaving

108 APPENDIX.
leaving a fufficient garrifon in Elizabeth Ri
ver, you can proceed to  I think we fhall
be in force to give this a fair trial; and I
may leave you in the command there, unlefs
things fhould take a more favourable turn in
the Carolinas, and Lord Cornwallis's prefence
there be no longer neceffary. For until they
do, I fhould imagine he will not quit them.
N. B. Thefe two letters with other dif-
patches fell into Lord Cornwallis's hands on
General Phillips's death and were opened by
his Lordfhip; and the expedition therein
propofed recommended to his confideration.

N U M-

APPENDIX. io9
NUMBER XII. Vide p. 37. 1. 6.
ExtraBs from Sir Henry Clinton's Letters to
Lord George Germain. May 20, 1 78 1.
"BUT fhould Lord Cornwallis perfift in
his intention of joining Major-general Phil
lips, as mentioned in his letter to that General
Officer, I fhall be under fome apprehenfions
for every part of South Carolina, except
Charles-town, and even for Georgia, unlefs
the fpeedy arrival of the reinforcement ex
pefted from Europe, may enable the officer,
commanding in South Carolina, to take poft
in force in fome healthy ftation in the back
country. "May 22. Notwithftanding the purport
of thefe letters, I am yet in hopes, from Lord
Cornwallis's letter to me of the 24th, that
his Lordfhip will not perfift in attempting
a junction with Major-general Phillips, as I
am

no APPENDIX.
am apprehenfive it may be attended with fome
rifk, not only to his own corps, but to that
of General Phillips, fhould that General Of
ficer not have been joined in time by the re
inforcement I have fent him. And I even
have my doubts whether his Lordfhip's march
to the northward will draw after him, as he
expects, the rebel General Green ; who, I
fear, will endeavour either to inveft Camden,
or, by Stationing himfelf between that place
and Charleftown, render Lord Rawdon's fitu
ation very hazardous. I am therefore induced
to flatter myfelf, that Lord Cornwallis, when
he hears of Lord Rawdon's fuccefs againft
Green, will rather march into South Carolina
either by the direft route of Crofs Creek and
Camden, or by that of George Town ; or even
by embarkation, though he fhould be obliged
to leave his cavalry behind until veffels can be
fent for them, than attempt the propofed junc
tion with General Phillips in the way he men
tions ;

APPENDIX. m
tions; which I muft freely own appears to
me, for the reafons I have ftated, not only
dangerous to both corps in the attempt, but
replete with the worft conSequences to our
fouthern Provinces in their prefent ftate."

NUMBER XIII. Vide p. 37. 1. 11.
ExtraBs from Sir Henry Clinton's Letters to
Lord George Germain.
July 18, 1 78 1. "The extracts from my
correfpondence with Earl Cornwallis, which
I have had the honour to tranfmit from time
to time to your Lordfhip, will fhew, that I
left in Carolina a very fair proportion of my
army, and fuch as his Lordfhip thought fuf
ficient to fecure South, and recover North
Carolina. With what was left for me to
aft with in this quarter, I took the field
immediately upon my arrival here. General Leflie's

112 A P P E-N D I X.
Leflie's expedition to the Chefapeak took
place afterwards; and fome unfortunate
events in Carolina calling for ftill farther
reinforcement and co-operation, foon re
duced this part of my army to a defenfive,
almoft as low in numbers as Sir William
Howe left me in 1777. If our fucceffes,
therefore, in the fouthern Provinces have
not anfwered your Lordfhip's expectations,
it cannot, I am certain, be imputed either
to the fmallnefs of the numbers I left there,
or the tardinefs or fcantinefs with which I
have fince fupplied the exigencies of that
fervice. Though I am Strongly impreffed
with the importance of recovering Virginia,
I fear the entire reduction of fo populous
a province is not to be expefted from an
operation folely there; unlefs our friends in
it were more numerous, and were heartily
inclined to affift us not only in conquering,
but in keeping it. J^y

APPENDIX. 113
July 25. "No man, my Lord, laments
more fincerely than I do, the long continuance
of the wefterly winds, which prevented the
failing of the Warwick's convoy ; and I hope
your Lordfhip will pardon me for again re
peating, that had the reinforcement failed as
early as was promifed, and the three battalions
not been detained in the Weft Indies, I fhould
perhaps by this time have made fuch move
ments as would have obliged the enemy to
be apprehenfive for their own poffeflions, in
ftead of meditating the attack which they
now threaten againft this poft."
Auguft 9. "I am entirely of your Lord
fhip's Sentiments with refpeft to Lord Corn
wallis having done as much in North Caro
lina as could have been effected with his
force. But I have to lament the caufes
which reduced it fo low in number; and
that his Lordfhip was induced to perfift in
his plan, after it became obvious that he was
p not

n4 APPENDIX.
not able to eftablifh himfelf there, 'and fup
port and arm the Loyalifts, which were the
objefts of his march into the heart of that
province." ,
From Lord Cornwallis's former letters, I
had every reafon to fuppofe he thought him
felf in fufficient ftrength to command the
fuccefs he hoped for. Had his Lordfhip,
however, upon Lieutenant-colonel Tarleton's
miffortune, called upon me for a reinforce
ment, or had I even known it in time, I am
perfuaded your Lordfhip will do me the
juftice to acknowledge, that it was absolutely
out of my power to affift him more than I
did; efpecially when it is confidered, that at
this moment his Lordfhip has acting with
him, and in the different pofts under his
command, nineteen Britifh, eight German,
and fourteen Provincial battalions, befides
detachments from four Britifh battalions,
and lagers, artillery and cavalry; whilft in
my preSent threatened fituation, I have
(through

APPENDIX. 115
(through my earneft defire to fupport his
operations) left myfelf only eight Britifh,
eleven German, and four Provincial bat
talions, befides artillery and cavalry, for thofe
in this quarter.

The END.

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