f batteries in that parallel would be
ready to play on the town. The works of the besieged were not in a
condition to sustain so tremendous a fire. In this extremity, Lord
Cornwallis formed the bold design of forcing his way to New York.

He determined to leave his sick and baggage behind, and, crossing over
in the night with his effectives to the Gloucester shore, to attack De
Choise. After cutting to pieces or dispersing the troops under that
officer, he intended to mount his infantry on the horses taken from
that detachment, and on others to be seized on the road, and, by a
rapid march to gain the fords of the great rivers, and, forcing his
way through Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Jersey, to form a junction
with the army in New York.[87]

[Footnote 87: Stedman, Annual Register, letter of Lord Cornwallis.]

This desperate attempt would be extremely hazardous; but the situation
of the British general had become so hopeless, that it could scarcely
be changed for the worse.

Boats prepared under other pretexts were held in readiness to receive
the troops at ten in the evening, and convey them over the river. The
arrangements were made with such secrecy that the first embarkation
arrived at the point unperceived, and part of the troops were landed,
when a sudden and violent storm interrupted the execution of this
hazardous plan, and drove the boats down the river. The storm
continued till near daylight, when the boats returned. But the plan
was necessarily abandoned, and the boats were sent to bring back the
soldiers, who were relanded on the southern shore in the course of the
forenoon without much loss.

[Sidenote: October 17.]

[Sidenote: October 18.]

[Sidenote: Surrender of Lord Cornwallis.]

In the morning of the seventeenth, several new batteries were opened
in the second parallel, which poured in a weight of fire not to be
resisted. The place being no longer tenable, Lord Cornwallis, about
ten in the forenoon, beat a parley, and proposed a cessation of
hostilities for twenty-four hours, that commissioners might meet at
Moore's house, which was just in the rear of the first parallel, to
settle terms for the surrender of the posts of York and Gloucester. To
this letter General Washington returned an immediate answer declaring
his "ardent desire to spare the further effusion of blood, and his
readiness to listen to such terms as were admissible;" but as in the
present crisis he could not consent to lose a mo