Cornwallis, meanwhile keeping
Clinton under the belief that he meant to attack him. So well was the
secret kept that Clinton's suspicions were not aroused until several
days after the departure of the allied armies.

De Grasse, the commander of the French fleet, arrived in Chesapeake Bay
August 30th. Thus Cornwallis was blocked off from the sea, and enough
soldiers were landed to prevent the British commander's escape by land.
On the same day Washington and Rochambeau, after making a feint toward
Staten Island, began a rapid march through New Jersey to Philadelphia,
and thence to Elkton, Maryland. Officers and men were in high spirits,
for they knew they were on the eve of great events. The citizens of
Philadelphia shared the feeling, and cheered the men as they marched
through the streets. On the way southward Washington made a hurried
visit to Mount Vernon, which he had not seen since the opening of the
war.

Aware of the grave danger threatening Cornwallis, a British fleet made
an effort to relieve him, but the more powerful French fleet easily beat
it off. The allied armies boarded the waiting ships at Elkton, and,
sailing down the Chesapeake to James River, joined Lafayette's force in
front of Yorktown.

[Illustration: THE SURRENDER AT YORKTOWN]

The historical siege of Yorktown opened September 30, 1781. The French
and American armies were ranged in a half-circle in front of Yorktown.
Cornwallis was indignant at the apparent desertion by Clinton, and wrote
to him in the middle of September: "This place is in no state of
defense. If you cannot relieve me very soon, you must expect to hear the
worst." Word came from Clinton that a fleet of twenty-three ships and
more than 5,000 troops would sail to his relief about the 5th of
October.

The French soldiers in their gay uniforms and the Continentals in their
rags maintained an ardent but friendly rivalry in pressing the siege.
Washington aimed and applied the match to the first gun that was fired
into Yorktown. Governor Nelson, being asked to direct the bombardment,
selected the house which he believed to be the headquarters of
Cornwallis, and calmly saw it battered to ruins. It was his own home.

The condition of the defenders hourly grew worse. The lack of forage
compelled them to kill most of their horses, whose bodies drifted down
the river. As is generally the case at such times, sickness broke out
among the British troops, and 2,000 of the 7,000 were in