fayette's adjutant-general, was
the first to mount the parapet of the redoubt, and received a volley
at arms' length from the Hessians who manned it. Shot through both
knees, he fell back into the ditch, and was conveyed away under care
of his friend, the Count de Dumas. The Count de Deuxponts, leading on
the royal grenadiers of the same name, was likewise wounded. The
grenadiers of the Gatinais regiment fought with true Gallic fire. One
third of them were slain, and among them Captain de Sireuil, a valiant
officer of chasseurs.

The redoubts thus taken were included the same night in the second
parallel, and howitzers were mounted upon them the following day. The
capture of them reduced Lord Cornwallis almost to despair. Writing
that same day to Sir Henry Clinton, he observes, "My situation now
becomes very critical; we dare not show a gun to their old batteries,
and I expect that their new ones will open to-morrow morning.... The
safety of the place is, therefore, so precarious, that I cannot
recommend that the fleet and army should run great risk in endeavoring
to save us," a generous abnegation of self on the part of the
beleaguered commander. Had the fleet and army sailed, as he had been
given to expect, about the 5th of October, they might have arrived in
time to save his lordship; but at the date of the above letter they
were still lingering in port. Delay of naval succor was fatal to
British operations in this war.

The second parallel was now nearly ready to open. Cornwallis dreaded
the effect of its batteries on his almost dismantled works. To retard
the danger as much as possible, he ordered an attack on two of the
batteries that were in the greatest state of forwardness, their guns
to be spiked. It was made a little before daybreak of the 16th, by
about three hundred and fifty men, under the direction of
Lieutenant-colonel Abercrombie. The redoubts which covered the
batteries were forced in gallant style, and several pieces of
artillery hastily spiked. By this time the supporting troops from the
trenches came up, and the enemy were obliged to retreat. The mischief
had been done too hastily. The spikes were easily extracted, and
before evening all the batteries and the parallel were nearly
complete.

At this time the garrison could not show a gun on the side of the
works exposed to attack, and the shells were nearly expended; the
place was no longer tenable. Rather than surrender, Cornwallis
determined t