as soon as all the elements of the situation were
disclosed, he left part of his force in position on the Hudson, and in a
superb march led the rest down to Virginia. Sir Henry Clinton at New
York was completely hoodwinked. He feared that the real aim of the
French fleet was New York, in which case it would be natural that an
American land-force should meet it at Staten island. Now a glance at the
map of New Jersey will show that Washington's army, starting from West
Point, could march more than half the way toward Philadelphia and still
be supposed to be aiming at Staten island. Washington was a master hand
for secrecy. When his movement was first disclosed, his own generals, as
well as Sir Henry Clinton, took it for granted that Staten island was
the point aimed at. It was not until he had passed Philadelphia that
Clinton began to surmise that he might be going down to Virginia.

When this fact at length dawned upon the British commander, he made a
futile attempt at a diversion by sending Benedict Arnold to attack New
London. It was as weak as the act of a drowning man who catches at a
straw. Arnold's expedition, cruel and useless as it was, crowned his
infamy. A sad plight for a man of his power! If he had only had more
strength of character, he might now have been marching with his old
friend Washington to victory. With this wretched affair at New London,
the brilliant and wicked Benedict Arnold disappears from American
history. He died in London, in 1801, a broken-hearted and penitent man,
as his grandchildren tell us, praying God with his last breath to
forgive his awful crime.

[Sidenote: Surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, Oct. 19, 1781.]

Washington's march was so swift and so cunningly planned that nothing
could check it. On the 26th of September the situation was complete.
Washington had added his force to that of Lafayette, so that 16,000 men
blockaded Cornwallis upon the Yorktown peninsula. The great French
fleet, commanding the waters about Chesapeake bay, closed in behind and
prevented escape. It was a very unusual thing for the French thus to get
control of the water and defy the British on their own element. It was
Washington's unwearied vigilance that, after waiting long for such a
chance, had seized it without a moment's delay. As soon as Cornwallis
was thus caught between a hostile army and a hostile fleet, the problem
was solved. On the 19th of October the British army surrendered.
Washington