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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



On the 19th of October, after a loss of 

 less than 300 men in each of the besieg- 

 ing armies, an act was signed as great in 

 its consequences as any that ever fol- 

 lowed the bloodiest battles, the capitula- 

 tion of Yorktown. It was in a way the 

 ratification of that other act which had 

 been proposed for signature five years 

 before at Philadelphia by men whose fate 

 had more than once in the interval seemed 

 desperate — the Declaration of Independ- 

 ence. 



On the same day Closen writes : "The 

 York garrison marched past at two 

 o'clock, before the combined army, which 

 was formed in two lines, the French fac- 

 ing the Americans and in full dress uni- 

 form. . . . Passing between the two 

 armies, the English showed much disdain 

 for the Americans, who, so far as dress 

 and appearances went, represented the 

 seamy side, many of those poor boys be- 

 ing garbed in linen habits-vest es, torn, 

 soiled, a number among them almost 

 shoeless. The English had given them 

 the nickname of Yanckey-Dudle. 



"What does it matter ? the man of sense 

 will think ; they are the more to be praised 

 and show the greater valor, fighting, as 

 they do, so badly equipped." As a "man 

 of sense," Rochambeau writes in his me- 

 moirs : "This justice must be rendered to 

 the Americans, that they behaved with a 

 zeal, a courage, an emulation, which left 

 them in no case behind, in all that part of 

 the siege intrusted to them, in spite of 

 their being unaccustomed to sieges." 



yorktown's pitiful aspect 



The city offered a pitiful sight. "I 

 shall never forget," says Closen, "how 

 horrible and painful to behold was the 

 aspect of the town of York. . . . One 

 could not walk three steps without find- 

 ing big holes made by bombs, cannon- 

 balls, splinters, barely covered graves, 

 arms and legs of blacks and whites scat- 

 tered here and there, most of the houses 

 riddled with shot and devoid of window 

 panes. . . . We found Lord Corn- 

 wallis in his house. His attitude evinced 

 the nobility of his soul, his magnanimity 

 and firmness of character. He seemed to 

 say: I have nothing to reproach myself 

 with : I have done my duty and defended 



myself to the utmost." This impression 

 of Lord Cornwallis was general. 



As to Closen's description of the town, 

 now so quiet and almost asleep by the 

 blue water, amid her sand-dunes, once 

 more torn and blood-stained during the 

 Civil War, resting at the foot of the great 

 marble memorial raised a hundred years 

 later by Congress, it is confirmed by Abbe 

 Robin, who notices, too, "the quantity of 

 human limbs which infected the air," but 

 also, being an abbe, the number of books 

 scattered among the ruins, many being 

 works of piety and theological contro- 

 versy. 



A GENEROUS VICTOR 



Nothing better puts in its true light the 

 dominant characteristics of the French 

 sentiment throughout the war than what 

 happened on this solemn occasion, and 

 more shows how, with their new-born 

 enthusiasm for philanthropy and libertv, 

 the French were pro-Americans much 

 more than anti-English. No trace of a 

 triumphant attitude toward a vanquished 

 enemy appeared in anything they did or 

 said. Even in the surrendering the fact 

 remained apparent that this was not a 

 war of hatred. 



"The Erglish," writes Abbe Robin, 

 "laid down their arms at the place se- 

 lected. Care was taken not to admit 

 sightseers, so as to diminish their humili- 

 ation." Henry Lee (Lighthorse Harry), 

 who was present, describes in the same 

 spirit the march past : "Universal silence 

 was observed amidst the vast concourse, 

 and the utmost decency prevailed, exhib- 

 iting in demeanor an awful sense of the 

 vicissitudes of human life, mingled with 

 commiseration for the unhappy." 



The victors pitied Cornwallis and 

 showed him every consideration ; Ro- 

 chambeau, learning that he was without 

 money, lent him all he wanted. 



CORNWALUS'S TRIBUTE TO THE FRENCH 



Cornwallis realized quite well that the 

 French had fought for a cause dear to 

 their hearts more than from any desire 

 to humble him or his nation. He pub- 

 licly rendered full justice to the enemy, 

 acknowledging that the fairest treatment 

 had been awarded him by them. In the 



