登陆注册
5194800000061

第61章 YORKTOWN(3)

American patriotism has liked to dwell on this last great march of Washington.To him this was familiar country; it was here that he had harassed Clinton on the march from Philadelphia to New York three long years before.The French marched on the right at the rate of about fifteen miles a day.The country was beautiful and the roads were good.Autumn had come and the air was bracing.

The peaches hung ripe on the trees.The Dutch farmers who, four years earlier, had been plaintive about the pillage by the Hessians, now seemed prosperous enough and brought abundance of provisions to the army.They had just gathered their harvest.The armies passed through Princeton, with its fine college, numbering as many as fifty students; then on to Trenton, and across the Delaware to Philadelphia, which the vanguard reached on the 3d of September.

There were gala scenes in Philadelphia.Twenty thousand people witnessed a review of the French army.To one of the French officers the city seemed "immense" with its seventy-two streets all "in a straight line." The shops appeared to be equal to those of Paris and there were pretty women well dressed in the French fashion.The Quaker city forgot its old suspicion of the French and their Catholic religion.Luzerne, the French Minister, gave a great banquet on the evening of the 5th of September.Eighty guests took their places at table and as they sat down good news arrived.As yet few knew the destination of the army but now Luzerne read momentous tidings and the secret was out:

twenty-eight French ships of the line had arrived in Chesapeake Bay; an army of three thousand men had already disembarked and was in touch with the army of La Fayette; Washington and Rochambeau were bound for Yorktown to attack Cornwallis.Great was the joy; in the streets the soldiers and the people shouted and sang and humorists, mounted on chairs, delivered in advance mock funeral orations on Cornwallis.

It was planned that the army should march the fifty miles to Elkton, at the head of Chesapeake Bay, and there take boat to Yorktown, two hundred miles to the south at the other end of the Bay.But there were not ships enough.Washington had asked the people of influence in the neighborhood to help him to gather transports but few of them responded.A deadly apathy in regard to the war seems to have fallen upon many parts of the country.

The Bay now in control of the French fleet was quite safe for unarmed ships.Half the Americans and some of the French embarked and the rest continued on foot.There was need of haste, and the troops marched on to Baltimore and beyond at the rate of twenty miles a day, over roads often bad and across rivers sometimes unbridged.At Baltimore some further regiments were taken on board transports and most of them made the final stages of the journey by water.Some there were, however, and among them the Vicomte de Noailles, brother-in-law of La Fayette, who tramped on foot the whole seven hundred and fifty-six miles from Newport to Yorktown.Washington himself left the army at Elkton and rode on with Rochambeau, making about sixty miles a day.Mount Vernon lay on the way and here Washington paused for two or three days.It was the first time he had seen it since he set out on May 4, 1775, to attend the Continental Congress at Philadelphia, little dreaming then of himself as chief leader in a long war.Now he pressed on to join La Fayette.By the end of the month an army of sixteen thousand men, of whom about one-half were French, was besieging Cornwallis with seven thousand men in Yorktown.

Heart-stirring events had happened while the armies were marching to the South.The Comte de Grasse, with his great fleet, arrived at the entrance to the Chesapeake on the 30th of August while the British fleet under Admiral Graves still lay at New York.Grasse, now the pivot upon which everything turned, was the French admiral in the West Indies.Taking advantage of a lull in operations he had slipped away with his whole fleet, to make his stroke and be back again before his absence had caused great loss.It was a risky enterprise, but a wise leader takes risks.

He intended to be back in the West Indies before the end of October.

It was not easy for the British to realize that they could be outmatched on the sea.Rodney had sent word from the West Indies that ten ships were the limit of Grasse's numbers and that even fourteen British ships would be adequate to meet him.A British fleet, numbering nineteen ships of the line, commanded by Admiral Graves, left New York on the 31st of August and five days later stood off the entrance to Chesapeake Bay.On the mainland across the Bay lay Yorktown, the one point now held by the British on that great stretch of coast.When Graves arrived he had an unpleasant surprise.The strength of the French had been well concealed.There to confront him lay twenty-four enemy ships.The situation was even worse, for the French fleet from Newport was on its way to join Grasse.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 五灯严统目录

    五灯严统目录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • Terror Tunnels

    Terror Tunnels

    At a time when Israel is under persistent attack—on the battlefield, by international organizations, and in the court of public opinion—Alan Dershowitz presents a powerful case for Israel's just war against terrorism.In the spirit of his international bestseller The Case for Israel, Dershowitz shows why Israel's struggle against Hamas is a fight not only to protect its own citizens, but for all democracies. The nation-state of the Jewish people is providing a model for all who are threatened by terrorist groups—such as ISIS, al-Qaeda and Boko Haram.Having himself been in one of the Hamas terror tunnels, Dershowitz explains why Israel had no choice but to send in ground troops to protect its civilians against Hamas death squads.
  • 意念力练习题

    意念力练习题

    每个人其实都是天才,但是为什么你的天才特质得不到发挥呢?这是因为你没有挖掘出你的潜能量,更没有去操控它。只要我们不断地用充满希望与期待的话语来与潜意识交谈,潜意识就能让你的生活变得更加明朗,让你的希望和期待得以实现。本书指导我们运用自身的本能力量,从身体、精神和心灵上改善自己的境况,可以通过自我心理暗示影响我们的生活。
  • 胡适人生智慧书

    胡适人生智慧书

    胡适先生说:“人生就算是做梦,也要做一个像样子的梦。”纵然人生飘忽如梦境,也要把生命每一个过程细细描绘。有梦的人生才是精形的人生,有追求的人才是参透了生命真意的人。
  • 四教仪注汇补辅宏记

    四教仪注汇补辅宏记

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 小窗幽记

    小窗幽记

    《小窗幽记》,一名《醉古堂剑扫》,十二卷,格言警句类小品文。本书分为醒、情、峭、灵、素、景、韵、奇、绮、豪、法、倩十二集,内容主要阐明涵养心性及处世之首,表现了隐逸文人淡泊名利,乐处山林的陶然超脱之情,为明代清言的代表作之一。此书与《菜根谭》、《围炉夜话》并称为中国修身养性的三大奇书,本书被专业人士评为“端庄杂流漓,尔雅兼温文,有美斯臻,无奇不备”。被大众称之“或刺取琐言僻事,诠次成书,远近竞相购写”。
  • 盛世宫妃

    盛世宫妃

    初时,他看着她,充满了渴求,她却说∶“请不要忘记对姐姐的承诺。”他黯然,多年的尊重、隐忍,换不来她的感情;爱人的离世,让她绝望,面对他的关切,是自甘认命,还是情难自禁?得知真相,才知道不过是欺骗,他的残忍让她恐惧;向往平静的她,终于决定离开,可家族的荣辱,让她不得不回到他身边;后宫颠簸,忍辱负重,不仅是为了自己,也是为了他。然而,得到的却是他的怀疑,“告诉朕,你这次回来,到底是因为朕,还是别有目的?”看着她,目光如炬。也许从一开始就知道,自己的命运不能自主,是坦然面对,还是奋起反抗;本性善良的她,后宫之路,曲折血腥,是试图逃避,还是迎难而上;命运之路,给她的,到底是什么。
  • 敛财儿子腹黑娘

    敛财儿子腹黑娘

    特工穿越成废物小姐,一手练功,一手敛财,顺便收几只神兽,再带着妖孽宝宝祸害人间,看谁还敢说她废物!
  • 星河崩塌

    星河崩塌

    一次寻常的探险。林奇穿越到星际争霸的异世界。战争!这里充满无尽的战争。为活着。为能源。为星际之旅。林奇激活恐龙大军铠甲。恐龙机甲在异界,星际任我驰骋。岂料。恒星级的高等文明战舰逼进,星际浩劫即将降临...
  • 若爱只是隔岸观火

    若爱只是隔岸观火

    温之榆嫁给黎锦安情非得以,也心有不甘。她不情愿嫁他,而他却满怀深情的娶她。婚后她流产,罪魁祸首是自己的丈夫。她溃不成军,无法原谅,想要逃出他的世界,躲了三年。回来之后她还是黎太太,他依然宠她宠的无上限无原则,宠到令人发指。她不爱他,为自己所失去的憎恨他。而他攻势温柔强势,霸道的占据了她的心。她自卑自己不是真正的名门千金,费尽心机的离婚。他却说,不管你是谁,你始终是我太太。她沦陷在他一世的温柔中无法自拔。*而旧爱归来时,她从不珍惜的黎太太的头衔莫名的紧张起来。三年前的旧事真相浮出水面。她惶然失措,他不是罪魁祸首,但是却为身为罪魁祸首的旧爱承担了一切。她后知后觉的知道他最爱的原来不是她。他不再相信她,不再宠爱她,他曾给她的一场温柔一场爱如同梦一场。*她等来了他的离婚协议书,他问她还想要些什么。她不说话,签字的手抖得厉害。一颗心落地碎成了一片再也拼凑不出从前。*她为他堕落的整日借酒消愁,为救他毁容受伤。而他给她的却是他和旧爱婚礼的请柬,她无法理解他的残忍。最终她心如死灰的离去,再见时已是路人。她双目失明,记忆全无。他抱着她久久的不能放开,本以为离开了他,她会过得好一些,却不知道是把她推进万丈深渊。*他不是不爱,而是太爱,才舍不得她被人伤害,只是他错算了。他带她辗转每一个他们走过的地方,只为寻找她丢失的那些记忆。