Part 4 (1/2)

Now was the yoke of Great Britain at last broken. Seven thousand English and Hessian soldiers and eight hundred and forty sailors laid down their arms and became prisoners of war.

The formal ceremony of surrender was to take place in an open field the last day of October. Thousands of spectators a.s.sembled to behold the detested Cornwallis surrender the army they had hated and feared.

The Americans, commanded by General Was.h.i.+ngton in full uniform, and the French troops, under Count Rochambeau, were drawn up in two lines. At length a splendid charger issued through the gate, bearing not the hated Cornwallis as expected, but General O'Hara. So overcome was Lord Cornwallis with the consciousness of his defeat by the ”raw Americans,”

that, feigning illness, he refused to appear.

The British troops in new uniforms, in striking contrast to the worn and faded garb of the colonists, followed the officer with colors furled.

Coming opposite General Was.h.i.+ngton, O'Hara saluted and presented the sword of Cornwallis. A tense silence pervaded the a.s.sembly. General Was.h.i.+ngton motioned that the sword be given to General Lincoln.

Apparently forgetful of the indignities heaped upon him by the British at Charleston, the latter returned the sword to General O'Hara, remarking as he did so, ”Kindly return it to his Lords.h.i.+p, Sir.”

”Ground arms” came the order from the British officers. The troops complied sullenly; the humiliation felt by them in their defeat was everywhere apparent.

The next day the conquered army marched out of Yorktown between the American and French troops. Their fifers, with a brave show of humor, played, ”The World's turned Upside Down.” Was.h.i.+ngton had directed his soldiers to show no disrespect nor unkindness to the defeated troops.

But the remembrance of ”Yankee Doodle,” as played by the Britons in their times of conquest, in taunting derision of the Americans, proved too much for the latter to endure without return, when supreme occasion such as this offered. To the strains of ”Yankee Doodle Do,” from American fifes, Lord Cornwallis and his army bade adieu to the scenes wherein they had once marched as conquerors.

In thanksgiving to G.o.d was voiced the nation's exultation. Congress adjourned the sessions and the members repaired to church to give thanks; business was suspended in all places. Throughout the land the voice of the people was raised in a mighty chorus of prayer and praise to the Almighty.

YORKTOWN

FROM Yorktown's ruins, ranked and still, Two lines stretch far o'er vale and hill: Who curbs his steed at head of one?

Hark! the low murmur: Was.h.i.+ngton!

Who bends his keen, approving glance Where down the gorgeous line of France s.h.i.+ne knightly star and plume of snow?

Thou too art victor, Rochambeau!

The earth which bears this calm array Shook with the war-charge yesterday; Plowed deep with hurrying hoof and wheel, Shot down and bladed thick with steel; October's clear and noonday sun Paled in the breath-smoke of the gun; And down night's double blackness fell, Like a dropped star, the blazing sh.e.l.l.

Now all is hushed: the gleaming lines Stand moveless as the neighboring pines; While through them, sullen, grim, and slow, The conquered hosts of England go; O'Hara's brow belies his dress, Gay Tarleton's troops ride bannerless; Shout from the fired and wasted homes, Thy scourge, Virginia, captive comes!

Nor thou alone: with one glad voice Let all thy sister States rejoice: Let Freedom, in whatever clime She waits with sleepless eye her time, Shouting from cave and mountain wood Make glad her desert solitude, While they who hunt her, quail with fear; The New World's chain lies broken here!

WHITTIER.

FROM THE OTHER SIDE

(1812)

THE year 1812 witnessed our second war with Great Britain. In an effort to prevent emigration from her sh.o.r.es England claimed the right to seize any of her subjects upon any vessel of the high seas. America denied her right to do this on American s.h.i.+ps. Disagreement broke into open rupture. War with the mother country was again declared.

The doughty American seamen would not wait for attack upon them, but went forth aggressively against the squadron of the British. Oddly enough, considering the condition of the poorly equipped navy, they were remarkably successful and captured more than two hundred and fifty prizes. The following year, however, the British gained the ascendency, and in 1814 came in with sea force and land force and sacked and burned the Capitol at Was.h.i.+ngton and all public buildings except the patent office.

They then proceeded against Baltimore. The land troops were almost in sight of the city of their desires, when they were halted and held in check by American troops under General Sticker, whose name, it may be said, meant as it sounded, and who effectually prevented their further advance. But the fleet on the waters sailed into the bay of Baltimore and up to Fort McHenry at the mouth of the Patapsco River, in the determination to bombard the fortress and compel entrance to the city in that way. The British admiral had boasted the fort would fall to his hand an easy prey.