Lafayette's Virginia march led to victory The militia and public support The Virginia Line
When a young Frenchman started his Virginia campaign in April 1781 in the Revolutionary War, Cornwallis' days were numbered. By Erik F. Nelson
Date published: 10/28/2006
This an excerpt from a longer piece in the 2004 volume of "Fredericksburg History and Biography." The occasion is the 225th anniversary this month of the British surrender at Yorktown on Oct. 19, 1781, that effectively ended the Revolutionary War.
AS DAYLIGHT FADED in the late afternoon of Nov. 20, 1824, a carriage clattered into Fredericksburg, conveying an elderly Frenchman named Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert de Motier, Marquis de Lafayette. Citizens lined the streets and greeted him warmly, hailing him by the title of "marquis."
Touring the United States since August, he had just come from a celebration at Wilderness Tavern. As his carriage headed into town, the old soldier may well have recalled traveling that same dusty road 43 years earlier, when he led a force of American Continental soldiers and some Virginia militia against a powerful British army.
That long-ago year was 1781. While Lafayette and his small army had tramped these roads in distant Virginia, George Washington planned to combine his army with a French expeditionary force and win the war for independence with an attack on New York.
A British defeat at Saratoga, in 1777, had encouraged France to openly support the Americans, and the war had expanded into a global conflict. With British resources drawn to several continents, the American war reached a stalemate. To break the impasse, the British initiated a Southern Campaign, expecting Loyalists there to rally to the king's colors.
In December 1778, an expeditionary force captured Savannah, Ga., a welcome success after Saratoga. After an initial failed attempt, the British took Charleston in May 1780, effectively eliminating organized resistance in South Carolina.
Washington had no option but to hurry additional troops south. Unfortunately, they were commanded by Maj. Gen. Horatio Gates, who bungled his way into battle against Gen. Charles Cornwallis near Camden, S.C. Although numerically superior, Gates was no match for the experienced Cornwallis, and the American force was routed.
Further news from New York left the Americans reeling. In September 1780, Benedict Arnold escaped to British lines after his plan to deliver West Point, a stronghold on the Hudson River, was discovered.
The size of American Continental forces always appeared to be too small to confront well-trained and -supplied British and Loyalist troops, but Revolutionary armies had a method. Continental formations typically provided the core around which local militia could turn out and coalesce. The system appears cumbersome, but actually worked reasonably well and clearly caused severe problems for Cornwallis in North and South Carolina. This success was fortuitous, because the Americans did not have the resources to do better.
This system also required American commanders to be constantly attuned to public appearances, which could either deter or encourage militia recruiting. When Cornwallis' columns pursued Lafayette toward the Rappahannock River, for instance, the Frenchman kept just out of reach. When the British paused, he turned to confront them. When Cornwallis eventually withdrew to the east, Lafayette pursued closely. He marched his forces on several roads so that it would appear he had more men than he did. He also kept his overnight camps spread out, the glow of campfires over a wide expanse further suggesting a large American force.
As Cornwallis moved down the Peninsula toward Yorktown, Lafayette sought action as opportunity dictated. Sharp engagements at Spencer's Tavern and Green Spring reassured the local population that the American force would fight. There is no doubt that Lafayette's leadership inspired confidence. On the road to Yorktown, his force attracted hundreds of militiamen.
A study of Revolutionary War claims shows just how involved was the community through which the armies passed. There were those who hid their horses and wagons from patriot forces, but others supplied the cause as best they could. Able-bodied men mustered as militia, with weapons in hand. Farmers, tavern keepers and planters provided food and equipment that the Revolutionary government could not. Women stitched uniforms and provided food from their own kitchens. Many of the people who turned out in 1824 to welcome the man they still affectionately called "marquis" had contributed in some measure to the success of his arms in 1781.
--Erik F. Nelson |
In May 1780, a combined British force commanded by Sir Henry Clinton captured Charleston, S.C. More than 6,600 American troops, including 750 Virginia Continentals and nearly 700 Virginia militia, marched into captivity. Maj. Gen. Benjamin Lincoln, who had been sent to command the southern army in 1778, would eventually be exchanged and rejoin Washington's army. The commander of the Virginia Line, Brig. Gen. William Woodford of Caroline County, would die as a prisoner of war before the end of the year.
The Virginia Line had disappeared into captivity, and the Virginia Assembly worked to rebuild its state forces. It persuaded Brig. Gen. George Weedon to return to duty and accept command of the Virginia militia. Weedon had already served in Washington's army. He had commanded the 3rd Virginia Regiment after Hugh Mercer was killed at Princeton, in 1777, but had been granted permission to return to his Fredericksburg home in 1778. He was still there when Virginia officers met in 1780 to reorganize and recruit a new force. He would remain in Fredericksburg to recruit militia as well as protect the iron industries on the Rappahannock River.
When Nathanael Greene traveled south, to take command of American forces in the Carolinas, he left the inspector general of the Continental Army, Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, in Virginia to forward supplies. Von Steuben had been a Prussian officer whose service included a staff assignment at the headquarters of Frederick the Great. This technical experience on a general staff (a concept not yet familiar to the French and American armies) appears to have prepared this officer for his remarkable contribution in developing the professionalism of the American colonials. In addition to his logistical duties, von Steuben undertook to train the new recruits who aspired to be Continental soldiers.
Von Steuben trained his troops at Point of Fork, which also served as a supply depot. Despite British raids, von Steuben diligently drilled his charges and marched them as new soldiers to join Lafayette on June 19, 1781. Cornwallis occupied Richmond at the time, but would soon move east. The arrival of 450 trained Virginia troops had symbolic as well as practical value. The reconstituted Virginia Line would be represented at Yorktown. The commander of the Virginia Line at Charleston, Maj. Gen. Benjamin Lincoln, would join them, leading the American column from New Jersey to the Chesapeake Bay, 16 months after his capture at Charleston.
--Erik F. Nelson |
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Date published: 10/28/2006
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