Details
ST.CLAIR, ARTHUR, 1737-1818, Brigadier General, Continental Army. Autograph letter signed ("Ar. St.Clair," with flourish) as Volunteer Aide-de-Camp to General Washington, TO GENERAL BENJAMIN LINCOLN, "Head Quarters" [Yorktown], 21 October 1781. 1 page, folio, 314 x 203mm. (12 3/8 x 8 in.).
TWO DAYS AFTER CORNWALLIS'S SURRENDER AT YORKTOWN
An excellent letter written at Yorktown by St. Clair (in his official capacity as volunteer aide to General Washington), 48 hours after the momentous surrender of Cornwallis's army to Washington's combined American-French army. In the dramatic surrender ceremony Cornwallis, unwilling to subject himself to the humiliation, claimed to be indisposed and sent General O'Hara, a subordinate, in his stead. O'Hara offered his sword to Washington, but since the British officer acted only as a deputy, Washington properly directed him to hand the sword not to him, but to his subordinate, General Lincoln. "Lincoln was to his chief what O'Hara was to Cornwallis" (Boatner, p. 1247). Here, St. Clair passes on instructions concerning the garrisoning of the recaptured town and military booty: "Your letter to His Excellency [George Washington] of this day has been this moment, brought to me in his absence. The Guards and Sentinels may certainly be posted in such manner as may appear to you, the best to answer the purpose of preventing an improper intercourse with the Town. The orders are express that no person is to be permitted to pass without leave in writing from Head Quarters, and it would be very proper that every body should be ordered out of town. But I think the guards cannot all be compound of American troops, without giving umbrage to the French -- at any rate I cannot give first an order, however necessary, as the Baron de Vaumenil is the Senior Officer. I have understood that the Stores were all ordered to be Sent, but that business belongs properly to the Quarter Master General. I think a representation should be made to Lord Cornwallis of the abuses complained of, as it concerns his Honour, that there be no infraction of the Capitulation, that I suppose would be sufficient to put a stop to it. If not we have the means in our own hands..."
Washington stipulated that Cornwallis and his army should be granted the same harsh terms imposed on the American army commanded by Benjamin Lincoln when it surrendered to the British at Charleston in 1780. (In particular, the final terms specified that the British colors had to be cased, not flown.) Cornwallis surrendered one quarter of British military strength in America, and Yorktown, Washington's greatest strategic victory, proved the last major battle fought during the Revolutionary War.
TWO DAYS AFTER CORNWALLIS'S SURRENDER AT YORKTOWN
An excellent letter written at Yorktown by St. Clair (in his official capacity as volunteer aide to General Washington), 48 hours after the momentous surrender of Cornwallis's army to Washington's combined American-French army. In the dramatic surrender ceremony Cornwallis, unwilling to subject himself to the humiliation, claimed to be indisposed and sent General O'Hara, a subordinate, in his stead. O'Hara offered his sword to Washington, but since the British officer acted only as a deputy, Washington properly directed him to hand the sword not to him, but to his subordinate, General Lincoln. "Lincoln was to his chief what O'Hara was to Cornwallis" (Boatner, p. 1247). Here, St. Clair passes on instructions concerning the garrisoning of the recaptured town and military booty: "Your letter to His Excellency [George Washington] of this day has been this moment, brought to me in his absence. The Guards and Sentinels may certainly be posted in such manner as may appear to you, the best to answer the purpose of preventing an improper intercourse with the Town. The orders are express that no person is to be permitted to pass without leave in writing from Head Quarters, and it would be very proper that every body should be ordered out of town. But I think the guards cannot all be compound of American troops, without giving umbrage to the French -- at any rate I cannot give first an order, however necessary, as the Baron de Vaumenil is the Senior Officer. I have understood that the Stores were all ordered to be Sent, but that business belongs properly to the Quarter Master General. I think a representation should be made to Lord Cornwallis of the abuses complained of, as it concerns his Honour, that there be no infraction of the Capitulation, that I suppose would be sufficient to put a stop to it. If not we have the means in our own hands..."
Washington stipulated that Cornwallis and his army should be granted the same harsh terms imposed on the American army commanded by Benjamin Lincoln when it surrendered to the British at Charleston in 1780. (In particular, the final terms specified that the British colors had to be cased, not flown.) Cornwallis surrendered one quarter of British military strength in America, and Yorktown, Washington's greatest strategic victory, proved the last major battle fought during the Revolutionary War.