When Lafayette marched to the southward on the meditated enterprise against Arnold, the troops which he commanded were drawn chiefly from the northern states; and, as it was believed the expedition would be of short duration, they were ill-provided for a southern campaign, and had imbibed strong prejudices against the climate. When they understood that the duty would be more permanent than had at first been expected, numbers of them deserted. But, appealing to their honour, Lafayette at length succeeded in inspiring his troops with the resolution of braving every danger, and enduring every privation in the cause of their country. In order to encourage them, their noble commander, as careless of fortune as he was ambitious of fame, borrowed money on his own personal credit from the merchants of Baltimore to purchase shoes, linen, and other necessaries for his detachment; and the ladies of that city, with patriotic zeal, took charge of immediately making the summer clothing of the troops.

Lafayette arrived at Richmond with his detachment on the evening before General Philips entered Manchester; and, instead of attempting to pass the river in the face of that officer, the British general marched back to Bermuda Hundreds, a point of land formed by the junction of James River and the Appomattox, destroying much valuable property on his way. Embarking his army, he sailed down the river as far as Hog's Island, where the van of his fleet arrived on the 5th of May.

>On the return of the British down the river, Lafayette sent small parties to follow them and watch their motions, while he established his head-quarters behind the river Chicahominy, at some distance from Richmond. On the 7th of May, General Philips received a letter from Cornwallis, informing him of his march into Virginia, and mentioning Petersburgh as the place where he expected to meet the British troops in that province.. General Philips immediately returned up the river, landed one division at Brandon, while another proceeded to City Point; and on the 9th, those two divisions met at Petersburgh, where their arrival was so unexpected that they took prisoners some of Lafayette's officers, who had been sent to that place for the purpose of collecting boats to convey his troops across the river. Meanwhile General Philips was seized with fever, and was so ill on reaching Petersburgh as to be unable to give orders. The progress of his disease was rapid, and he died four days afterwards, when the command of the British troops devolved on Arnold.

It will be recollected by the reader, that, after the battle of Guil

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ford Court-house, Cornwallis retreated to Wilmington, where he arrived on the 7th of April, 1781. There he remained eighteen days, in order to refresh his exhausted troops; and having resolved, after much deliberation, to proceed northward, on the 25th of the month he set out on his march into Virginia, a distance of three hundred miles. In his progress he met with little opposition. Colonel Tarleton, with one hundred and eighty cavalry and sixty mounted infantry, preceded the army, and dispersed any bodies of militia that were assembling to interrupt it. On the 20th of May, Cornwallis reached Petersburgh, and took the command of the British troops in Virginia. He felt his force decidedly superior to that opposed to him, and exulted in the prospect of success. Undervaluing the talents and resources of Lafayette, his young opponent, he incautiously wrote to Europe, in a letter which was intercepted, "The boy cannot escape me."

On being informed that General Philips, in returning up the river, had landed at Brandon on the southern bank, and that Cornwallic was marching northward, Lafayette perceived that a junction of their forces was intended; and suspecting that Petersburgh was the appointed place of meeting, he endeavoured to anticipate them in the occupation of that town. But the march of General Philips was so rapid that he entered it before him, and frustrated his design. Lafayette, with his little army, consisting of one thousand continentals, two thousand militia, and sixty dragoons, took a position at Richmond, and exerted himself in removing the military stores to places of greater security.

On the 24th of May, Cornwallis left Petersburgh, crossed James River at Westover, thirty miles below Lafayette's encampment, and being joined by a reinforcement from New York, marched at the head of upwards of four thousand veterans towards Richmond. But Lafayette evacuated that town on the 27th, and retired towards the back country, inclining his march toward the north, so that he might easily form a junction with General Wayne, who was hastening to reinforce him with eight hundred men of the Pennsylvania line. Cornwallis eagerly pursued his retreating foe as far as the upper part of Hanover county; but finding it impossible to overtake Lafayette, or to prevent his junction with General Wayne, he at length altered the course of his march, and turned his attention to more attainable objects.

In his progress he destroyed much public property. That of individuals also was plundered or consumed, under pretext of cutting the sinews of war; so that Virginia, which had long escaped

hostile ravages, now experienced its full share of the public calamity. Cornwallis took the horses from the stables of private gentlemen, formed an efficient cavalry, and mounted many of his infantry; so that he could move considerable detachments with uncommon rapidity.

Being thus provided with the means of rapid marches, he planned an expedition against Charlottesville, where the General Assembly of Virginia was then sitting, deliberating on the means necessary for the prosecution of the war. The Assembly had been sitting at Richmond, but on the approach of the British army had retired to Charlottesville, which stands on the bank of the Rivanna, high up the river. At that place were some military stores; but the British prisoners were removed from it and conducted towards Pennsylvania.

The force under Tarleton, in the expedition against Charlottesville, consisted of one hundred and eighty cavalry and seventy mounted infantry of the 23d regiment, and he advanced so rapidly towards the place of his destination, that it was by mere accident that the inhabitants of Charlottesville heard of his approach before he entered the town, and that all the members of the Assembly of Virginia were not made prisoners. But Mr. Janiette, a private gentleman, observing Tarleton's march, and suspecting his design, mounted a fleet horse, and, by following a short and unfrequented road, reached the town two hours before the British cavalry reached it. The greater part of the legislative Assembly escaped and reassembled at Staunton, beyond the Blue-Ridge; only seven of them were made prisoners.

Tarleton destroyed all the public stores at Charlottesville; and sent Captain McLeod, with a troop of horse, to Mr. Jefferson's mansion, three miles farther, in order to apprehend that gentleman and some other individuals who were understood to be there, but with instructions to commit no depredations. Mr. Jefferson and his friends made their escape; but McLeod punctually obeyed his orders; and, after remaining eighteen hours in the house, left it and all it contained uninjured; conduct as honourable as it was rare, especially in Virginia.

Tarleton having executed his commission at Charlottesville, hastened down the Rivanna to co-operate with Colonel Simcoe, who had been sent with a detachment of five hundred men, chiefly infantry, in order to surprise Baron Steuben, who was then at Point of Fork, formed by the confluence of the Rivanna and Fluvanna, the two great branches which constitute James River. He had

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upwards of five hundred raw troops and a considerable quantity of stores under his protection, and waited for the militia to assemble to the south of James River, who had been directed to assemble at the Point of Fork.

Colonel Simcoe's progress had not been so rapid as that of Tarleton; but so skilfully had he conducted his march, that though Baron Steuben had heard of Tarleton's expedition against Charlottesville, yet he had received no notice of Simcoe's approach to his own encampment; but, as a measure of precaution, he left Point of Fork and took a position on the south side of the Fluvanna, securing all the boats on the southern bank. Colonel Simcoe's detachment unexpectedly appeared, and the baron, mistaking it for the van of the British army, retreated precipitately during the night, leaving behind him part of the stores, which were next day destroyed by Colonel Simcoe. The baron did not halt until he was thirty miles from Point of Fork.

In Virginia, the British had committed fearful devastations, and had destroyed much valuable property; but Cornwallis, though at the head of a superior army, had gained no important advantage over his opponent. He had pushed Lafayette across the Rappahannock, but was unable to prevent his junction with General Wayne, which was accomplished at Racoon Ford, on the 7th of June. Lafayette, thus reinforced, immediately repassed the Rappahannock and advanced towards the British army.

In the course of these movements, Cornwallis had got completely between Lafayette and the stores of the state, which were deposited at different places, but principally at Albemarle Old Court-house, high up the Fluvanna, on the south side of the river. These stores. were an object of much importance to both armies; and, early in June, the British commander, after having dispensed with the services of Arnold, and allowed him to return to New York, directed his march to Albemarle Old Court-house. Lafayette was anxious to preserve his magazines; and while the British army was more than a day's march from Albemarle Court-house, by a rapid and unsuspected movement he suddenly appeared in its vicinity. The British general easily penetrated his design, and being between him and his magazines, took a position near the road, so that he could attack him with advantage if he attempted to advance. During the night, however, Lafayette discovered and cleared a nearer but long disused road, and passed the British army unobserved; and in the morning, Cornwallis, with surprise and mortification, saw his adversary strongly posted between him and the stores.

Perceiving that the Americans could not be attacked unless under great disadvantages, and believing their force greater than it really was, Cornwallis abandoned his enterprise, and began a retrograde movement, and, in his night marches, fell back upwards of fifty miles. On the 17th of June, he entered Richmond, but left it on the 20th, and continued his route to Williamsburgh, where the main body of his army arrived on the 25th.

The American army followed him at a cautious distance. On the 19th, Lafayette was joined by Baron Steuben, with his detachment, which increased the American army to four thousand men: of whom two thousand were regulars, but only fifteen hundred were disciplined troops. That of Cornwallis appears to have been somewhat more numerous, and consisted entirely of veterans: it was also provided with a well-mounted body of cavalry, which had spread terror and devastation over the country, and greatly intimidated the militia.

Though Lafayette kept about twenty miles behind the main body of the British army, yet its light parties hung on its rear, and skirmishes occasionally ensued. A sharp encounter happened near Williamsburgh between the advanced guard of the Americans, under Colonel Butler, and the rear-guard of the British, under Colonel Simcoe, in which both suffered considerable loss. Part of the British army marched to Colonel Simcoe's assistance, and the Americans were obliged to retreat. Although Lafayette encouraged skirmishes and partial conflicts, yet, distrusting his new levies and militia, he cautiously avoided a general battle. While the British army remained at Williamsburgh, the Americans occupied a strong encampment twenty miles from that place.

During the various movements of the troops in Virginia, property to a great amount, both public and private, was destroyed. Among other articles, two thousand hogsheads of tobacco were burned: individuals suffered severely, and the resources of the state were considerably impaired. While the army traversed the country, carrying devastation in its train, ships of war sailed up the rivers, pillaged the farms, received fugitive negroes, and in some places laid the houses in ashes. Early in the spring, a British frigate went up the Potomac to General Washington's mansion at Mount Vernon, and demanded from the steward a quantity of provisions, which was granted in order to save the property. This compliance, however, was highly displeasing to Washington, who declared it would have been more agreeable to him to have left the enemy to