The rebels are attempting to present events at Yorktown as a decisive Victory of their military forces. This is a false claim, as is clear to any careful Analyst. It is a small defeat of one of our armies, but not by the rebels. After his forces completely dominated their troops in the Carolinas, General Cornwallis concluded his repeated Victories with a decision to establish his winter base on a defensible Peninsula at Yorktown, protected on the seaward side by the British fleet. Although Washington preferred an attack on New York, Rochambeau insisted on moving against Lord Cornwallis. Unfortunately for His Lordship, Admiral Comte de Grasse decided to Abandon his efforts in the Caribbean, agreed with Rochambeau, and moved his entire Fleet (at least two dozen warships) to the Chesapeake Bay.

Early in September, there was a naval battle, and when Admiral Thomas Graves decided to Withdraw our fleet to New York to repair battle damage, this left Lord Cornwallis without necessary protection. A land force of overwhelming size, mostly of French troops and major armaments, then laid Siege and the relatively small British force had to yield. General Clinton still holds Firm in New York, and it is likely that French ships will leave and our naval forces will soon regain control of the Coastal regions, from Halifax completely around to Pensacola.

I have honored your Instructions by sending a large force of Indian Rangers to Pensacola to attack the Spaniards, who are being starved by our naval Blockade.

Respectfully submitted by the Governor’s agent

The analysis that Brown gave to Warrant Officer Alonzo Baker was quite different: “The loss of Cornwallis’s army was a greater political than military blow. Although King George has stated that it would have no effect on his conduct of the war, Prime Minister North and others are facing the heavy cost of the greater conflict with France and Spain. George Washington deserves credit for the survival of the Continental army, and his ties to the French have proven to be of great mutual advantage. London has already begun negotiations with all their adversaries in Paris, and the control of Canada, Florida, Gibraltar, and the western portions of America are all on the table as stakes. We will fight to hold the seaports and offer to exchange New York for Charles Town and Savannah. They are the key to the final annexation of these two states.”

For fighting men in the south, both British and American, little had been changed at Yorktown.

CHAPTER 54

Mavis Goes North