The winter of 1780-31, was again devoted by Washington to his regular negotiations with Con gress for a better and more secure system of enlistment and subsistence. He obtained at length the vote of an army engaged for the whole war, with the important encouragement of a half pay provision for the officers during life. The suffer ings of America would have been greatly abridged had these arrangements been made at the beginning of the contest; but such was the jealousy existing against military power, that no influence less than that of Washington, could have produced their adoption even at this stage of the revolution.
Good measures tardily effected arc rarely better than inferior substitutes. In the month of January 1781, the most disastrous consequences were apprehended from a general revolt of the Pennsyl vania line and another among the troops of Jersey. The first was appeased by concessions imprudently made by Congress to armed mutineers; the second, produced by the successful impunity of the former, was quelled by the decision and vigorous severity of the commander-in-chief. Sir Henry Clinton endeavoured to turn these movements to the advan tage of the royal cause; it was creditable to the soldiers that they immediately arrested the British emissaries, and scornfully rejected all proffer of assistance. The extreme distress of the army and the growing discontent of the people sprang front the same cause; it was the system of forced requi sitions, without which no supplies could be obtained for the American forces.
The two armies were so strongly posted, and so nearly equal in point of strength, that no important movements could be effected on either side. The plans of Washington were therefore directed to the south, and to the possibility of striking a dCcisive blow against the British army in Virginia. La fayette marched with twelve hundred men to the head of the Chesapeake, and though disappointed in the expected co-operation of the French fleet, he proceeded southward with the utmost celerity, to the seat of war. The royal troops, greatly increased by the arrival of reinforcements, were engaged in over-running the whole state, committing every where the most wanton devastation of private pro• perty. The immediate junction of Cornwallis and Arnold, formed an army not to be resisted by the power of the Americans; and Lafayette. after a bold advance, was obliged to fall back. This ablieretreat was conducted with judgment, and happily effected with a large proportion of his military stores, not withstanding the exulting boast of the British gene ral, that " the boy could not escape him." General Wayne advanced with fresh troops from the north; and after some sharp conflicts, Cornwallis suspend ed active operations by retreating to Portsmouth.
If armies could be created by mere acts of Con gress, Washington would have found himself at the head of thirty-five thousand men on the first of January; but in point of fact, the Americans were unable to take the field before the month of June, and it was then with a force not exceeding 5000 effectives. The deficiencies in clothing, subsist ence, field equipage, Slc. were even more distress ing. The commander-in•chief fortunately pos sessed a mind so tempered by nature, as never to rise into extreme confidence, or to sink into the depths of despair. His plans were regularly formed and matured, so as to turn every posture of affairs to the best practical advantage.
When an official communication was received, promising the early arrival of the Count De Grasse with a large naval armament, Washington and Rochambeau resolved to effect a junction and to operate against New York. That city was pro tected by a force of 11,000 men, under Sir Henry Clinton. The prospect of a decisive blow which would terminate this long and obstinate contest, excited many of the states to new exertions in order to raise the required supplies. Such, how ever, was the low ebb of public credit, that without the assistance and means of a private citizen, it is more than probable that the active operations or the campaign would have been totally disappointed. That citizen was Robert Morris, a princely mer chant, such as few countries have ever possessed, and one who united to immense wealth and credit, the talents and foresight of a statesman.
On the sixth of July. the allied armies met at Dobbs's ferry on the North River. Washington had already begun to apprehend that his great plan was not within the range of possible accomplish ment; and he was combining a substitute in rapid movements directed against the southern forces of the enemy. This latter resolution was determined by the arrival at New York of large reinforcements, and the ascertained fact that the arrangements of the Count de Grasse would allow but a short time for co-operation on the coasts of America. La fayette was ordered to assume such a position as would prevent Cornwallis from retreating to Charleston. He accordingly took post on James River, while the British general fortified himself at .Yorktown and Gloucester point, with all his disposable forces. Towards the end of August, the Count De Grasse entered the Chesapeake and landed the Marquis de St. Simon with a strong body of French soldiers. The arrival of the British admiral Graves brought on an indecisive naval battle, which was followed by some movements ending in the return of the British fleet to New York.