Victory at Yorktown (41 page)

Comte Axel von Fersen
(1755–1810). A Swede who sought service in America and, through his connections, became an aide to Rochambeau. A personal favorite of Marie Antoinette, he drove the coach in which the royal family tried to flee Paris. He escaped to Sweden.

Benjamin Franklin
(1706–1790). Born in Boston, he established himself early in life as a printer and author in Philadelphia, winning fame and financial success with the publication of
Poor Richard's Almanack
. Dividing his time between politics, business, and science, he was easily America's best-known colonist. He was deputy postmaster of the colonies (1753–1774), proposed the plan of union at the Albany Congress of 1754, helped draft the Declaration of Independence, was a peace negotiator with Britain after the war, and took part in the 1787 Constitutional Convention. His natural son William was the last royal governor of New Jersey.

Major David Franks.
An aide to Benedict Arnold in Philadelphia and at West Point, he escorted Peggy Arnold to Philadelphia after discovery of her husband's treachery.

Major General Horatio Gates
(1728–1806). Son of a duke's housekeeper in England, he joined the British army, was present at General Braddock's defeat in 1755, and retired on half-pay in 1765. With Washington's help he settled on a Virginia plantation, supported the revolutionary cause, and was commissioned in the Continental Army. Gates commanded rebel forces at Saratoga and in 1778 was the willing choice of the Conway Cabal to replace Washington as commander. His reliance on militiamen cost him a major defeat at Camden. He was replaced by Nathanael Greene.

George III
(1738–1820). King of Ireland and Great Britain from 1760 until his death sixty years later, he became the symbol of oppression after the Revolution began. He was increasingly hardened against independence and even considered abdication rather than give in to a Parliament committed to making peace.

Lord George Germain
(1716–1785). After being denounced as “unfit to serve … in any military capacity whatever” (he had been convicted of disobeying orders as commander of British forces at Minden in 1759), he became secretary of state for the American colonies, where his misguided efforts to manage the war from London were disastrous.

François Joseph Paul, Comte de Grasse
(1722–1788). The French admiral whose fleet was instrumental in trapping Cornwallis's army at Yorktown was a big, strapping man. His naval career began at the age of eleven. He was defeated and captured by the British in 1782.

Admiral Thomas Graves
(1725?–1802). His career marked by setbacks and accusations, Graves was made second in command to Marriot Arbuthnot and was in charge during the Battle of the Virginia Capes that set up the defeat of Cornwallis at Yorktown.

Major General Nathanael Greene
(1742–1786). Son of Rhode Island Quakers, Greene became an ironworker, then defied his pacifist origins to become a soldier. In 1775 he organized a militia company whose men rejected him as an officer because of his stiff knee—an affliction since childhood. Nevertheless, he became a general (regarded by Washington as his best), was appointed quartermaster general in 1778, and returned to field command to succeed Horatio Gates as commander of the southern troops. He retired to a plantation given him by Georgia.

Alexander Hamilton
(1757–1804). As secretary and aide to Washington, Hamilton had a very responsible job and was a trusted adviser until the two had a falling out. Hamilton sought and received a field command and performed ably at Yorktown. After the war he wrote more than half of the
Federalist Papers
and was Washington's treasury secretary.

Brigadier General William Heath
(1737–1814). A Massachusetts farmer, Heath won a commission as brigadier after service in the siege of Boston. When he seriously mishandled an attack on Fort Independence in 1777, he was removed from command. He helped Washington prepare for the coming of Rochambeau's army in 1780.

Admiral Sir Samuel Hood
(1724–1816). A quarrelsome man, he was one of the best British naval officers of his day. In 1780 he became second in command to Sir George Rodney, and when the latter left for England, he joined Thomas Graves but failed to defeat the French off Chesapeake Bay.

Colonel John Eager Howard
(1752–1827). A Maryland officer, Howard not only fought but distinguished himself again and again—at White Plains, Germantown, Monmouth, Camden, and Cowpens. Nathanael Greene called him “as good an officer as the world affords.” After the war he was elected governor and senator from his state.

Brigadier General Isaac Huger
(1743–1797). Son of a wealthy South Carolina planter, Huger began soldiering in the Cherokee War of 1760. He served in the state militia and in 1779 became a brigadier in the Continental Army. He tried unsuccessfully to defend Georgia and later commanded a detachment of Virginians at Guilford and Hobkirk's Hill.

Lieutenant Colonel David Humphreys
(1752–1818). A sentimental and sometimes dramatic figure, this Connecticut poet and statesman gave up a tutoring position at Yale to join the state militia. He developed a sharp military mind and in 1780 became a valued aide to Washington.

John Jay
(1745–1829). As a delegate to the First Continental Congress, Jay represented the interests of conservative merchants, but he became a supporter of revolution after the Declaration of Independence. He was elected president of the Congress in 1778, and later served as commissioner to Spain. In 1782 he joined Franklin and Adams in Paris to negotiate peace with Great Britain. After the war he was secretary of foreign affairs, chief justice of the Supreme Court, and governor of New York, and he wrote the
Federalist Papers
with James Madison and Alexander Hamilton.

Thomas Jefferson
(1743–1826). A many-talented man, Jefferson embodied the Enlightenment ideas of his time. Trained in the law, he entered politics at the onset of the Revolution. Recognized as a fine writer, he was chief author of the Declaration of Independence. During the war he was governor of Virginia (1779–1781) and narrowly escaped capture by the enemy. He succeeded Benjamin Franklin as commissioner to France in 1784 and after returning to the United States began arguing against the ideas of Alexander Hamilton and the Federalists. He was elected president in 1800 and served two terms.

Major General Henry Knox
(1750–1806). A Boston bookseller, Knox married Lucy Flucker, daughter of the royal secretary of Massachusetts, who remained loyal to the crown. Knox's career as the army's chief artillerist spanned almost all of the important campaigns. His first achievement was moving heavy cannon from Fort Ticonderoga three hundred miles to Boston in winter, where they ended the British siege. His last was making critical cannon emplacements at Yorktown. During Washington's presidency he served as secretary of war and was responsible for the creation of the military academy at West Point.

Colonel Thaddeus Kosciuszko
(1746–1817). Polish army officer who volunteered to serve in the Continental Army and was commissioned as colonel of engineers. He fortified the battleground at Saratoga and was in charge of transportation in the race for the Dan.

Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette
(1757–1834). In the summer of 1775 the idealistic young nobleman decided to join the American cause, knowing that Louis XVI would disapprove. Leaving France surreptitiously, he received a cold reception from Congress, but was commissioned a major general without command when he offered to serve as a volunteer. He joined Washington and, given increased responsibility, served with considerable distinction and was helpful in obtaining French troops to support Washington.

Colonel John Lamb
(1735–1800). Son of a reputed burglar who came to the colonies and became a successful mathematical instrument maker, Lamb was fluent in several languages, was a good speaker, and became a leader of New York's Sons of Liberty. Commissioned in the Continental Army, he was captured at Quebec in 1777. After release he commanded the artillery for Benedict Arnold at West Point.

Henry Laurens
(1724–1792). A South Carolinian of Huguenot descent, he made a fortune trading rice, hides, indigo, and slaves. He was elected to the Continental Congress in 1777 and became president, succeeding John Hancock the same year. In 1780, on a mission to seek a large loan from Holland, he was captured at sea and imprisoned in the Tower of London under conditions so severe that his health was impaired. After his release he was exchanged for Cornwallis and briefly joined Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, and John Adams as peace negotiator. His son John was one of the Revolution's last casualties.

John Laurens
(c. 1754–1782). Educated and married in England, he returned to America in 1777 and joined Washington as an aide. The General used him to help calm tensions between Americans and French officers and sent him on secret missions. Captured at Charleston, he was released and sent by Congress to Europe to raise money. In 1781 he was back with the army at Yorktown and helped Vicomte de Noailles negotiate surrender terms. He was killed in a minor skirmish in 1782.

Armand-Louis de Gontaut-Biron, Duc de Lauzun
(1747–1793). He brought to America a regiment of volunteers from at least fifteen foreign countries. Rochambeau picked him to carry the news of Yorktown to Versailles. A moderate who initially supported the French Revolution, he was condemned to die. Sharing a last meal with his executioner, he observed, “You need courage in prosecuting a trade like yours.”

Arthur Lee
(1740–1792). Educated in Edinburgh and London as a doctor and lawyer, he became a follower of John Wilkes, at whose house he met Beaumarchais and hatched a plan for French aid that resulted in the formation of Hortalez et Cie. A morbidly suspicious man, he joined Benjamin Franklin and Silas Deane in France and proceeded to accuse the latter of using his position for financial gain, ruining him.

Lieutenant Colonel Henry (“Light-Horse Harry”) Lee
(1756–1818). A member of the influential Lee family of Virginia, he became a brilliant cavalryman at an early age and was given his own legion by congressional resolution. A trusted friend of Washington, he was a lieutenant colonel at twenty-four. In 1781 he joined Greene in the Carolinas, where he and his troops distinguished themselves. After the war he served in Congress and as governor of Virginia, before unlucky land speculation landed him in debt and prison. He was the father of Robert E. Lee.

Richard Henry Lee
(1732–1794). After study in England he became a member of the House of Burgesses and an ally of Patrick Henry. In the Continental Congress he was close to John and Samuel Adams and was an advocate of attacks on the king rather than the ministry. Lee played a key role in persuading Virginia to send Congress resolutions for independence, and he signed the Declaration of Independence. He opposed adoption of the Constitution, arguing that it must have a bill of rights, and his proposals found their way into the first ten amendments.

Major General Alexander Leslie
(1731–1794). In a career marked more by personal courage than by performance, he served from 1775 to 1782, when he succeeded Cornwallis and oversaw the British evacuations of Charleston and Savannah.

Major General Benjamin Lincoln
(1733–1810). This Massachusetts farmer became a lieutenant colonel in the militia and commanded troops around Boston in the siege, where he impressed Washington. Congress appointed him a major general. He was badly wounded in the Saratoga campaign. As commander of the southern department, he had the bad luck to have his army abandoned by d'Estaing in Savannah, and he lost most of his forces at Charleston in 1779.

Louis XVI
(1754–1793). King of France at the age of twenty, he was finally persuaded by Vergennes to give secret aid to the colonies through Hortalez et Cie, and then approved the French alliance. He and his wife, Marie Antoinette, were sent to the guillotine in 1793.

Chevalier Anne-Cesar de La Luzerne
(1741–1791). He became France's minister to the United States in 1779 and, though he spoke little English, exerted a great influence. He oversaw the purchase of supplies for the French army and acted as go-between for Washington and Rochambeau.

James Madison
(1751–1836). A Princeton graduate whose keen interest in the controversy between the colonies and England fueled his desire to enter politics. As a delegate to the Virginia convention, he helped frame its constitution and bill of rights and was elected to the Continental Congress in 1780. After the war he wrote twenty-nine of the
Federalist Papers
and the Bill of Rights. He was Jefferson's secretary of state and his chosen successor as president from 1809 to 1817.

Colonel Francis Marion
(1732–1795). The “Swamp Fox” attained the rank of brigadier general of militia, but Congress never awarded him more than a colonelcy. His enormous skill in guerrilla tactics made him one of the most feared fighters in the South after all organized resistance there was destroyed, and he and his brigade (which included as many as 2,500 men) became the bane of British and loyalist forces.

George Mason
(1725–1792). A tidewater aristocrat, he served in the House of Burgesses before becoming an influential revolutionary figure through his political writings. With Madison he framed Virginia's constitution and bill of rights, which influenced the Declaration of Independence and French revolutionary thought. As a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, he refused to sign the final draft because of his opposition to slavery and his belief that it must have a bill of rights.

Brigadier General Alexander McDougall
(1732–1786). A Scot who emigrated to New York, as a boy he delivered milk from his father's cows, went to sea at an early age, and became a successful privateer and merchant. An active Son of Liberty, he was jailed for writing a controversial pamphlet and became known as the “Wilkes of America.” During the war he commanded at West Point after Benedict Arnold's treason; afterward he became a congressman and later president of the Bank of New York.