of the Boston squadron, Washington wrote a letter, which De Rochambeau signed with him, urging De Barras to turn his fleet toward the Chesapeake.  It was a skillfully drawn missive, an adroit mingling of appeals to honor and sympathy and of vigorous demands to perform an obvious duty.  The letter did its work, the diplomacy of Washington was successful, and De Barras suppressed his feelings of disappointment, and agreed to go to the Chesapeake and serve under De Grasse.

This point made, Washington pushed on his preparations, or rather pushed on despite his lack of preparations, and on August 17, as has been said, wrote to De Grasse to meet him in the Chesapeake.  He left the larger part of his own troops with Heath, to whom in carefully drawn instructions he intrusted the grave duty of guarding the Hudson and watching the British in New York.  This done, he gathered his forces together, and on August 21 the army started on its march to the south.  On the 23d and 24th it crossed the Hudson, without annoyance from the British of any kind.  Washington had threatened New York so effectively, and manoeuvred so successfully, that Clinton could not be shaken in his belief that the real object of the Americans was his own army; and it was not until September 6 that he fully realized that his enemy was going to the south, and that Cornwallis was in danger.  He even then hesitated and delayed, but finally dispatched Admiral Graves with the fleet to the Chesapeake.  The Admiral came upon the French early on September 5, the very day that Washington was rejoicing in the news that De Grasse had arrived in the Chesapeake and had landed St. Simon and three thousand men to support Lafayette.  As soon as the English fleet appeared, the French, although many of their men were on shore, sailed out and gave battle.  An indecisive action ensued, in which the British suffered so much that five days later they burned one of their frigates and withdrew to New York.  De Grasse returned to his anchorage, to find that De Barras had come in from Newport with eight ships and ten transports carrying ordnance.

While everything was thus moving well toward the consummation of the campaign, Washington, in the midst of his delicate and important work of breaking camp and beginning his rapid march to the south, was harassed by the ever-recurring difficulties of the feeble and bankrupt government of the confederation.  He wrote again and again to Morris for money, and finally got some.  His demands for men and supplies remained almost unheeded, but somehow he got provisions enough to start.  He foresaw the most pressing need, and sent messages in all directions for shipping to transport his army down the Chesapeake.  No one responded, but still he gathered the transports; at first a few, then more, and finally, after many delays, enough to move his army to Yorktown.  The spectacle of such a struggle, so heroically made, one would think, might have inspired every soul on the continent with enthusiasm; but at