tarnished the glory of victory by the inhuman use he made of it.  Instead of respecting, with the generous spirit of a soldier, the gallantry which he had subdued, he indulged the vindictive feelings which had been roused by the slaughter of his troops.  In the account given of this affair by Governor Trumbull to General Washington, he says, “The sword presented by Colonel Ledyard was immediately plunged into his bosom, and the carnage was kept up until the greater part of the garrison was killed or wounded.”

In this fierce assault, Colonel Eyre was killed, and Major Montgomery, the second in command, also fell, as he entered the American works.  The total loss of the assailants was not much less than two hundred men.

The town of New London, and the stores contained in it, were consumed by fire.  To escape the odium which invariably attends the wanton destruction of private property, this fire was attributed to accident; but all the American accounts unite in declaring it to have been intentional.

[Sidenote:  September 6.]

The march of General Washington was not arrested by this excursion into New England.  Having made the arrangements for the transportation of his army down the Chesapeake, he proceeded in person to Virginia, attended by the Count de Rochambeau, and the Chevalier de Chatelleux; and, on the 14th of September, reached Williamsburg[84] accompanied by Rochambeau, Chatelleux, Knox, and Du Portail, he immediately repaired to the fleet, and a plan of co-operation was adjusted on board the Ville de Paris, conforming to his wish in every respect, except that the Count de Grasse declined complying with a proposition to station some of his ships in the river above Yorktown, thinking it too hazardous.

[Footnote 84:  While the American troops were encamped at Williamsburg and the French fleet lay in the bay, the Count de Grasse, circumscribed in point of time, and therefore, unwilling to await the arrival of the army from the north, urged Lafayette to attack the British in Yorktown; offering to aid him not only with all the marines of the fleet, but with as many seamen as he should require.  The Marquis de St. Simon, an officer of great experience, united himself with the admiral in pressing this measure.  He stated that, the works of Cornwallis being incomplete, Yorktown and Gloucester might, in all probability, be carried by storm, if attacked by superior numbers.  The temptation was great for a young general scarcely twenty-four years of age.  A full excuse for the attempt was found in the declaration of De Grasse, that he could not wait for the arrival of the troops from the north.  Success would have given unrivaled brilliancy to the reputation of Lafayette, but would necessarily have cost much blood.  Lafayette refused to sacrifice the soldiers which were confided to him to his personal glory, and persuaded De Grasse to await the arrival of Washington and Rochambeau, when the capture of Cornwallis would be certainly made without the waste of human life.—­Cor. with Lafayette.]