[Diary entry: 21 August 1781]

21st. In the course of this day the whole of the American Troop, all their baggage, artillery & Stores, crossed the river. Nothing remained of ours but some Waggons in the Commissary’s & Qr. Mr. Generals departmt., which were delayed, that no interruption might be given to the passage of the French Army.

During the passing of the French Army I mounted 30 flat Boats (able to carry about 40 Men each) upon carriages—as well with a design to deceive the enemy as to our real movement, as to be useful to me in Virginia when I get there.

Some of the french Artillery wch. preceeded their Infantry got to the ferry & crossed it also.1

1. Both the French and American armies left camp at Philipsburg on 19 Aug. but took different routes to King’s Ferry (Clermont-Crèvecoeur in RICE description begins Howard C. Rice, Jr., and Anne S. K. Brown, eds. The American Campaigns of Rochambeau’s Army, 1780, 1781, 1782, 1783. 2 vols. Princeton, N.J., 1972. description ends , 1:40). For descriptions of the march, see CLOSEN description begins Evelyn M. Acomb, ed. The Revolutionary Journal of Baron Ludwig von Closen, 1780–1783. Chapel Hill, N.C., 1958. description ends , 106–8; TRUMBULL [1] description begins “Minutes of Occurrences respecting the Siege and Capture of York in Virginia, extracted from the Journal of Colonel Jonathan Trumbull, Secretary to the General, 1781.” Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society 14 (1875-76): 331–38. description ends , 331–32; DEUX-PONTS description begins Samuel Abbott Green, ed. My Campaigns in America: A Journal Kept by Count William de Deux-Ponts, 1780–81. Boston, 1868. description ends , 121–24.

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Source Project: Washington Papers
Title: [Diary entry: 21 August 1781]
Author: Washington, George
Date: 21 August 1781

Reference

Cite as: “[Diary entry: 21 August 1781],” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/01-03-02-0007-0004-0015. [Original source: The Diaries of George Washington, vol. 3, 1 January 1771–5 November 1781, ed. Donald Jackson. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1978, pp. 413–414.]