Major General Lafayette to George Washington, 28 June 1781
From Major General Lafayette
Camp [Va.] 28 june 1781
My dear General
inclosed I Have the Honor to Send you Copy of my letter to General Greene1—the Ennemy Have Been So kind as to Retire Before us—twice I gave them a chance of fighting (taking Care not to Engage farther than I pleased) But they Continued their Retrog[r]ade Motions—our Numbers are I think Ex[a]ggerated to them, and our Seeming Boldness Confirms the opinion.
I thought at first Lord Cornwallis Wanted to get me as low down as possible and Use His Cavalry to Advantage—But it Appears He does not as yet Come out, and our position Will admit of partial affairs—His Lordship Had (exclusive of the Reinforcement from portsmouth Said 600) 4000 Men 800 of whom dragoons or Mounted infantry—our force is About Equal to His But only 1500 Regulars and 50 dragoons our little Action More particularly Marks the Retreat of the Ennemy2—from the place He first Began to Retire to Williamsburg is upwards of 100 Mile—the old arms at the point of fork Have Been taken out of the Water3—the Cannon Has Been thrown in the River Undamaged when they Marched Back to Richmond—So that His Lordship did us no Harm of Any Consequence lost an immense part of His former Conquests and did not Make Any in this State—General greene demanded of me only to Hold My ground in Virginia—But the Movements of Lord Cornwallis May Answer Better purposes than that in the political line.4
Adieu, My dear General, I don’t know But what we shall in our turn Become the pursued Ennemy and in the mean while Have the Honor to Be Most Respectfully and affectionately Yours
Lafayette
ALS, DLC:GW; copy, PEL. GW’s secretary Jonathan Trumbull, Jr., docketed the ALS: “inclosing Copy to Genl Greene—&c.—from Tarlton—& Return of killed &ca.” The enclosures have not been identified, but when Lafayette wrote Samuel Huntington, president of Congress, on this date he enclosed a copy of an intercepted letter from British lieutenant colonel Banastre Tarleton to Lt. Gen. Charles Cornwallis and a return of killed, wounded, and missing (see DNA:PCC, item 156). When he wrote GW on 6 July, Huntington forwarded Lafayette’s letter (DLC:GW).
The letter from Tarleton to Cornwallis, written at 4:30 P.M. on 13 June, reported the movements of Lafayette’s command and the progress of Tarleton’s force along “the 3 notched road. … La Fayette’s design is to follow. I will immediately inform your Lordship if he does not keep a proper distance. any detachment I shall strike at” (DNA:PCC, item 156).
The undated “Return of the killed, wounded, and missing of the Light corps under Col. Butler, in the action of the 26th June 1781,” listed two captains, two lieutenants, and ten privates wounded; two lieutenants, one sergeant, and six privates killed; one lieutenant and twelve privates missing; and one sergeant and one private made prisoners but since returned (DNA:PCC, item 156, filed under 28 June; see also n.1 below).
1. Lafayette presumably enclosed his letter to Greene written “20 Miles from Williamsburg” on 27 June. It reported that on 18 June “the British army moved towards us, with design as I apprehend to strike at a detached Corps commanded by Genl. Muhlenberg. Upon this the light infantry & Pensylvanians marched under Genl. Wayne when the Enemy retired into Town. The day following I was joined by Genl. de Steubens troops, and on the night of the 20th. Richmond was evacuated. Having followed the Enemy our light Parties fell in with them near N. Kent Court House. The Army was Still at a distance and Ld. Cornwallis continued his rout towards Williamsburg. His rear and right flank were covered by a large corps Commanded by Colo. Simcoe. I pushed forward a Detachment under Colo. Butler, but notwithstanding a fatiguing march the Colo. reports that He cou’d not have overtaken them had not Major McPherson mounted 50 light Infantry behind an equal Number of Dragoons which coming up with the Enemy charged them within Six Miles of Williamsburg. Such of the advanced Corps as arrived to their support composed of Riflemen under Major Call and Majr. Willis began a smart Action. Inclosed is the return of our loss. That of the Enemy is about 60 killed including several officers and One Hundred Wounded, a disproportion which the skill of our Riflemen easily explains. …
“Genl. Wayne who had marched to the support of Colo. Butler sent down some troops under Majr. Hamilton. The whole British Army came out to save Simcoe, and on the arrival of our Army upon this ground returned to Williamsburg. The post they now occupy is strong and under protection of their shiping, but upwards of One Hundred miles from the Point of Fork” (, 4:216–17; see also the source note above).
In his account of the clash at Spencer’s Tavern on 26 June, British commander Lt. Col. John Graves Simcoe claimed that his troops suffered far fewer casualties (see , 227–37; see also , 308–12, and , 289–90). A modern estimate based on contemporary sources puts British casualties at thirty-three and American casualties at nine killed, fourteen wounded, and thirty-two captured (see , 87).
2. Gen. Henry Clinton had written Cornwallis from New York City on 11 June about an anticipated allied concentration. “Thus circumstanced, I am persuaded your Lordship will be of opinion that the sooner I concentrate my force the better. … I beg leave to recommend it to you, as soon as you have finished the active operations you may be engaged in, to take a defensive station in any healthy situation you chuse (be it at Williamsburg or York Town). And I would wish in that case that, after reserving to yourself such troops as you may judge necessary for an ample defensive and desultory movements by water for the purpose of annoying the enemy’s communications destroying magazines etc,” specified troops “may be sent to me in succession as you can spare them” (, 5:95–97, quotes on 96). Cornwallis replied to Clinton from Williamsburg on 30 June: “Your Excellency being charged with the weight of the whole American war, your opinions of course are less partial and are directed to all its parts. To those opinions it is my duty implicitly to submit. … I have therefore lost no time in taking measures for complying with the requisition” (, 5:104–7, quotes on 105–6).
3. For the raid on Point of Fork, see Richard Henry Lee to GW, 12 June, and notes 3 and 9.
4. Benjamin Gilbert, an officer with Lafayette’s detachment, wrote his father, Daniel, from Newcastle, Va., on 3 July: “I injoye my health, but am so Fatigued by an insessant marching that should it continue I fear I shall be relaxed and reduced to that degre I shall not be able to do duty in the Field.
“Cornwallis (after we had Retreated to the Blue Ridg) had penetrated as far into the Countrey as he pleased, and plundered the Inhabitents of all their goods, Cattle Horses etc., takeing upwards of a 1000 Negroes with him, began to move back towards Portsmouth to carry off his Negroes and plunder. As he moved back we followed after, and mainovered round with an intention to take some of their out parties, but Cornwallis is too great a general to be surprised. He has now made a stop at Williamsburg wheir he sais he will rest his troops and send away his Negroes and plunder and then take another turn into some other part of this state. …
“The enemy by the best accounts are upwards of six Thousand strong, and we at most not more than five twenty Hundred except some few militia” (, 45; see also Lafayette to GW, 10 June, n.1).
5. Lafayette’s aide-de-camp George Augustine Washington, GW’s nephew, had been ill (see Lafayette to GW, 18 June, postscript).
6. Lafayette’s aide-de-camp William Langborn was a relative of Martha Washington.
GW replied to Lafayette on 13 July (DLC:GW).