WASHINGTON AT YORKTOWN
BY HENRY CABOT LODGE
During the assault Washington stood in an
embrasure of the grand battery, watching the
advance of the men. He was always given to
exposing himself recklessly when there was
fighting to be done, but not when he was only an
observer.
This night, however, he was much exposed to
the enemy's fire. One of his aides, anxious and
disturbed for his safety, told him that the place
was perilous.
``If you think so,'' was the quiet answer, ``you
are at liberty to step back.''
The moment was too exciting, too fraught with
meaning, to think of peril. The old fighting spirit
of Braddock's field was unchained for the last
time. He would have liked to head the American
assault, sword in hand, and as he could not do
that, he stood as near his troops as he could,
utterly regardless of the bullets whistling in the
air about him. Who can wonder at his intense
excitement at that moment?
Others saw a brilliant storming of two out-
works, but to Washington the whole Revolution
and all the labor and thought and conflict of six
years were culminating in the smoke and din on
those redoubts, while out of the dust and heat of
the sharp, quick fight success was coming.
He had waited long, and worked hard, and his
whole soul went out as he watched the troops
cross the abatis and scale the works. He could
have no thought of danger then, and when all was
over, he turned to Knox and said:--
``The work is done, and well done. Bring me
my horse.'' |