British Inner Defenses “the Hornwork”

Defenses like this sheltered British General Charles Cornwallis’ force of around 7,000 men. They were not strong enough to resist days of Allied bombardment, however, and when the Royal Navy was unable to break through, Cornwallis knew by 17 October that he had to surrender. At 10 a.m., a drummer boy mounted these works beneath a white flag and beat the signal for parley.

Cornwallis attempted one last gambit on the night of 16 October. He tried to move his remaining effective troops across the York River to Gloucester Point, hoping to make a rapid march toward New York. Lack of suitable craft and a sudden storm ended this plan. “We at that time could not fire a single gun . . .” wrote Cornwallis. “Our numbers had been diminished by the enemy’s fire, but particularly by sickness, and the strength and spirits of those in the works were much exhausted by the fatigue of constant watching and unremitting duty.” The British attempt to destroy the Revolution in Virginia had ended in complete and utter disaster. 

Philbrick, 226