h did not afford an active friend. No intelligence could be
obtained, and no communication could be established. On May 25th the
army reached Petersburg, where the united force amounted to six thousand
men. The army then proceeded to Portsmouth, and when preparing to cross
the river at St. James' Island, the Marquis de Lafayette, ignorant of
their number, with two thousand men, made a gallant attack. After a
sharp resistance he was repulsed, and the night approaching favored his
retreat. After this skirmish the British army marched to Portsmouth, and
thence to Yorktown, where a position was taken on the York river on
August 22nd.

From the tables given by lord Cornwallis, in his "Answer to the
Narrative of Sir Henry Clinton"[172] the following condition of the 71st
at different periods on the northward march, is extracted:

January 15, 1781, 1st Battalion 249 2nd Battalion 237 Light Company 69
February 1, 1781, " --- " 234 ----
March 1, 1781, " --- " 212 ----
April 1, 1781, " --- " 161 ----
May 1, 1781, Two Battalions 175
June 1, 1781, Second Battalion 164
July 1, 1781, " " 161
August 1, 1781, " " 167
Sept. 1, 1781, " " 162
Oct. 1, 1781, " " 160

The encampment at Yorktown was formed on an elevated platform, nearly
level, on the bank of the river, and of a sandy soil. On the right of
the position, extended from the river, a ravine of about forty feet in
depth, and more than one hundred yards in breadth; the center was formed
by a horn-work of entrenchments; and an extensive redoubt beyond the
ravine on the right, and two smaller redoubts on the left, also advanced
beyond the entrenchments, constituted the principal defences of the
camp.

On the morning of September 28, 1781, the combined French and American
armies, twelve thousand strong, left Williamsburg by different roads,
and marched towards Yorktown, and on the 30th the allied armies had
completely invested the British works. Batteries were erected, and
approaches made in the usual manner. During the first four days the fire
was directed against the redoubt on the right, which was reduced to a
heap of sand. On the left the redoubts were taken by storm and the guns
turned on the other parts of the entrenchments. One of these redoubts
had been manned by some soldiers of