On to Yorktown

On to Yorktown. Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route National Historical Trail. , On February 29, 1781 George Washington ordered the Marquis de Lafayette with 1,200 men from newly-established Light Infantry Corps to Virginia to counter Benedict Arnold's raids around Richmond. Lafayette arrived at the Head of Elk on March 3, and embarked his Force at Plum Point on March 8 for Annapolis. Sailing ahead with a small party on March 10, Lafayette reached Yorktown four days later. Here he was to cooperate with American forces under Baron von Steuben and a French Naval Force under the Chevalier de Touches sent from Rhode Island and some 1,100 French soldiers with the express purpose of capturing Arnold. Following an indecisive naval engagement with British Admiral Mariot Arbuthnot on March 16, the "First Battle of the Capes" the French squadron returned to Newport., Just as Lafayette was returning north and stopping at Mount Vernon along the way, a British fleet sailed into Chesapeake Bay on March 20. It carried Major-General William Phillips and more than 3,000 regular British troops. Upon arrival at Head of Elk on April 8, Lafayette received Washington's dispatch of April 6 instructing him to reverse course and to join his forces with those of Major-General Nathanael Greene in North Carolina. By the time Lafayette reached John Rodgers Tavern on the Susquehanna on April 12, however, he received new orders from Washington to remain in Virginia to fight Phillips' forces. Having crossed the Susquehanna on April 15 where he defused a mutiny of his fatigued force, Lafayette reached Baltimore on April 16, ahead of his troops which were encamped about 6 miles north of town near Rosedale., Entering the town alone he was warmly greeted with a grand banquet and ball in his Honor at the Assembly room on Gay and Market (Baltimore) Streets. During the Ball one of the ladies inquired why Lafayette appeared sad? He replied "I cannot enjoy the gayety of the scene, while so many of the poor soldiers are in want of clothes."" Continental quartermaster David Poe Sr. and Elizabeth Cairnes Poe (grandparents of Edgar Allen Poe) spearheaded the effort to turn the Assembly Room into a seamstress factory. Lafayette secured a line of credit from the merchants of Baltimore for 10,000 Dollars to re-equip his detachment. After leaving Baltimore on April 19, tragedy struck at Elkridge Landing when one of the barges overturned in the Patapsco River drowning some men. After camping in Elkridge, Bladensburg, and Georgetown, Lafayette finally arrived with his force in Richmond on April 29, 1781., Lafayette never forgot the effort from Baltimore. During his Grand Tour of America 1824-25 he met with Elizabeth Poe and visited the grave of her husband. He remembered: "Mr. David Poe who resided here in Baltimore when I was here, and of his own very limited means supplied me with 500 dollars to aid in clothing my troops, and whose wife with her own hands, cut out 500 pairs of pantaloons, and superintended the making of them for the use of my men." He said, pressing his hand on his breast "Your husband, was my friend, and the aid I received from you both was greatly beneficial to me and my troops."