Washington was delighted. "Few cases," he said,
"have exhibited greater proofs of intrepidity, coolness, and firmness
than were shown on this occasion." On the 17th, when Washington received
the proposition for surrender from Cornwallis, he sent for Hamilton and
asked his opinion of the terms. To Laurens was given the honour of
representing the American army at the conference before the surrender.
Tilghman rode, express haste, to Philadelphia with the first news of the
surrender of Cornwallis and his army.
Hamilton's description of his part in the conquest that virtually put an
end to the war is characteristic.
Two nights ago, my Eliza [he wrote], my duty and my honour obliged
me to take a step in which your happiness was too much risked. I
commanded an attack upon one of the enemy's redoubts; we carried it
in an instant and with little loss. You will see the particulars in
the Philadelphia papers. There will be, certainly, nothing more of
this kind; all the rest will be by approach; and if there should be
another occasion, it would not fall to my turn to execute it.
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