A Buss from Lafayette

Dancing away from Danger

"While retreating in the face of a far superior force, he burned bridges, tossed felled trees across roads, and dispatched snipers to harass British regiments. He managed to stay one step ahead of his pursuers, proudly recalling later (in the habitual third person of his memoirs), 'The Americans withdrew so that the enemy’s vanguard arrived on the ground just as they had left it, and without compromising themselves, they delayed its progress as much as possible.'” Lafayette also encouraged his men to smear charcoal on their faces and keep up a continuous string of surprise attacks—firing sudden volleys, then disappearing into the forest. 'I have made an army of devils,” Lafayette said, “and have given them plenty of absolution.' As the days stretched into weeks, the morale of Lafayette’s men improved, while British morale inversely deteriorated. The British soldiers suffered from the heat, mosquitoes, and diseases of backwoods Virginia. They became more exhausted and disgruntled with each passing day. By the last week of June 1781, the boy had successfully escaped Cornwallis. The British lines were too far extended, so they broke off pursuit and fell back toward the coast."—Mike Duncan, Hero of Two Worlds