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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE SURRENDER OF CORNWALLIS by ANONYMOUS

First Line: "COME, ALL YE BOLD AMERICANS, TO YOU THE TRUTH"
Last Line: AND WITH THE ARMS OF FREEDOM CAUSE THE WARS THEY ARE ALL O'ER
Subject(s): U.S. - HISTORY;
COME, all ye bold Americans, to you the truth I tell,
"T is of a sad disaster, which late on Britain fell;
'T was near the height of Old Yorktown, where the cannons
loud did roar,
A summons to Cornwallis, to fight or else give o'er.

A summons to surrender was sent unto the lord,
Which made him feel like poor Burgoyne
and quickly draw his sword,
Saying, "Must I give o'er those glittering troops, those
ships and armies too,
And yield to General Washington, and his brave noble crew?"

A council to surrender this lord did then command;
"What say you, my brave heroes, to yield you must depend;
Don't you hear the bomb-shells flying, boys, and the
thundering cannon's roar?
De Grasse is in the harbor, and Washington's on shore."

'T was on the nineteenth of October, in the year of ''1,
Cornwallis did surrender to General Washington;
Six thousand chosen British troops march'd out and grounded arms;
Huzza, ye bold Americans, for now sweet music charms.

Six thousand chosen British troops to Washington resign'd,
Besides some thousand Hessians that could not stay behind;
Both refugees and Tories all, when the devil gets his due,
O now we have got thousands, boys, but then we should have few.

Unto New York this lord has gone, surrendering you see,
And for to write these doleful lines unto his majesty;
For to contradict those lines, which he before had sent,
That he and his brave British crew were conquerors querors
where they went.

Here's a health to General Washington, and his brave noble crew,
Likewise unto De Grasse, and all that liberty pursue;
May they scourge these bloody tyrants, all from our Yankee shore,
And with the arms of Freedom cause the wars they are all o'er.



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