The Legion in The Virginia Campaign
As Cornwallis shifted his communications to the Chesapeake and abandoned the Carolinas for Virginia, the British Legion cavalry under Tarleton raided ahead of the British army, nearly capturing Virginia Governor Thomas Jefferson and the Virginia General Assembly at Charlottesville. The Legion again engaged in widespread destruction to punish rebel sympathizers and deny material support to the Continental Army and government. In July 1781 occurred the skirmish Francisco's Fight between Peter Francisco and several of Tarleton's Raiders.
When Cornwallis occupied Yorktown, the Legion was posted across the York River at Gloucester, fought a skirmish with French troops there, and surrendered to the French at the conclusion of the siege. Lord Cornwallis sought terms of surrender that would have ensured no reprisals against the Loyalists in his army, but Washington refused to agree to them. Some of the men of the Legion were evacuated, sent with Cornwallis' dispatches to New York after the surrender. Some officers were paroled. Some enlisted men, and at least four officers who volunteered to stay with their troopers, were sent to a prison camp in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
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