The New Hampshire Gazette And General Advertiser

It is generally allowed that the military talents of Lord Cornwallis are superior to those of any British general hitherto employed in America: It is at the same time very certain that the cruelty of his conduct has been more than equal to that of any British commander. They have all acted in the spirit of their nation, the fierce, the revengeful, the oppressive and unrelenting spirit that dictated the war, and all the horrid measures of it on their part. In this Spirit Lord Cornwallis has stood foremost; and in this dishonorable station will he go down to posterity in faithful history. It is no unmanly severity towards a captured enemy to assert that his Lordship has given too many flagrant and undeniable proofs of his inhumanity at the southward, to allow him ever to be ranked among the truly great. These instances are said to have been more rare in Virginia than in the Carolinas: But even in Virginia there have been enough to stain the character of his Lordship with indelible infamy. It is sufficient only to mention the method he took to communicate the small pox to the allied army, and the militia of Virginia as they were approaching York Town by leaving in their way inoculated negroes, and every thing prepared to spread the infection. The fact is known to the whole army, and to all Virginia; though some of his Lordship's friends without denying it, have only said that he knew nothing of the matter, and lay the whole blame upon Gen. O'Hara. That Gen. O'Hara might be capable of this act of inhumanity, so contrary to the laws of war among civilized nations, we do not dispute: But that he should dare to execute it, knowing it would be disagreeable to the commander in chief, is not to be believed.