midnight
Day after day passed and still the promised re-enforcements did not arrive . Lord Cornwallis was told positively that the fleet would set sail on October 8 , but it came not , nor did it leave port until the 19th , the day on which Lord Cornwallis surrendered . On the 16th , finding that he must either surrender or break through , he determined to cross the river and fall on the French rear with his whole force and then turn northward and force his way through Maryland , Pennsylvania , and the Jerseys . In the night the light infantry , the greater part of the guards , and part of the Twenty-third were embarked in boats and crossed to the Gloucester side of the river before midnight . At this critical moment a violent storm arose which prevented the boats returning . The enemy 's fire reopened at daybreak , and the engineer and principal officers of the army gave it as their opinion that it was impossible to resist longer . Only one eight-inch shell and a hundred small ones remained .