Plate 15
The Moore House, near Yorktown, Virginia.
May, 1862
Photographed by John Wood & James F. Gibson

In October, 1781, the commissioners appointed to arrange the terms of capitulation, between General Washington and Lord Cornwallis, met at this house. It is, however, generally believed that the draft there prepared, was signed in the trenches of Yorktown, over a mile away. When the Army of the Potomac invested Yorktown, the Moore House was in excellent preservation. It was far from a safe habitation, the rebel shells striking it several times; one, in particular, entered through the wall, and exploding inside, did considerable damage. Some of McClellan’s aides, who had been reconnoitering from the widows, had but a few seconds before [they] left the house. Much frequented was it by the sharpshooters, the orchard beyond offering fair opportunities to advance to the front unobserved. Stealing amongst the trees, purple with the bloom of the peach, the riflemen would proceed, at the first glimpse of dawn, while yet the mist hung in the air, to take a position, they would not dare to leave till night extended her friendly cover. With their heavy, telescope-sighted, rifles, they made deadly work among squirrel-shooters of Mississippi, who were driven to the exercise of great caution in their endeavors to retaliate upon the working parties.

Caption taken from original text, Plate 15, Vol. I,
Gardner's Photographic Sketch Book of the War
(Washington: Philp & Solomons, 1865-66)

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