Why do we celebrate July 4th? Yeah, I know - it’s the day the Declaration of Independence was signed. But, really, isn’t it only a declaration? Were we really free? Were we really independent? Not with all those British soldiers roaming around. So, why don’t we celebrate September 3, 1783 when the Treaty of Paris was signed ending the Revolutionary War? Or October 19, 1781 when Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown? It’s one thing to declare your independence, it’s another to actually earn it. In this case, it took 7 years between the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and independence itself in 1783.
Can you guess where we are today? You got it - we’re here in Yorktown to walk the battlefield, see the lines that the British and Americans took, and understand the place of this victory in the history of America. Have we been here before? Yep, but that was long ago and far away. Gary and I were newly married, wondering if it would last longer than tomorrow and taking one of our first real vacations. We drove our new hatchback Datsun, filled with our clothes and plans for visiting some of America’s historic sites. We stayed in a 2-car garage that someone had converted into a very large nice extended stay room. How in the world we ever discovered this accommodation, I’ll never know - I must have used Gary’s IPhone and found it through Trip Advisor.
There, that’s it. That’s all we can remember about this trip. We’d better revisit these sites. And, here we are, in Yorktown where General George Washington and Comte de Rochambeau (on the left below) from France defeated General Cornwallis of England (0n the right below).
Cornwallis and his troops had marched up from North Carolina with American ally Marquis de Lafayette nipping at his heels. Poor George, who had had some demoralizing defeats and was looking for any good news, snuck out of New York where he was facing British General Clinton. He kept lots of tents in place and some troops that continued to drill and moved the rest of his troops at night out of New York to march the 450 miles to York, VA Up at 3 am and on the march by 4 am. His ruse worked, Clinton thought he was still in New York and thus kept all of his troops there as well.
Here’s Washington with Layfayette and Tench Tilghman of the American army in this Charles Willson Peale painting of Yorktown.
In the town of York, the British had built fortifications and had 8300 men. Cornwallis, his troops decimated by smallpox had ordered smallpox contaminated clothing strewn along the road from Williamsburg to Yorktown but Washington had heard about this and ordered his men not to touch this. Washington had 5500 men, Rochambeau had 7000 and the Virginia Militia had 3500 and had the British surrounded on 3 sides. The 4th was the high bluff over the river.
In the bay, outside of the town of York, VA, the French Adm. Comte de Grasse and the British Adm. Graves had fought to a draw but Graves withdrew to New York to repair his ships. That left the French in control of the bay and they immediately began to unload all of their artillery to help the French/American armies. And, what magnificent artillery it was. Heavy siege pieces that could fire 24-lb cannon balls. Here’s one of their pieces.
The British had their 16-lb field cannon, that could be easily moved along with the army from battle to battle. Here’s one of them.
The difference is obvious. Which side would you rather be on?
After 9 days of intense, round-the-clock bombardment that wrecked the town and the British lines, Cornwallis requested a cease-fire to discuss surrender terms. 2 days later ‘he’ formally surrendered. Well, actually, Cornwallis was ‘sick’ and his second in command actually surrendered. The British soldiers, considered the finest in the world, marched out to the surrender field between the lines of their traditional, hated enemy the French and the country-bumpkin Americans. Many of them had tears in their eyes as they laid down their muskets.
This is John Trumbull’s painting The Surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, VA. On the right are the American troops, on the left are the French, British Brigadier General Charles O’Hara is surrendering the British army to Maj. General Benjamin Lincoln on the white horse. Since Cornwallis was not present at the surrender, neither Washington on the brown horse center right nor Rochambeau on the brown horse center left took part in the surrender.
It’s been said that the British band played ‘The World Turned Upside Down’, a popular tune in England but whether this is true or not is lost to history. But the British world had been turned upside down. this victory secured independence for the US and significantly altered world history. Though the Treaty of Paris was not signed for 2 more years and even though several minor battles were fought after this, the battle of Yorktown signified the end. The Declaration of Independence had been earned and the US was an independent country.
We listened to the amazing Ranger Talk, walked the battle field and looked at the British and the American/French lines. Here is one of the British redoubts, part of their outer defensive line. There were 2 redoubts that the British still held but on the evening of October 14, the Americans with muskets empty (for surprise) and bayonets drawn attacked from the right in this picture and overran the redoubt in 10 minutes. The French overran the second and the British were driven back to their inner defenses. Attacking this redoubt must have been harrowing, into the ditch, up the hill against the pointed logs, over the top and into the British position. Walking a battlefield certainly gave me a much better understanding of the difficulties of the battle and how brave the soldiers were. They were not untrained shopkeepers, clerks and farmers any more. They were the Continental Army and, with the French, they had beaten the British and had won their independence.
‘Chocolate is cheaper than therapy and you don’t need an appointment’
Anonymous
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