May 10th, 2021 … Summer of Fun continues!

The Battle of Yorktown, the last major engagement of the American Revolution, was a decisive victory for General George Washington’s Continental Army and the death toll for continued British occupation. Today, the site of the 1781 battle is protected by Colonial National Historical Park, near the banks of the York River on Virginia Peninsula.

Beginning at the park visitor center, we followed the Yorktown Battlefield Auto Tour as it weaves in and out of the British and Allied (American and French) lines, restored to mimic their appearance during the multi-week siege that ended in mid-October 1781.

We stopped at the location of the Grand French Battery on the Allied First Siege Line. A siege line is similar to a defensive earthwork, except that it is temporary and does not include any wooden fortifications. A trench is dug and the dirt is used to build a large, protective wall. To give the wall a firmer shape, the dirt is first piled into baskets called gabions—gabions are still used today to build retaining walls—which are then placed at the top of the trench and covered in additional dirt to complete the wall. Notches called embrasures are cut from the hill to create a slot out of which cannon can fire. The Grand French Battery was where the largest concentration of French artillery was located. 

The French manned the left flank of the siege line and the Americans the right side. The trench was dug from here all the way to the York River in the east in one night, October 6, 1781. Digging under the cover of darkness, the British never knew what was going on. The reason the trenches spanned such a wide area is so the British could not sneak around one side if they decided to break out and go on the offensive, which never happened. The line was not dug too much farther west because the forest and a water boundary prevented the British from advancing men and equipment on that side, and of course the east side of the line was anchored by the river. Once the siege line was dug, wooden batteries (platforms) that could support the artillery were constructed. All of this work was completed by the afternoon of October 9th. At that time, 30 French cannon opened fire on the British a half mile away, with the Americans firing from their end of the siege line as well. The British were pounded so heavily that they could only rarely fire back. This allowed work on the second siege line to begin the next day.

Our next stop was Redoubts 9 and 10. While the British inner defenses consisted of an unbroken line of earthworks with both ends anchored by the York River, its outer defenses were small, earthen forts placed at strategic points on the terrain, allowing the British advanced position troops to fire upon anyone approaching Yorktown. Two such forts, Redoubts 9 and 10, were located near the York River on the British left flank (right flank of the Americans). Redoubts 1 through 8 were part of the British inner line of defenses and no longer exist. The American siege lines were meant to run from the west all the way to the York River in the east. A shortened line would give the British the opportunity to go on the offensive and maneuver around the American right flank, engaging the allied forces from behind. The first line was completed successfully in one night, but Redoubts 9 and 10 stood in the way of the second line reaching the river. Thus, they would have to be attacked and captured.

On the night of October 14, 1781, the French stormed Redoubt 9 with approximately 400 men; the fort was defended by 120 British and German soldiers. An assault on Redoubt 10 happened simultaneously, carried out by American forces under the command of Alexander Hamilton, a Lieutenant Colonel in the army and a close adviser of George Washington. With him was Marquis de Lafayette and 400 men from the Continental Army. Defending the redoubt were 70 British troops. Both forts were captured within thirty minutes. With the redoubts out of the way, the second siege line was completed and a large American artillery battery was erected between the two forts.

We were driving along the American Approach Road. The steep banks of this ravine gave American troops protection from British cannon fire as they moved up to build and man the siege lines. French troops used a similar cover to the west.

One stop is at the Wormley Pond Dam, which was actually in existence during the war, having been built by Augustine Moore to power his grist mill. Moore is the owner of the Moore House, which is where we stopped next.

Our next stop was The Moore House, which still stands today, though it has been renovated and altered many times. It was nearly destroyed during the Civil War and stood falling apart by the time the National Park Service began a renovation in 1931. It was restored back to its 1781 appearance based on drawings and descriptions from the time, though very little of the house is actually from 1781. Some of the floors and door frames are original, but that’s about it. On October 17, 1781, after being bombarded at close range by both French and American artillery for eight days, British General Charles Cornwallis asked for a cease fire so that surrender terms could be negotiated. Talks took place the next day in the home of Augustine Moore. Washington and Cornwallis did not personally attend the talks, but sent two representatives each. The British were represented by Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Dundas and Major Alexander Ross, and the American-French alliance sent Lieutenant Colonel John Laurens and Colonel Viscount de Noailles. An agreement was reached late that night.

A cemetery is on the property, but most graves have nothing to do with the Moore Family. Two are from the 1780s—Mildred Jamison (1778) and John Turner (October 13, 1781)—and others are from the mid-1800s. Based on the research I dug up, Turner was a merchant who was watching the bombardment of Yorktown when he was accidentally killed. He was brought to the Moore House for medical attention, where he died. For whatever reason, he was buried in the Moore family cemetery. His epitaph hints that he was killed by a stray bullet: Ah cruel ball so sudden to disarm and tare my tender husband from my arms…

The last stop on the Yorktown Battlefield Tour is the field where 7,000 British soldiers surrendered to the American and French armies on October 19, 1781. Back in the day when people were honest and had honor, soldiers who surrendered would march to a designated location with weapons on their shoulders, and upon reaching the location, they would lay them down. There was no last minute ambushes or shootouts. If you said you were surrendering, you surrendered. People were so honest and dignified back then that if you were captured, particularly if you were an officer, you were often let go if you promised not to fight again. Called “parole,” this was a practice even during the Civil War. Another thing that was important to soldiers back then was to surrender with dignity, “the full honors of war.” If allowed to do so, the surrendering army could march to the surrender site with its regimental flags on display and its band playing a military march of the victor. As it turns out, one of the sticking points when it came to surrender terms was that the Americans would not let Cornwallis surrender with dignity, which was a great insult. A year earlier when the British had captured Charleston, the American army was not allowed to surrender with dignity, so this was George Washington’s way of setting things right. After arguing all day and night about this point back at the Moore House, the British finally had to agree, either that or go on taking a pounding from the French and American artillery. Claiming illness, Cornwallis did not attend the surrender.

At the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown, everyone will identify with the stories of ordinary people in an extraordinary time, a time when subjects of a king become citizens of a nation. The museum’s award-winning introductory film, catch “Liberty Fever.” The film draws visitors into the world of Revolutionary America and sets the stage for indoor gallery and outdoor living-history experiences.  It is narrated by an early 19th-century storyteller who has traveled the country gathering stories about the American Revolution and shares his accounts using a moving panorama presentation of the time period. The film received the American Alliance of Museum’s 2017 Gold MUSE Award.

The American Revolution timeline, bordering a 22,000-square-foot exhibition gallery, provides a visual journey from the 13 British colonies in the 1750s to westward expansion of the new United States in the 1790s. A nearby wall display, “I Was There,” features seven individuals who lived during the Revolution and survived long enough to have their likenesses preserved in the mid-19th century by the new technology of photography. 

Acquisitions, all selected to illustrate specific exhibit themes, include such iconic artifacts as a Declaration of Independence broadside dating to July 1776; a June 1776 Pennsylvania Gazette printing of the Virginia Declaration of Rights, which directly influenced the composition of the U.S. Declaration of Independence; an official portrait of King George III in his coronation robes; an eagle-pommel sword inscribed with the year 1776 and the name of its owner; one of the earliest known portraits done from life of an African who had been enslaved in the British colonies that became the United States; and a first edition of Phillis Wheatley’s 1773 “Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral,” the first book to be published by an African American. The expansive galleries engage visitors in the tumult, drama and promise of the American Revolution through firsthand encounters with objects made and used by people of the period and an array of sensory experiences – re-created immersive environments, dioramas, interactive exhibits, video presentations and an experiential theater.

“The Siege of Yorktown” film features portrayals of allied Generals Washington and Rochambeau, British General Cornwallis as well as Alexander Hamilton in his first military role in the Continental Army and his famous words – “Rush On Boys!” – as the militia secures Redoubts 9 and 10.

“The American People” portion of the museum explores the emergence of a new national identity following the Revolution – influenced by immigration, internal migration, and demographic, political and social changes. This section explicitly compares and contrasts America after the Revolution with America before the Revolution, and shows how our nation’s struggle for independence impacted not just America, but the world.

The monument is actually called the Yorktown Victory Monument, and commemorates British General Cornwallis’s surrender to the Franco-American alliance at Yorktown on October 19, 1781. This battle was such a huge turning point in the Revolutionary War, and though some smaller battles at sea and elsewhere took place after this surrender, historians quote this date as the end of fighting in America during the war. Negotiations for peace began the next year, and finally on September 3, 1783 the Treaty of Paris was signed, officially naming the United States as an Independent nation. It seems the American government knew the significance of this battle, for just ten days after the surrender Congress put forward a resolution to build a monument on the site: “…adorned with emblems of the alliance between the United States and his Most Christian Majesty; and inscribed with a succinct narrative of the surrender of earl Cornwallis to his excellency General Washington, Commander in Chief of the combined forces of America and France…”

However, it took a hundred years for such a monument to come about! There were new pushes and proposals to build it in 1834 and 1836, but due to financial constraints, especially with the construction of the Washington Monument in D.C., the project was put off. As the Centennial of Yorktown approached, though, interest began to grow, and on October 18, 1881, almost 100 years to the day, the cornerstone was laid.

Rain precluded us from walking around downtown Yorktown, but we did see this awesome mural on the wall of Read Street as we drove around.

Stay tuned, as our adventures continue!