Yorktown Lt. Gen. Charles, Lord Cornwallis, commander Gen. George Washington, commander of the of the British forces surrendered at Yorktown. allied French and American army at Yorktown. Battlefield From an early engraving. The Storming of Redoubt No. 10, October 14, 1 781. From the painting by Louis Eugene Lami, 1840, showing General Lafayette's Light Infantry overrunning the British fieldwork. From the painting by Charles Willson Peale. K . VIRGINIA

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z The American War for Independence culminated always short-lived. The men who filled the Con­ the British commander in the South, saw Greene's thought the York River would provide suitable in the battle fought in and around the town of tinental ranks suffered a sorry day-to-day exis­ defeat as being essential to a successful British opportunity for either reinforcement or with­ York in 1781. From this came a new nation, the tence of too little food, too little clothing, and occupation of the Southern Colonies. When Corn­ drawal, with aid from the British Navy. United States of America, and a deeper under­ too much disease—an existence that was inter­ wallis moved to engage Greene, the American Cornwallis was dismayed when De Grasse's fleet standing of liberty and freedom in the western rupted only by the exciting agony of battle. general withdrew. The British followed, advancing blockaded the Chesapeake Bay and on Septem­ world. deeper and deeper into the interior. Steadily Fighting began in Massachusetts before George ber 5 defeated a British fleet attempting to break weakened by piecemeal engagements and hard­ Washington was given command of the ragtag the blockade. Soldiers in George Washington's army—like sol­ ships, the British pursued the Americans to the diers today—went to war for many reasons: Colonial forces, but his leadership eventually in­ Dan River on the western Virginia border. There By the end of September Washington had moved patriotism, escape, duty, community pressure, or spired the soldiers and welded the units into a Greene turned, and drew Cornwallis into a battle his army of 16,000 close to Yorktown where the adventure. Once in the army their immediate con­ loosely knit army. This army forced the British to at Guilford Courthouse. The British won the day, British were encamped in homes, in public build­ cerns were their next meal, their sore feet, the evacuate Boston early in 1776. The Redcoats, but at a terrible cost. Cornwallis was forced to ings, and on open fields behind earthen defenses. weather, news from home . . . and British musket however, merely moved to New York, and Wash­ withdraw to the North Carolina coast for rest and Washington's army worked diligently for 3 weeks, balls. But most of the soldiers believed that the ington was forced to abandon lower New York refitting. digging siege lines around the British position Revolutionary War had something to do with and New Jersey. The next year the Americans and bombarding the Redcoats with shot and shell freedom—with principles of self-government and were driven from Philadelphia. The loss of their The British commander then decided that Virginia from heavy cannon. The superior manpower and individual liberties. capital was made somewhat less painful by the was the key to successful occupation of the South artillery of the allied army, a futile British counter­ surrender of British Gen. John Burgoyne's whole and moved his army north in late spring of 1781. attack, and the loss of strategic Redoubts 9 and Such ideas were not new to the citizens and sol­ army at Saratoga in the autumn of 1777—an He raided almost at will in Virginia through the 10 in the night fighting of October 14 convinced diers of that day. The colonists who settled James­ event that also encouraged France to finally sign summer, checked only by the numerically inferior Cornwallis that he could hold out no longer. town in 1607 brought with them their "rights and an alliance with the hard-pressed Americans. forces under the Marquis de Lafayette. privileges" as Englishmen—rights which reached British, French, and American officers drew up back to the Magna Carta. Beginning with the first During the next 2 years no decisive advantage was In this highly indecisive manner the story of the surrender terms at the home of Augustine Moore representative legislative assembly at Jamestown gained by either side. Early 1780, however, Revolution in America drew near to Yorktown and on October 18. The next day the British sur­ in 1619, the English colonists became accustomed brought bitter despair to the American cause to a very decisive change of pace. rendered formally just beyond the siege lines in to a measure of self-government. As the years when Gen. Benjamin Lincoln surrendered his en­ a large open field, since known as Surrender Field. passed. Englishmen living in America began to tire patriot army after a lengthy siege at Charles­ THE SIEGE OF YORKTOWN With the surrender of Cornwallis and his whole speak of man's natural rights to life, liberty, and ton, S.C., and Gen. Horatio Gates, the victor at ADM In August 1781—with the Revolutionary War in army, British hopes of victory over the Americans property. In Williamsburg, for example, the Vir­ Saratoga, suffered total defeat at Camden, S.C. its seventh year—General Washington received collapsed. Two more years passed before the final ginia legislature in 1776 adopted a "Declaration of These blows staggered American hopes, but even word that a large French fleet commanded by peace treaty with Britain was ratified. But Wash­ Rights" proclaiming that "all men are by nature in despair the tide was turning. the Comte de Grasse would arrive soon in Vir­ ington and his men, if they looked back at all, equally free and independent." French troops under the Comte de Rochambeau ginia. After conferring with General Rochambeau, could see that the victory at Yorktown in reality When Americans believed their rights were being reinforced Washington's army in the North. In the Washington secretly began to move the bulk of ended the war. And the citizens and soldiers who infringed by Britain, they went to war. South, a band of frontiersmen killed or captured his allied American and French troops from their sacrificed so much could work out their own an entire British force at Kings Mountain. Na- camps in New York toward Virginia. He hoped that answers to questions of reconciling individual SIX YEARS OF WAR thanael Greene, who had replaced the hapless Cornwallis' army would still be there when he liberties with governmental authority, of bal­ Gates, was successfully rebuilding the patriot arrived. ancing freedom with discipline. Even today, the The historic path beginning at Breed's Hill in 1775 army of the South. Gen. Charles, Lord Cornwallis, search for workable answers continues. and leading to Yorktown in 1781 was long and Fortunately for the Americans. Cornwallis had painful. Those years were truly times that tried just taken his army into Yorktown, thus ending his American souls. Defeat was all too common, and extended campaign through the southern Colonies the elations that followed the few victories were and Virginia. Cornwallis expected to use York- town as a naval station and winter quarters. He SEEING YORKTOWN Soldiers and citizens line the road. To see the battlefield, encampment areas, and They watch the British march Yorktown itself, drive your own car and follow to Surrender Field. the red arrows. Markers along the drive identify "Present arms! points of interest. For a richer historical experi­ Lay down arms! ence, stop to explore on foot those areas which put off swords and cartridge-boxes!" look especially interesting to you. Is the long war over? Your first stop is the British Line just outside the No one knows. visitor center. You may wish to walk along the But many hope that Yorktown line, look out over the battlefield, and think about will mean independence, the American and French soldiers whose deter­ a chance for the new nation mination gave new meaning to the ideas of free­ to pursue its own destiny, dom and liberty. Remember also the British sol­ and a chance for each citizen diers caught in the swirl of history, of war, and of to build a new life. death. The paragraphs below—keyed by bold face type to areas on the map—are intended to provoke Those who want to see Washington's Headquar­ your thinking about the men and women who ters and the French Encampments, follow the made history at Yorktown. yellow arrows (gray on map) from Surrender Field. If you wish to return directly to Yorktown, con­ "The noise and thundering of the cannon, tinue to follow the red arrows. the distressing cries of the wounded..." Soldiers at the British Line "A gauche-alignement." Load! Aim! Fire! Commands at the Grand French Battery again and . . . again sound strange to American ears. trying not to think of what might happen, But American eyes see the results what is happening. and American hearts are thankful for the help. "We threw ourselves into the ditch at once, After the siege, and each one sought to mount the parapet." Thomas Nelson, Jr., rides into Yorktown. Attacking Redoubts 9 & 10 Five years earlier he signed American and French soldiers the Declaration of Independence move forward in darkness, pledging "our Lives, our Fortunes, muskets in hand, bayonets fixed, and our sacred Honor." trying not to think of what might happen, Now Nelson had lost his fortune what is happening. and his health.

"We worked hard on the batteries ..." Now he sees his town in ruins: Always the digging "great holes made by bombs . . . with pick, with shovel, most of the houses riddled by cannon fire with the special tools of warfare. and almost no window panes." The First Siege Line , Nelson remembers Yorktown the Second Siege Line, before the war: the blistered hands, the busy waterfront the aching muscles. with wharves, warehouses, and taverns, with ships arriving and departing; Inside Augustine Moore's House the handsome homes along Main Street weary officers argue surrender terms. "built in the modern taste," Tempers flare, and flare again! the churches, the courthouse, They stay longer than expected. and most of all the people— Outside planters, slaves, innkeepers, on the battlefield craftsmen, merchants, stillness prevails, his father and grandfather rumors fly, whose businesses grew soldiers wait. with Yorktown. The Encampments provided rest and food. But those days would never return. Time to fix a boot The town did not recover from the war. or write a letter home. And neither did Nelson. Time to think about the war His gravestone reads and wonder, why? "He gave all for liberty."