The time is October, 1781. The place is Yorktown, Virginia. The ensuing battle is the turning point of the Revolutionary War. George Washington and the Comte de Grasse recognize that the British have been caught in their snare.
By 1781, the Continental Army was teetering on the verge of collapse. Benjamin Franklin had sought the aid of the French while serving as ambassador at the court of Louis XVI. For France, an alliance was not a matter of American liberty, but a way of getting back at the British.
With New England and the Middle Colonies still not captured, the British look to a Southern strategy in order to rally support from loyalists in Dixie. General Lord Charles Cornwallis leads the Southern campaign. Cornwallis is serving under General Henry Clinton, who is the commander of British forces in North America. Clinton famously said that "we need to win the hearts and subdue the minds" in America.
The Southern campaign is brutal for the Americans with possibly the greatest single defeat of the war in the city of Charlestown. But the ol' swamp fox, Francis Marion, leads a force of guerilla fighters, taking a homegrown, cagey approach to fighting. General Nathaniel Greene engages Cornwallis in a cat-and-mouse game. Slowly, the Americans are bleeding the British. At Buford Court House, the face-to-face battle is a standoff, but Cornwallis loses a quarter of his battalion.
Now, the French enter the fray and change the equation in the balance of power with both troops on the ground and a formidable naval force at sea. The Comte de Rochambeau is a brilliant naval commander. Washington wishes to uses the French navy for an assault on New York; but Rochambeau prevails in focusing on the Chesapeake.
The DeGrasse fleet sails to Yorktown. Washington lets go of his personal pride and orders his New York militia to march on Yorktown. The genius of Washington was to make use of deception, spies, and trickery to make Clinton think that the attack will be forthcoming on New York.
On September 5, the French engage the British with canon fire in the Chesapeake. The French have the upper hand, and Admiral Graves orders a British retreat. This is the major naval battle of the American Revolutionary War and perhaps in American history.
With no escape route by sea, Cornwallis is now completely surrounded. He builds redoubts (small forts), hoping that he can hold out until reinforcements from Clinton arrive. Now, it is brutal siege warfare. Two days of bombardment wear down the British. Washington places Alexander Hamilton in command of the attack on two key redoubts. A deadly nighttime assault with hand-to-hand combat with 4,000 American troops ends with the capture of the two redoubts within thirty minutes.
On October 16, Cornwallis attempts an escape by boat, but must turn back due to inclement weather. The same luck had been on the side of the Americans in Brooklyn with the fog and the ice storm at Trenton.
On October 19, the surrender finally comes with the British band playing "The World Turned Upside Down" and the Americans playing "Yankee Doodle." Deputy Charles O'Hara surrenders the sword because Cornwallis was "under the weather." Clinton finally sails from New York. But when he arrives in Yorktown and learns of the surrender, he instantly turns around and returns to New York.
Weeks later, Lord North receives the news of the defeat at Yorktown and recognizes the war is over. Parliament has already lost faith in the cause. On November 25, 1783, the British evacuate their last troops from New York.
It was George Washington who kept the troops together for five long years. The next step for the new United States will be constitutional guarantees for independence, liberty, and nation building.
By 1781, the Continental Army was teetering on the verge of collapse. Benjamin Franklin had sought the aid of the French while serving as ambassador at the court of Louis XVI. For France, an alliance was not a matter of American liberty, but a way of getting back at the British.
With New England and the Middle Colonies still not captured, the British look to a Southern strategy in order to rally support from loyalists in Dixie. General Lord Charles Cornwallis leads the Southern campaign. Cornwallis is serving under General Henry Clinton, who is the commander of British forces in North America. Clinton famously said that "we need to win the hearts and subdue the minds" in America.
The Southern campaign is brutal for the Americans with possibly the greatest single defeat of the war in the city of Charlestown. But the ol' swamp fox, Francis Marion, leads a force of guerilla fighters, taking a homegrown, cagey approach to fighting. General Nathaniel Greene engages Cornwallis in a cat-and-mouse game. Slowly, the Americans are bleeding the British. At Buford Court House, the face-to-face battle is a standoff, but Cornwallis loses a quarter of his battalion.
Now, the French enter the fray and change the equation in the balance of power with both troops on the ground and a formidable naval force at sea. The Comte de Rochambeau is a brilliant naval commander. Washington wishes to uses the French navy for an assault on New York; but Rochambeau prevails in focusing on the Chesapeake.
The DeGrasse fleet sails to Yorktown. Washington lets go of his personal pride and orders his New York militia to march on Yorktown. The genius of Washington was to make use of deception, spies, and trickery to make Clinton think that the attack will be forthcoming on New York.
On September 5, the French engage the British with canon fire in the Chesapeake. The French have the upper hand, and Admiral Graves orders a British retreat. This is the major naval battle of the American Revolutionary War and perhaps in American history.
With no escape route by sea, Cornwallis is now completely surrounded. He builds redoubts (small forts), hoping that he can hold out until reinforcements from Clinton arrive. Now, it is brutal siege warfare. Two days of bombardment wear down the British. Washington places Alexander Hamilton in command of the attack on two key redoubts. A deadly nighttime assault with hand-to-hand combat with 4,000 American troops ends with the capture of the two redoubts within thirty minutes.
On October 16, Cornwallis attempts an escape by boat, but must turn back due to inclement weather. The same luck had been on the side of the Americans in Brooklyn with the fog and the ice storm at Trenton.
On October 19, the surrender finally comes with the British band playing "The World Turned Upside Down" and the Americans playing "Yankee Doodle." Deputy Charles O'Hara surrenders the sword because Cornwallis was "under the weather." Clinton finally sails from New York. But when he arrives in Yorktown and learns of the surrender, he instantly turns around and returns to New York.
Weeks later, Lord North receives the news of the defeat at Yorktown and recognizes the war is over. Parliament has already lost faith in the cause. On November 25, 1783, the British evacuate their last troops from New York.
It was George Washington who kept the troops together for five long years. The next step for the new United States will be constitutional guarantees for independence, liberty, and nation building.
