Yorktown, Virginia

“ It is noteworthy, above almost any other events of history, that the two most memorable and momentous struggles in which the Anglo-Saxon race has embarked, both closed on the soil of Virginia, a century apart, by the surrender of one Anglo-Saxon army to an army of the same race, and without the loss of prestige on either side.
For our great race, when vanquished by itself, proudly rears its crest unconquered and sublime!
One of those memorable struggles closed at Yorktown, where colonial dependence perished, national independence was secured and our great republic born. ”

“ The more prominent families were united by marriage with all the noted Tidewater families. The most famous son of Yorktown was Thomas Nelson, Jr., signer of the Declaration of Independence, Governor of Virginia, and commander of the militia at the siege of 1781. His remains rest in the churchyard of Grace Church in Yorktown.
From the point of view of growth and prosperity, Yorktown was at its peak about 1750. The shops continued busy and the wharves full, perhaps for another quarter of a century; yet, even before the Revolution, evidences of decline were discernible. ”

“ Fort Washington, a small redoubt or earth, is not far from the Arch and has been carefully preserved against the encroachments of Time. The lines of the earthworks may also be made out.
A historic site is Yorktown, Virginia, the sleepy little village on the peninsula between the James and York rivers Cornwallis surrendered to Washington and the French allies in 1781, thus making sure of American Independence, and where the Army of the Potomac encamped under McClellan in 1862, throwing up massive earthworks. ”

“ Afterwards he settled and practised in Yorktown, Virginia. In the Revolution, or at least in the first years of the war, he served as state surgeon, being first in the navy and later in the hospital at Yorktown. In May, 1779, he was a member of the Virginia Senate, having been elected for three years. After the war he continued to practise at Yorktown until his death. ”

“ A North Devon oven is still in place, with its opening at the back of the fireplace.
YORKTOWN, VIRGINIA.
The National Park Service has excavated at various locations in Yorktown, both in the neighboring battlefield sites and the town itself. Yorktown, like Marlborough, was established by the Act for Ports in 1691. In several of the areas excavated, occasional sherds of North Devon gravel-tempered ware were found. In refuse behind the site of the Swan Tavern, opened as an inn in 1722 but probably occupied earlier, a single large fragment of a 15-inch sgraffito platter was discovered. ”

“ Williamsburg and Norfolk. By 1800, only six additional towns were incorporated: Alexandria, Winchester, Fredericksburg, Richmond, Petersburg and York (Yorktown) . Yorktown is the only town incorporated before 1800 which has not become a city.
A unique characteristic about cities in Virginia is the fact that an incorporated city is politically separate from the county in which it is geographically located. ”

“ In the meantime, the capital had been moved from Williamsburg to Richmond, Virginia had ceded its Northwest Territory to the new national government and Yorktown had become internationally famous as the area where the British had surrendered to the Americans. It is a unique historical fact that the site where the British armies were forced to surrender in 1781 was located only a few miles from the site where the first permanent English settlement in America was established. ”

“ Down on the bank of York River, not far from Chesapeake Bay, with a few remains of the British entrenchments still visible, is Yorktown, the scene of Cornwallis's surrender, the last conflict of the American Revolution. Sir Henry Clinton, the British commander-in-chief in 1781, ordered Lord Cornwallis to occupy a strong defensible position in Virginia, and he established himself at Yorktown on 53 August 1st, with his army of eight thousand men, supported by several warships in York River, and strongly fortified not only Yorktown, but also Gloucester Point, across the river. ”

“ By sunrise they were on the road, General Heintzelman's corps leading the column. The roads were deep with mud, and the marching was heavy, but so enthusiastic were the soldiers that by ten o'clock the head of the column encountered the enemy's pickets in front of Yorktown.
Both armies were upon historic ground. It was at Yorktown that the British army under Lord Cornwallis laid down its arms in 1781. It was a flourishing village then. There were fine mansions, surrounded with shrubbery, shaded by old oaks and lindens. Virginia in those days had many wealthy families. ”

“ Yorktown completed our first endeavor at nation-making; we graduated masters at Appomattox. The first proclaimed the prowess of the Confederation, the second testified to the strength of the Union. Both astonished the world. Both transpired in Virginia.
Conspicuous in this analogue of our history were the Lees of Virginia. They have a lineage too illustrious for praise. Its [61] escutcheons are too bright for adornment. It reaches back for centuries loyal to honor and to truth. Him we mourn to-day was a gifted scion of that great name. His highest distinction was won in Confederate arms. ”

“ The inhabitants of Richmond and its neighborhood were naturally greatly interested in the progress of the works for their defense, and parties were often organized to ride or drive to Yorktown, or to the batteries on the James River, to watch the progress made. ”

“ Clay of a generally similar character lies beneath much of Tidewater Virginia, and, since little serious historical archeology has been undertaken in the state beyond the Jamestown-Williamsburg-Yorktown triangle, it is much too soon to assume that apprentices trained at Yorktown did not set up their own kilns in other counties. ”

“ They contributed supplies, work, money, men, and life. They saw trade decline, “hard times” set in, property wantonly destroyed by thoughtless troops, and received the varying news of war with rejoicing, or with sorrow.
In the winter of 1779-80, French war vessels used the York River and may have found some comfort in the guns of the Yorktown fort. In March 1781, Lafayette stepped ashore here, after his trip down the bay at the beginning of his operations in Virginia. ”

“ In the city itself there are shrines to famous folks of an earlier period. The home of Mary Washington, mother of the first President, is open to the public. "Kenmore," former home of Betty Washington Lewis and Colonel Fielding Lewis is well cared for by an association. Both these homes have good examples of eighteenth century furnishings. The Rising Sun Tavern was the scene years ago of the Victory Ball after the surrender at Yorktown; it was host to most of the famous men of Virginia and neighboring States for years. ”

“ Barnes, in his late work on Slavery: "No slave was any nearer his freedom after the surrender of Yorktown than when Patrick Henry first taught the notes of liberty to echo among the hills and vales of Virginia."
FROM Yorktown's ruins, ranked and still,
Two lines stretch far o'er vale and hill
Who curbs his steed at head of one?
Hark! the low murmur: Washington! ”

“ The American units of the Allied armies took up the return march to the Hudson about November 1. The French, for the most part, remained on the peninsula until spring and then left for Rhode Island, having wintered in Yorktown, Williamsburg, Hampton, and other nearby points. De Grasse sailed for the West Indies shortly after the siege was over. The British expedition, which was to relieve Cornwallis, reached Virginia waters late in October, too late to be of any use. ”

“ It depicts the British army marching out of Yorktown between the French and American troops to surrender its arms and flags.
[1]
1. Cornwallis Goes to Yorktown
In the spring of 1781, the seventh year of the struggle for American independence, Lord Cornwallis, commanding a British Army, marched from North Carolina into Virginia, in an attempt to conquer the State and restore it to allegiance to Great Britain. The Marquis de Lafayette, sent to Virginia with a small American force, was unable to meet him in open battle but did his best to hamper the movements of the British. ”

“ Nor do I find in the booklet any mention of the history of the city or the surrounding region—although that region includes places of the greatest beauty and interest: among them the glorious old manor houses of the James River; the ancient and charming town of Williamsburg, second capital of the Virginia colony, and seat of William and Mary College, the oldest college in the United States excepting Harvard; Yorktown, "Waterloo of the Revolution"; many important battlefields of the Civil War ”

“ Thacher, surgeon in Scammel's regiment, in his description of the siege of Yorktown, says: "The labor on the Virginia plantations is performed altogether by a species of the human race cruelly wrested from their native country, and doomed to perpetual bondage, while their masters are manfully contending for freedom and the natural rights of man. Such is the inconsistency of human nature." Eighteen hundred slaves were found at Yorktown, after its surrender, and restored to their masters. Well was it said by Dr. ”

“ Carefully Washington, Rochambeau, and de Grasse plotted the siege of Yorktown. When the formal siege began on September 28, Washington had an army of nearly 16,000 men including 7,800 fresh, disciplined, and well-equipped French troops. The 8,800 Americans included 3,000 Virginia militia commanded by Governor Nelson and veteran Generals Weedon, Robert Lawson, and Edward Stevens. The bulk of Washington's Continentals were from Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey. Cornwallis had about 7,000 men, many of whom had been in the field since February, 1780. ”

“ He succeeded Jefferson as Governor of Virginia, and commanded the State’s troops during Lafayette’s campaign against Cornwallis, down to the surrender of Yorktown.
From the foregoing it will be seen that the Irish element contributed their full share to the building of the nation, pledging their lives and their fortunes to the cause of liberty, standing faithfully by Washington in every crisis of the prolonged struggle until the promulgation of the Declaration of Independence heralded the birth of a new nation, which was sealed and confirmed by the glory of Yorktown. ”

“ Cornwallis in this Virginia and Southern trip destroyed ten million dollars' worth of property, and then fortified himself at Yorktown.
Washington decided to besiege Yorktown, and, making a feint to fool Clinton, set out for that place, visiting Mount Vernon en route after an absence of six and a half years, though only stopping two days. Washington was a soldier in the true sense, and, when a lad, was given a little hatchet by his father. ”

“ It was the cherishing of ideas common to slavery and war that drew Virginia with such facility into the vortex of domestic war. It was declining militancy rebelling against growing industrialism. How intense was the barbaric spirit is seen in the persistence of obsolete war-usages. Where militant ideas are ascendant, as in Germany and France, dueling is habitual. And so, at the very height of the Yorktown celebration, one of Virginia's "captains," who had got a national reputation as a candidate for an office in the United States Senate, was principal in two duels in a single day ”

“ The economic, political, religious, and social institutions that developed during the first 9 decades of the existence of Jamestown continue to have profound effects on the United States, particularly in English common law and language, cross cultural relationships, manufacturing, and economic structure and status. (4) The National Park Service, the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, and the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation of the Commonwealth of Virginia collectively own and operate significant resources related to the early history of Jamestown. ”

“ As it was most important to clear the peninsula between the two rivers before Magruder should receive strong reinforcements, a portion of the troops were at once landed, and on the 4th of April 56,000 men and 100 guns disembarked and started on their march against Yorktown. As soon as the news of the arrival of the Northern army at Fortress Monroe reached Richmond fresh steps were taken for the defense of the city. ”

“ The National Park System, of which Colonial National Historical Park is a unit, is dedicated to conserving the scenic, scientific, and historic heritage of the United States for the benefit and inspiration of its people.
Contents Page THE VIRGINIA CAMPAIGN 1 Battle of Green Spring 6 The British Move to Yorktown 7 SIEGE OF YORKTOWN 9 Strategy of the Siege 9 Battle of the Virginia Capes 11 Assembly of the Allied Armies 15 Investment of Yorktown 18 British Position 18 Opening of the Siege 21 Gloucester Side 22 First Allied Siege Line 23 Second Allied Siege Line 25 Capture of Redoubts No. ”

“ Arts and craft shops have been developed, as well as an extensive educational program, making it possible to observe and study many aspects of life as it was in the 80-year period when Williamsburg was the capital of Virginia after the removal of the seat of government from Jamestown in 1699. ”

“ At this period, the sea officers imagined that the British fleet from the West Indies would be discovered off the capes by the frigate, and the land officers expected that a considerable body of troops would soon arrive from New York to strengthen the King’s forces for solid operations in Virginia, and likewise to garrison the works which were constructing for the advantage and protection of both army and navy. ”