August 21
Took the dingy to tour Yorktown. The free trolley took us to the Yorktown Victory Center which was a museum of the American Revolution. It chronicles America's evolution from colonial status to nationhood through timeline, film, thematic exhibits and living history interpretation in a Continental Army encampment and the 1780s farm. We then visited the battlefield where Lord Charles Cornwallis was defeated in 1781 at the hands of American General George Washington and his French Ally, General Comte de Rochambeau. The Battle of Yorktown led to independence and the creation of a new nation two years later when the Treaty of Paris was signed.
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| General Washington and French Admiral De Grasse |
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| Yorktown Home |
General Lafayette identified this dented cannon while visiting the United States in 1824. The distinctive dent on the British tube was inflicted by an allied cannon ball during the siege.
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The inscription reads: "At York on October 19, 1781 after a siege of nineteen days by 5500 Americans, 7000 French Troops of the line, 3500 Virginia Militia under command of General Thomas Nelson and 36 French ships of war, Earl Cornwallis commander of the British forces at York and Gloucester surrendered his army of 7251 officers 840 seamen 244 cannon and 24 standards to his Excellency George Washington...
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Yorktown Victory Monument was authorized by Continental Congress Oct., 1781 just after the news of surrender reached Philadelphia. Actual construction began 100 years later and was completed in 1884. The shaft of the main granite is 84 feet in height to which Liberty adds another 14 feet. The picture was taken when a live bird happened to land on Liberty's arm.
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