- It began at Jamestown in 1607. In ended and began anew at Yorktown in 1781. 174 years of hope, adventure, discovery, settlement, struggle, suffering, war, grouwth and development that saw the country expand from a lonely English settlement of 104 men and boys on the James River into 13 Bristish Colonies. It ended for Great Britain in a port town on the York River, where independence for the new United States became a reality. Nov22nd-We had a wonderful day today meeting up with our dear friends Carolyn, Alex and Mac. These are dear church friends that we met in Colorado. Chris in in the Navy and they have temporarily relocated to Virginia Beach. They were so kind to drive over today and join us for our history lesson. It was so great to catch-up albeit it was too short but we thoroughly enjoyed reconnecting. Janae especially loved wearing her period dress that they brought and we all devoured the delicious homemade chocolate pumpkin bread they made for us. Always so thoughtful, Carolyn is an amazing cook and is passing on her legacy to her two awesome daughters.
We met at the Yorktown National Historic Site. After watching the movie, we took a nice stroll into Yorktown, It's a beautiful little colonial river town with a great Ben and Jerry's and beach! We made it back to the visitor center just in time to take in the ranger talk on the battle.
Linda Williams was the amazing ranger that kept us spell bound as she portrayed the events that happened here in 1781 and would be the start of our independence. Some facts from her fabulous oration that stood out to us:
l. When Continental Army was badly defeated in Charleston (Benjamin Lincoln was commander) they were not allowed to surrender with full honors. Instead British made them give up all arms, become Prisoners and carry flags down.
2. Washington had said "We're getting to the end of our tether and it's now or never". He had hoped to take New York and had spent months planning this but got a message that French Admiral DeGrais was coming up from Bermuda with Navy and didn't think he could make it to New York but could make Chesapeake Bay. To switch gears for Washington at this point was risky since he hadn't researched a pla to go to south. To his credit, after 4 days, switched his New York plans and set sights on Chesapeake. Able to move troops 450 miles without alerting the British in New York. No easy task.
3. On the way, Washington got news that the French had taken over the Chesapeake. Washington who was normally so dignified, went nuts with excitement, his troops thought he had maybe gone crazy.
4. The Battle of the Capes is one many Americans don't know about but is one of most important Navy battles. General Grave of the British was so methodical and pedantic that it gave the nervous, disorganized French time to pull it together. This victory was crucial for the success at Yorktown and without it, we probably wouldn't have gained our freedom. Curious if this is where saying grave mistake comes from.
5. Gabients-woven baskets filled with dirt then covered with more dirt were the earthworks used on both sides in this seige. There is a book, when weather changed history and in this case it definately helped. Because it was raining, Washington's troops overnight put up a trench that surely took the British's breath away in the morning.
6. Ranger told of a general who led readout number 10 in Yorktown battle that lasted 10 minutes in the 10th month of the year. This person she announced is on the 10 dollar bill. "Who is it?" Complete silence. She asked again and Stefan quietly spoke, "Hamilton."
7. Poetic justice happened when Cornwallis was feeling to sick to come to surrender so gave the honors to his second in command. Washington felt it fitting then to do the same and his second in command was Benjamin Lincoln. Remembering Charleston, Britain had to surrender with no honors.
8. French interested in allies mainly to weaken the British.
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