Yorktown Battlefield in Virginia

After saying goodbye to our family in North Carolina, my parents and I headed up to Yorktown. Our original plan was to head to Williamsburg, Virginia first but decided to go to Yorktown instead. The Siege of Yorktown was the last major battle of the American Revolution. Lord Cornwallis of the Britain army surrendered to General George Washington in 1781 after he was cut off by land and sea. This battle secured independence for the U.S. and changed the course of world history.

The American Revolution had been taking place for seven years, and in the spring of 1781, Cornwallis moved his army into Virginia after a costly campaign in the South. He wanted to establish a naval base and chose Yorktown. In the meantime, a large fleet of French warships sailed up from the Caribbean and proceeded to form a blockade in the Chesapeake Bay, cutting off the British from any escape or help by sea. In August, General George Washington and French commander Rochambeau moved their troops from up north to surround him on land.

In October, the Allied army of French and American troops began to bombard the British positions and build fortifications. The Americans and French soon captured the British redoubts 9 and 10 to bring their siege artillery within point blank range. After nine days of intense bombardment that destroyed the town and failing to escape across the York River, Lord Cornwallis requested a cease-fire. On October 19, 1781, he formally surrendered his army. Washington kept his army until two years later when the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783.

We arrived at Yorktown to see the battlefield and the York River. The first thing we did, of course, was look around the museum before joining a park ranger for a walk out to the battlefield and learn more about it. The ranger pointed out that Yorktown was also the site of a Civil War attack by Union troops in which the Confederates redug the old British lines. I took time taking pictures of the battlefield, the cannons, and the river.

After leaving, we headed back up the peninsula to Colonial Williamsburg, which will be what my next post is about!

Links to Learn More:

• More Photos of Yorktown Battlefield
• Yorktown Battlefield -National Park Service