June 2009

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Our Misadventures in Colonial Williamsburg

My parents and I left the Yorktown Battlefield in the late afternoon. Since we were on a limited time schedule for the next few days, we originally planned to spend at least half a day in Colonial Williamsburg. However, after spending the afternoon in Yorktown, we did not arrive in town until the evening. Little did we know that we had to buy tickets to get into the many historic sites, and the Visitor Center that sold the tickets was already closed. We ended up walking around downtown, checking out a few shops and other places in the area.

One place we did get to see so late in the day was the College of William and Mary. This college is the second oldest in America being chartered in 1693 by King William III and Queen Mary II in the Virginia Colony. The college has close ties to the founding fathers in that George Washington received his surveyor's license and Thomas Jefferson completed his undergraduate education at the school. One of the buildings on campus, the Wren Building, is the oldest college building in America with its construction beginning in 1695, before the town of Williamsburg existed.

Williamsburg itself became the thriving capital of Virginia beginning in 1699. It was transformed into the cultural, political, and educational center of the most influential of the American colonies. In Williamsburg, the concepts of the American republic under patriotic leaders such as Jefferson were nurtured and helped shaped the dream of American freedom and independence. Near the end of the Revolutionary War in 1780, the capitol was moved up to Richmond, and Williamsburg became a simple college town for a long time.

In 1926, an effort was made to preserve and restore the buildings and a large part of the colonial town for future generations. Visitors to Colonial Williamsburg today can get a glimpse of what life was like in the American colonies. People can visit the original and historic buildings, browse the museums, and look around the shops. Also, visitors can encounter many people in period costumes, see live programs in Revolutionary City, and get an idea of 18th Century trades. Since my family and I did not get to see much of the town, we want to go back again and spend more time there.

Next up, this series will fast-forward in American history to period of the Civil War when my parents and I headed to Richmond.

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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!

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Fort Dobbs, North Carolina

The first real historical place my family and I visited on our trip was Fort Dobbs in Statesville, North Carolina. Since my sister and her family live right in Statesville, we took time to stop by this historical site. Construction began on Fort Dobbs in the spring of 1756 to protect North Carolina's settlements on the frontier from Indians who were friendly to the French during the French and Indian War.

The French and Indian War is not well known but it took place between Britain and France during the years of 1754-1763. England and France were enemies a long time before their empires claimed parts of the New World. Beginning in 1754, France attempted to connect her territories of Canada and Louisiana by taking land claimed by England in Virginia. They also began to build military posts from the Great Lakes to the Ohio Valley. North Carolina was the first colony to respond to Virginia's call for military assistance by sending troops.

In 1755, Gov. Arthur Dobbs persuaded the legislature to fund a fort on what was then North Carolina's frontier vulnerable to attacks. Only one attack happened at Fort Dobbs in 1760 when a band of Cherokees was repelled by the soldiers. By the end of 1761, the British had virtually won the war. Colonial leaders disbanded the troops, and the fort was in ruins by 1766. Overall, the French and Indian war had a large impact on America. It led the British to impose more and more taxes on the colonies to pay for the war. These actions led up to the American Revolution a few years later.

My family and I had fun looking around the site. We looked at the museum, and then our guide, who was dressed in a period costume, led us out to the site and told us all about Fort Dobbs and the war. The reconstruction of the fort is currently taking place. We saw the fort's outline, replicas of its defenses, barracks and indoor well. We also went on a small hike in woods around it. My favorite part was when we all jumped with surprise when the guide shot his replica musket for another group when we first arrived!

The next post of his series will be about Yorktown, the last major battle of the American Revolution. This was our next step on our journey in American history.

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Stay Tuned for New Post Series

I want to announce a new post series coming up soon here at My Adventures in History! Right now, my family and I are on vacation across the country. We've experienced some amazing historical places on our trip, and I will be writing about these places and sharing photos in the coming weeks. Some examples include:

Yorktown
The Museum of the Confederacy
Fredericksburg
Antietam
The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum

A few of these places included several stops, so I will be writing more posts about them in greater detail. Please stay tuned for this new series coming soon!