The surrender at Yorktown, which ended the American Revolutionary War. Cornwallis realized that aid would not come in time – and after two days of bombardment – he sent a drummer out into view, who apparently beat the rhythm of: “STOP! LET’S TALK!!!” I love that the two sides would communicate this way – quite amazing. “Send out the drummer boy!” A British officer high in rank came forward – was blindfolded – and taken to George Washington (who was pretty much on his last legs himself).
The surrender document had already been drawn up, with Washington dictating the terms. Oh – here are the Articles of Capitulation.
Over 7,000 soldiers surrendered at Yorktown. The war was over.
Oh – and the story is that as the defeated army marched away, the song “The World Turned Upside Down” was played. I did a quick Google search and there are lots of defensive people out there who feel the need to shout out into the wilds of the Internet, “There is NO evidence that ‘The World Turned Upside Down’ was played at that moment …” Ha. I love freaks who take sides in meaningless historical debates like this. I adore them. We are all geeks cut from the same cloth. But still. It’s a good story, I think. Here are the lyrics to that song, which was popular at the time.
Check out this military map from 1781. (I put it below the fold so that I could make it as big as I wanted.) On it you can see the positions of the British Army commanded by Cornwallis – you can see the American and French forces commanded by Washington – and tada – check out the French fleet comin’ down the pike – under Count de Grasse!! The last-minute cavalry charge!
And here is a story – (perhaps it’s a rumor – but I love it nonetheless) of Benjamin Franklin’s response to the news of the surrender. He was, of course, in Paris at the time.
Word came to France of the decisive American victory, and the complete surrender to George Washington in Yorktown. Franklin attended a diplomatic dinner shortly thereafter ? and, of course, everyone was discussing the defeat of the British, and the victory of America.
The French foreign minister stood, and toasted Louis XVI: “To his Majesty, Louis the Sixteenth, who, like the moon, fills the earth with a soft, benevolent glow.”
The British ambassador rose and said, “To George the Third, who, like the sun at noonday, spreads his light and illumines the world.”
Franklin rose and countered, “I cannot give you the sun or the moon, but I give you George Washington, General of the armies of the United States, who, like Joshua of old, commanded both the sun and the moon to stand still, and both obeyed.”
Awesome. I posted this today also.
I love that we both posted about the song. :)
AWESOME!!! I love American Revolution history – Have to live vicariously through the internet until I can get the family to the East Coast.
I had such a crush on Washington during the Bicentennial!!
Sharon, that’s the weirdest dead boyfriend I have ever heard of.
Sheila, there is NO proof Franklin said that in Paris. None AT ALL!
hahahahahaha
Patrick YOU SHUT UP. HE DID TOO SAY IT! HE DID TOO!
My dead boyfriend was Sharon’s dead boyfriend’s right-hand man in the American Revolution. We could have gone on little colonial-era double dates!
Think me not shallow, fair lass, but ’tis the obsession with Humphrey Bogart what caught my one good eye. Methinks he would’ve had a thing or two to say to the Brit’s!!
Colonial Double Dates – ROFL – We can compare wooden teeth…
no wait…your Dead Boyfriend didnt have wooden teeth did he?
it was the wig I tell ya
(We would have had a BLAST, Sheila!)
Yeah, we could go to a house party together, have some apple cider, gossip, do a minuet (your dead boyfriend was, apparently, an incredibly graceful dancer) … and then go riding in our buggies and make out in the woods. And be home by curfew.
I wished a couple of people Happy Victory Day yesterday.
That’s a great painting, Sheila. We just got our basement finished (I’ll be wrapping up the painting in the morning so the carpet guys can come next week). I painted my office a medium dark brown because I thought it might give it an 18th Century feel (they wouldn’t have called it Zanzibar Spice back then…seems an odd name for an American Traditions line color, but I digress). My wife said she’d get me a print for the wall. I asked for Washington’s Crossing. I’d take the Spirit of ’76, too (and I want to frame a copy of the Declaration and put that up eventually, along with my old Davenport 12-gauge goose gun).
While the two of you (Sheila and Sharon) are on your colonial double date, I shall be by the fire with Jefferson and Madison, raising a glass to John Locke. :-)
Zanzibar Spice? That is hysterical!!
Your room sounds amaaaaaazing. A room to be envied.
Yeah, we could go to a house party together, have some apple cider, gossip, do a minuet (your dead boyfriend was, apparently, an incredibly graceful dancer) … and then go riding in our buggies and make out in the woods. And be home by curfew.
You are truly insane.
The Yorktown battlefield is quite well preserved and very beautiful. Its appearance was changed, of course, during the ACW, when trench lines were cut across the peninsula as Little Mac took the counsel of his fears and Allan Pinkerton.
If you ever visit, there’s a pretty good seafood restaurant in Yorktown, down on the York river. (Perhaps I should say that there was such a restaurant 10 years ago, but since it was also there 40 years ago, I’ll take a chance.)
For that matter, the whole Tidewater area is worth a visit. Besides Yorktown, there’s Fort Monroe, Colonial Williamsburg, the Newport News Maritime Museum, the Navy base in Norfolk, and Virginia Beach.