Yorktown Battlefield National Park, Virginia

The third site in Williamsburg’s Historic Triangle is Yorktown Battlefield National Park, the site of the last battle of the Revolutionary War.

This day we had the best weather of all of our time in the south. It was mid-70s, wind blowing in off of Chesapeake Bay and no humidity.

Although, the finally treaty wouldn’t be signed for almost two years after this battle. The September, 1781 battle at Yorktown and the surrender of General Cornwallis is the last battle of the Revolutionary War.

When we first arrived at the Yorktown National Park we watched the Orientation film. It is always a good idea to start any National Park visit with the orientation film. These films explain why this park is important and where the more important sites to see are located. As the film ended there was a Ranger interruptive walk beginning so we decided to join the 45 minute walk. We seldom go to Ranger Walks or Ranger Hikes anymore due to budget cuts there aren’t as many as there use to be and the ones that are still on the schedule tend to be very crowded. This Ranger walk was quite full but not too bad. The Ranger must have been a retired History Professor. Our “45 minute” Ranger Walk went half an hour overtime and not one person left before the end. The Ranger was quite fascinating, brought us all up to par with our history lesson for the day. He explained that if it hadn’t been for the French and General Lafayette, we would all still be English citizens!

Here is this group of colonists standing up to the King of England, with the strongest Army and Navy in the world! What were these colonists thinking? How could we win against a force like that?!  Since the French had been fighting against the English, they were all too happy to help us fight them as well!

General Cornwallis had been ordered by his superiors to go to Yorktown which had a good deepwater river where he and his men would be sent supplies, enforcements and if need be they would be picked up by British War ships and taken to New York. What the British had not planned on was the arrival of the French Fleet in the Chesapeake Bay and the addition of 3,000 French troops and cannons to arrive with the fleet. Washington marched his army from New York to Virginia and French General Rochambeau arrived with his army of 4,000 soldiers. General Cornwallis was now facing over 17,000 American and French soldiers against his 8,300 British soldiers.

Cannons

More cannons

The American and French armies formed siege lines and bombarded Cornwallis and his men day and night with cannon fire.

Part of the siege line

British defensive line

The British Fleet sent to aid Cornwallis was defeated by the French Fleet at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay and it returned to New York. With the American cannons only 400 yards from his positions and no hope of rescue from the fleet, Cornwallis surrendered. General Cornwallis had to surrender his sword here and lay down arms before General Washington!

As a side note: Later when we visited the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, DC, we had the pleasure of actually seeing Cornwallis’ sword on display. History came alive at that moment!

I have always wondered why the British just gave up the 13 colonies after losing this one battle. The National Park Service sums it up this way: “Though the British still had 26,000 troops in North America after Yorktown, their resolve to win the war was nothing like it had been before Yorktown. The war had been lengthy and costly. Replacing Cornwallis' captured army was a questionable proposition, particularly because the British also were engaged in military struggles in India, Gibraltar, the West Indies and Ireland. Thus, the British Parliament in March 1782 passes a resolution saying the British should not continue the war against the United States. Later that year, commissioners of the United States and Great Britain signed provisional articles of peace. In September 1783, the final treaty was signed which ended the war and acknowledged American independence.”

The original Moore House where the terms of surrender were worked out.

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Inside the Moore House

I think this monument is proof that Congress never changes. When news of the victory at Yorktown reached the Continental Congress in Philadelphia they immediately passed a bill to have a monument erected to mark the occasion. This is that monument it wasn’t built until 100 years after the battle!

After visiting the Yorktown Battlefield, we went into the town of Yorktown. We had a wonderful lunch along the waterfront at Nick’s River Walk Restaurant. !  The restaurant is right next to Pullman Bridge that takes you over to Gloucester.  We watched as a pirate ship went sailing by, giving tourists a sail about the bay. It was a gorgeous day with a breeze coming off the water, making it at least 15 degrees cooler than back at camp!

Colonial Williamsburg

  The Governor's Palace

In October of 1698 the Capitol Building in Jamestown burned down and in 1699 the Capitol was moved to land next to the College of William and Mary. The new town was named Williamsburg in honor King William III. Williamsburg remained the Capitol until 1780, when the Capital of Virginia was moved to Richmond.

After the Capitol moved to Richmond, Williamsburg was pretty  much neglected until, the  late 1920s when a group including John D. Rockefeller, Jr. decided to buy all of the sites in town and restore Williamsburg to Colonial days. They demolished all building built after 1790. The Governor's Palace and the Capitol Building were reconstructed at their original sites. Of the buildings in the historic area, 88 are original and most of the rest reconstructed on their original sites.

Today there are people in period clothing that do reenactments and give tours of many of the buildings. Unlike the historic sites of Jamestown or  Yorktown, Colonial Williamsburg is not a National or State Park. It is a “living museum” owned by a private non-profit corporation. The non-profit needs income to keep Colonial Williamsburg running, but at $92 dollar for the two of us it seemed overpriced to me.

Our Parlor Maid Tour Guide of the Palace

 

The reconstructed Governor's Palace is by far the most opulent building in all of Colonial Williamsburg.

 

The Capitol Building is the second most impressive building in Colonial Williamsburg. In 1705, it was the first Capitol building in America. The current building is a 1930s reconstruction of the ordinal 1705 building. Patrick Henry, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson all served here as members of the House of Burgesses.

  

The Magazine built in 1715 is  the actual oldest original building in Colonial Williamsburg

 

The Courthouse was restores in 1989 – 1991:

There are many other old and stately buildings in Colonial Williamsburg:

Jamestown, Virginia

Jamestown was established on May 13, 1607 making it the first permanent  English settlement in North America and of course, the first settlement in what would become the United States.

Historic Jamestown is the National Park that protects this site. To quote the National Park brochure:

“Jamestown, a place of many Beginnings

Come, walk in the steps of Captain John Smith and Pocahontas as we explore America's beginnings. Here is where the successful English colonization of North America began. Here is where the first English representative government met and where the first arrival of Africans to English North American was recorded in 1619. Jamestown, the Beginning of America.”

a model of Fort James

Walking in the steps of Captain John Smith and Pocahontas is probably what makes it so special to visit Jamestown. Most of us know about Jamestown as the Johns Smith and Pocahontas story from a Disney movie. Being here makes them “real” and the stories of starvation, disease, fighting Indians and death shows how  close they came to NOT being the first permanent settlement. After the first year, only 38 of the original 144 had survived. The winter of 1609-10, known as the "STARVING TIME," may have been the worst of all. Only 60 of the 500 colonists survived the winter. At the end  of that winter the 60 survivors loaded onto a ship and headed for  England. By pure luck they met Captain John Smith and the relief ships as they were entering Chesapeake Bay.

 

This tower from 1647 is the only 17th century building still standing in Jamestown although it originally was 28 feet taller.

Between 1607 and 1686 the colonist built 5 churches on this site. This church was built in 1906. It attaches to the original  tower at the front.

In 1699 the capital was moved to Williamsburg and Jamestown faded into disuse and became farm land  on a  plantation. By the 1800s no one knew exactly where the old fort had been and by the 1990 is was thought that the original fort had been lost to 3 centuries of erosion. However in 1994 archeologists working near the church tower found the actual post holes dug for the original fortifications. Subsequent, archeological digs have uncovered additional post holes, foundations, wells and 1,000s of artifacts. Many of these artifacts are on  display at a wonderful museum at Jamestown.

Archaeology continues today in Jamestown

 

Rebuilt palisades and a partially rebuilt building in the background.

Yes, there really was a John Smith.

It should be noted that what really made the Jamestown colony viable was that John Rolfe, the future husband of Pocahontas. succeeded in growing tobacco in the colony. Once established, the amount of tobacco shipped England doubled almost yearly.