The Least Likely Surrender: Yorktown, 1781 (Part One)
As kids a lot of us probably ignored this stuff in school. Today, the schools themselves ignore it.
“Who’d ’a Thunk It?”
From the very day it started, April 19, 1775, nobody in his right mind thought American colonists had a prayer waging war against England. Good grief! They were facing the most powerful and well-equipped military in the whole world with little more than the shirts on their backs and their own personal firearms. But with “the shot heard around the world” at Concord, wage it they did. Successfully!
Successfully!
Think about that.
It was the military equivalent of a high school football team taking on the New England Patriots and then beating them in the super bowl!
And they beat them in part because of help from some French officers and the French Navy. Those key French officers were Marquis de Lafayette and Jean-Baptiste Comte de Rochambeau, both serving as commissioned American officers commanding American troops.
At that time, General Washington was laser-focused on attacking British forces in New York and thought he had good odds to defeat them. But he was talked out of it!
Mind you, It was no easy task to talk George Washington out of anything once his mind was made up.
However, his French aide de camp, Colonel Lafayette, told him the French Navy was headed for the Chesapeake and convinced him that he could box the Brits in by attacking on land, down the pennensula at Yorktown thus trapping British General Cornwallis and his 8,000 troops and forcing their surrender. And that’s what he did.
Washington greatly admired the young Lafayette and considered him almost as a son. It is doubtful that anyone else could have convinced Washington to change his plan. Lafayette was 23 at the time. Hard to believe, isn’t it?
But you need to know, General Cornwallis was no pushover. Indeed he was a formidable opponent against the Americans. In 1776, he had driven Washington’s army out of New Jersey and achieved a stunning victory at Camden, South Carolina and was planning a massive advance into Virginia from Yorktown.
But Washington had taken the advice of Lafayette and got his army out of New York in August, 1781. They headed south and within a month had laid siege to the Brits forcing their surrender. The move out of New York was so well executed that the British didn’t know the Americans had left until it was too late.
Cornwallis held two meetings with his officers on October 17 and said that if any three of them would agree to it then he would lead an attack against the Americans to cut their way out. Nobody said a word at either council. The measure of surrender was then approved.
In a siege there are no creature comforts, You can’t get away from the artillery fire, nor the smoke, the dirt, the noise, the lack of adequate food. You can’t give needed help those who are sick or wounded. You can’t sleep. You eat rancid bacon. The medical supplies are contaminated. You are forced to shoot your horses who are dying from lack of water. Finally, at the limit of this extremity, Lord Cornwallis agreed to stack arms.
Ironically, Cornwallis had earlier been a supporter of the American cause.
French General Rochambeau and his 5,000 troops helped to save the day for the Americans. Washington’s troops were restive because they hadn’t been paid and were threatening to lay down their arms. Rochambeau withdrew $20,000 of his own money (equal to $436,000 today) and used it to pay them, thus keeping them in the fight at a critical moment. He also was an expert in the art of the siege and directed the success of that effort against Cornwallis at Yorktown.
With the surrender of those 8,000 British and German troops at Yorktown, America’s War for Independence was effectively over. Minor skirmishes would continue sporadically for a year but American soldiers and sailors and their French allies had just scored the most unlikely victory anyone at that time could have imagined.
General Cornwallis was too humiliated to attend the surrender ceremonies and stayed in his tent claiming to be ill. However, Washington later hosted his enemy to a cordial dinner, where they and their respective aides and officers dined on roast leg of mutton with carrots and peas and corn pudding washed down with ample tankards wine and beer.
Rochambeau was asked to propose a toast and raised his glass, saying “the United States!” Washington followed with “the King of France!” Cornwallis then said simply “the King!” to which Washington quickly added “of England,” and then facetiously, “confine him there, I’ll drink him in a full bumper!” and filling his glass until it ran over
Cornwallis went on to serve his country with distinction as Governor General of India. Washington was inaugurated President of the United States eight years later, on April 30, 1789.
You Can Do This:
Corn Pudding
Preheat oven to 350 (F)
In a bowl, combine 1/3 cup sugar, 3 Tablespoons flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1.5 teaspoons salt.
whisk together 6 large eggs, 2 cups whipping cream and 1/2 cup melted butter (one stick).
Slowly blend the liquid part into the dry part with a whisk.
Into this mixture add 2 cans drained corn.
Pour this into a lightly greased baking dish. Garnish with a light sprinkle of paprika.
Bake at 350 (F) for 70 minutes.
(NOTE: at the bottom of this page are some buttons you can deploy without the slightest risk of bodily harm or financial ruin. One of these invites you to leave a comment and I sincerely hope that you will. Thanks, BC).