Good Morning: Home team wins championship game of series

[Okla-homey]

Oct. 19, 1781: Cornwallis surrenders at Yorktown

http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/192/bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbpositionsyorktownnc2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

226 years ago, on this day in 1781, British General Charles Cornwallis formally surrenders 8,000 British soldiers and seamen to a French and American force at Yorktown, Virginia, bringing the American Revolution to a close.

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Charles Cornwallis

Previously, Cornwallis had driven General George Washington's Patriot forces out of New Jersey in 1776, and led his Recoats in victory over General Horatio Gates and the Patriots at Camden, South Carolina, in 1780.

His subsequent invasion of North Carolina was less successful, however, and in April 1781, he led his weary and battered troops toward the Virginia coast, where he could maintain seaborne lines of communication with the large British army of General Henry Clinton in New York City.

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After conducting a series of raids against towns and plantations in Virginia, Cornwallis settled in Yorktown in August. The British immediately began fortifying the town and the adjacent promontory of Gloucester Point across the York River

Washington instructed the Marquis de Lafayette, who was in Virginia with an American army of around 5,000 men, to block Cornwallis' escape from Yorktown by land. In the meantime, Washington's 2,500 troops in New York were joined by a French army of 4,000 men under the Comte de Rochambeau.

http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/826/bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbmarquisdelafayettelgca5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
The then 30 year-old Marie Jean Paul Joseph Roche Yves Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de LaFayette, in the uniform of a US major general.

Washington and Rochambeau made plans to attack Cornwallis with the assistance of a large French fleet under the Comte de Grasse, and on August 21 they crossed the Hudson River to march south to Yorktown. Covering 200 miles in 15 days, the allied force reached the head of Chesapeake Bay in early September.

http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/2794/bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbrochambeaugrandpo7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau (1725-1807)

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François, Joseph, Paul, Comte de Grasse

http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/5497/bbbbbbbbbbbbbbusscomtedegrassedd974sp2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
de Grasse's naval forces played such a pivotal role in the US victory, he has a destroyer named for him in the US Navy. DD974 USS Comte de Grasse

Meanwhile, a British fleet under Admiral Thomas Graves failed to break French naval superiority at the Battle of Virginia Capes on September 5, denying Cornwallis his expected reinforcements.

Beginning September 14, de Grasse transported Washington and de Rochambeau's men down the Chesapeake to Virginia, where they joined Lafayette and completed the encirclement of Yorktown on September 28.

http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/4242/bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb57vcsi0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Image in contemporary British media depicting the encircling American and French forces as an evil rattlesnake coiled around the poor unfortunate British forces at Yorktown

De Grasse landed another 3,000 French troops carried by his fleet. During the first two weeks of October, the 14,000 Franco-American troops gradually overcame the fortified British positions with the aid of de Grasse's warships. A large British fleet carrying 7,000 men set out to rescue Cornwallis, but it was too late.

http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/9809/bbbbbbbbbbbbbbtrumbullqh7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Isaac Trumbull's famous painting of the surrender. The French guys on the left under the white Bourbon banner of France. Americans on the right. Cornwallis' subordinate General O'Hara passes his sword to the victor's representative.

On October 19, General Cornwallis surrendered 7,087 officers and men, 900 seamen, 144 cannons, 15 galleys, a frigate and 30 transport ships. Pleading illness, he did not attend the surrender ceremony, but his second-in-command, General Charles O'Hara, carried Cornwallis' sword to the American and French commanders.

In reality, Corny couldn't bring himself to pass his sword to Washington, thus disrespecting his conqueror. As the British and Hessian troops marched out to surrender, the British band played the song "The World Turned Upside Down," symbolic of the fact the world's strongest power had been beaten by a kluged-up band of rag-tag, "undisciplined" colonial forces and their French allies. IOW, "...the Cat had been chased into a hole by the Mouse."


The World Turned Upside Down

If buttercups buzz'd after the bee,
If boats were on land, churches on sea,
If ponies rode men and if grass ate the cows,
And cats should be chased into holes by the mouse,
If the mamas sold their babies
To the gypsies for half a crown;
If summer were spring and the other way round,
Then all the world would be upside down.

http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/1168/bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbkingrecno5.gif (http://imageshack.us)

http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/9769/bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb1001046202cd2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
The Yorktown victory was heralded in France as well. The Froggies hadn't had much to celebrate in wars with the Brits until this period. This painting hangs in the Louvre to this day. It depicts Washington and laFayette conferring during the siege

Although the war persisted on the high seas and in other theaters, the Patriot victory at Yorktown effectively ended fighting in the American colonies. Peace negotiations began in 1782, and on September 3, 1783, the Treaty of Paris was signed, formally recognizing the United States as a free and independent nation after eight years of war.

http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/4315/bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbyorktownil1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Brits hang their heads in shame after stacking their arms at the surrender.

Hey, if you find yourself in tidewater Virginia, check out the battlefield where America sealed its independence by force of arms five years after publication of the formal Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia.
http://www.nps.gov/archive/colo/Yorktown/ythomevc.htm

http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/903/insane7zosw1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[TUSooner]

groovy

[FaninAma]

Did Washington wage the first successful gorilla style campiagn in recorded military history? I think that is the only was the Colonials could continue to resist the British.

BTW, why aren't all of you Lincoln supporters sympathetic to King George and the British(as well as the loyalists in the Colonies). After all, the British were just trying to hold their legal Empire/Union together. :D

[Okla-homey]

Did Washington wage the first successful gorilla style campiagn in recorded military history? I think that is the only was the Colonials could continue to resist the British.

BTW, why aren't all of you Lincoln supporters sympathetic to King George and the British(as well as the loyalists in the Colonies). After all, the British were just trying to hold their legal Empire/Union together. :D

I woudn't call the Continental Army a guerilla force. It fought conventionally in set piece stand-up fights.

The difference between the colonists and the Confederates is the colonists didn't sign an irrevocable contract with the existing government.

[FaninAma]

I woudn't call the Continental Army a guerilla force. It fought conventionally in set piece stand-up fights.

The difference between the colonists and the Confederates is the colonists didn't sign an irrevocable contract with the existing government.

Who besides the original 13 colonies signed the irrevocable contract(the Constitution)? It is my understanding that every state admitted to the Union since the Constitution was ratified entered voluntarily. The same goes for American possessions like Puerto Rico, Guam and the US Virgin Islands which menas, in theory, that they should be able to leave voluntarily also.

In essence, the Union's claim over the territory of the continental United States is, in reality, not much different than the British claims over the original 13 Colonies.

And I disagree that there weren't significant guerilla type tactics used by the Colonists in the Revolutionary War. I would refer you to the campaign of the Green Mountain Boys led by Ethan Allen in Vermont, the campaign in Carolinas, the midnight raid by Washington on the Hessian troops and even Benedict Arnold, who was the Patriot's best military commander before his betrayl, used geurilla type tactics with great success in the northeast. Everytime the Colonial Army used the conventional warfare tactics of the day they usuall got their butts kicked....with Yorktown being the lone significant exception.

[Flagstaffsooner]

The difference between the colonists and the Confederates is the colonists didn't sign an irrevocable contract with the existing government.Why dont you gawldamned yankees ever read the Constitution?

[Octavian]

awesome post per usual...


But the world wasn't really "turned upside down" by the colonial rebellion; the British Empire continued to grow in strength and size, and lasted for another 150 years after the American Independence.


The real revolution came in 1789.

[Widescreen]

http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/2794/bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbrochambeaugrandpo7.jpg
When I first scrolled down and saw this picture, it looked like he had a big 'ol Billy Sims style afro.

[Okla-homey]

Who besides the original 13 colonies signed the irrevocable contract(the Constitution)? It is my understanding that every state admitted to the Union since the Constitution was ratified entered voluntarily. The same goes for American possessions like Puerto Rico, Guam and the US Virgin Islands which menas, in theory, that they should be able to leave voluntarily also.

In essence, the Union's claim over the territory of the continental United States is, in reality, not much different than the British claims over the original 13 Colonies.

And I disagree that there weren't significant guerilla type tactics used by the Colonists in the Revolutionary War. I would refer you to the campaign of the Green Mountain Boys led by Ethan Allen in Vermont, the campaign in Carolinas, the midnight raid by Washington on the Hessian troops and even Benedict Arnold, who was the Patriot's best military commander before his betrayl, used geurilla type tactics with great success in the northeast. Everytime the Colonial Army used the conventional warfare tactics of the day they usuall got their butts kicked....with Yorktown being the lone significant exception.

My friend, the Constitution contains no language by which states may exit the union after freely joining. Under the law, that means the compact is irrevocable. The absence of an operative "exit clause" means the drafters did not intend that states, once admitted, could later change their minds. Further, the issue was made moot in 1865.

Next, I quite agree patriot leaders like the aforementioned Ethan Allen, and Southerners like Francis Marion (the "Swamp Fox") and Thomas Sumter (the "Gamecock") employed unconventioanl tactics. I would not consider them guerilla leaders however, because they held commissions, their troops were paid,,and they were entitled to pensions after we achieved independence. Further, they observed the "laws of armed conflict" and did not engage in atrocities.

[OCUDad]

Did Washington wage the first successful gorilla style campiagn in recorded military history? Yes, he did. I believe he was the first military type to throw bananas at the opposition until they surrendered.

[FaninAma]

edit:double post.

[FaninAma]

Yes, he did. I believe he was the first military type to throw bananas at the opposition until they surrendered.

Heh.

Homey, so the Union is like the Roach motel. You can get in but you can't get out. Somehow I have a hard time believing that most of the Founding Fathers would commit the nation to an irreversible Union even if that Union became tyrannical and oppressive. I seriously doubt that leaders who had just won their freedom from a tyrannical government by fighting a difficult 8 year war against a militarily superior foe would assume that the the new nation they were forming could never, ever become like the nation they fought to gain their independence from. I refuse to believe they were that short-sighted.

I believe that the Founding Fathers strongly believed that citizens should engage in constant vigilance of their government and if it became too oppressive they not only had the right to declare their independence from their oppressors but the duty to do so.

That concept is what is embodied in the Revolutionary War......not the principle that any government union should last forever.

[Okla-homey]

Heh.

Homey, so the Union is like the Roach motel. You can get in but you can't get out. Somehow I have a hard time believing that most of the Founding Fathers would commit the nation to an irreversible Union even if that Union became tyrannical and oppressive. I seriously doubt that leaders who had just won their freedom from a tyrannical government by fighting a difficult 8 year war against a militarily superior foe would assume that the the new nation they were forming could never, ever become like the nation they fought to gain their independence from. I refuse to believe they were that short-sighted.

I believe that the Founding Fathers strongly believed that citizens should engage in constant vigilance of their government and if it became too oppressive they not only had the right to declare their independence from their oppressors but the duty to do so.

That concept is what is embodied in the Revolutionary War......not the principle that any government union should last forever.

I generally agree with the above. It may seem like nitpicking, but reformation of the existing government is one thing. I certainly agree the drafters had that notion in mind when they provided a procedural means in the Constitution to amend it. However, deciding to "take your ball and go home" and form a new government while pretending the one in Washington DC no longer has power over you is very different. That is not an option.

To review. Don't like the existing gubmint? Fine, just get some similar thinking folks together and work peacefully for new laws and/or amendments. Or, physically leave the United States and begin a new country somewhere else outside of US territory.