Yorktown is where in 1781, a joint army of 17, 500 to 20, 000 men (it depends on who tells the story) composed of Americans under the command of General George Washington, with the help of their allies, the French (including French Canadians) under the command of Major-General Marquis de Lafayette and some Germans (more on the Germans later…), inflicted a decisive defeat on the British troops of General Cornwallis and hastened the end of the Revolutionary War. Over a third of the British forces surrendered in one day.

Ok, about the Germans, this tidbit of history was amusing to me. When the French, under the command of Baron de Vioménil, led a force of 400 men, composed of French and German troops, to capture and control Redoubt 9, the difficulties were compounded by the darkness, the close quarters combats and the fact that the Germans were wearing the SAME UNIFORM on BOTH SIDES! Adding to the confusion, German commands were coming from both the attackers and the defenders at the same time. Amazingly enough, the French troops managed to do the job in less than 30 minutes. At the same time, American troops were capturing Redoubt 10.

We toured the battlefield, saw a demonstration of canon firing,

Canon firing demo

and visited the Augustine Moore House where the terms for the surrender of Cornwallis Army were negotiated.

Augustine Moore House

Show a guy a cannon and he’ll start fantasizing 😉

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We then visited the Yorktown Victory Center, where we saw exhibits of artifacts from the Revolutionary era and a living-history museum featuring a Continental Army encampment and a 1780’s farm.

1780’s Farm

We caught a corn thief red handed with his mouth full!

We saw a musket fire demo, where we learned that the muskets were not precise at all, in fact, the odds of hitting anything at a hundred yards were pretty low. That was ok, since amazingly enough, the goal of war back then was not to kill your enemies, but instead, to scare them off so they would retreat and admit defeat. It was like a giant game of “Chicken”.

We then went to town and had lunch at the Carrot Tree restaurant, housed in the Cole Diggs house, built around 1720. We highly recommend it.

Cole Diggs House

Apart from the old historic part of town, Yorktown also features a beach, and the River Landing Piers, where you can shop in a variety of boutiques featuring the work of American artists and artisans, some of them nationally famous. For the knitters and spinners out there, there is also a gorgeous Fiber Arts supplies shop (called Colonial Fiber Arts).

If you are in the mood for a cruise on a sail ship, the 106’ Schooner Alliance sails 3 times a day, including a sunset cruise on the York River.

Schooner Alliance

It was a pleasant day 🙂