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239th Anniversary of the Battle of Yorktown
“The Battle of Yorktown was the climax of the American Revolution and directly led to the independence of the United States of America. While others may have been larger and more dramatic, no battle in history has been more influential. From the days following their victory at Yorktown, Americans have steadily gained power and influence up to their present role as the world’s most prosperous nation and only military superpower.
“The idea that a group of poorly armed, loosely organized colonists would have the audacity to challenge the massive, experienced army and navy of their rulers seemed impossible when the revolution’s first shots rang out at Lexington and Concord in 1775. The rebels’ chances of success seemed even more remote when the American colonies formally declared their independence from Great Britain on July 4, 1776.
“Despite the huge imbalance of power, the Americans understood that time was on their side. As long as George Washington and his army remained in the field, the newly declared republic survived. Washington did not have to defeat the British; he simply had to avoid having the British defeat him. The longer the war lasted, the greater the odds that the British would become involved in wars that threatened their own islands and that the British public would tire of the war and its costs.”
— Lt. Col. (Ret.) Michael Lee Lanning, The Battle 100, Page 1.
The battle itself was nothing short of tactical brilliance. The British managed to get trapped in Yorktown against the York River. The French had the British blockaded from the sea. 6,000 British defenders were pinned down by 8,000 American and 7,000 French soldiers. On October 9, 1781, the Americans and French began pounding the British with 52 cannons while they dug trenches towards the British defensive redoubts which fell on October 14, 1781. The Americans and French could now fire directly into Yorktown. The British asked for a cease-fire. Nope, not good enough. On October 18, 1781, the British unconditionally surrendered.
Cornwallis could not bear to surrender in person to the Americans, so he sent his Deputy, who offered his sword to the French Commander. The French Commander refused to accept it and gestured to the Americans. Washington refused to accept the sword himself and gestured for his Deputy to accept it.
While there were minor skirmishes, for all intents and purposes, the Revolutionary War was over. The embarrassment of the surrender brought down the British government. The example of the Americans help lead the French to have their own revolution. But most importantly, we were now an independent nation. The Battle of Yorktown was our ultimate victory in the Revolutionary War.
Published in General
Of course, almost everything can be compared to a moment in the NFL. I would compare the Victory at Yorktown to when Kevin Dyson of the Tennessee Titans was tackled at the one-yard line by Mike Jones of the St. Louis Rams on January 30, 2000 in the final play of the game. Game over.
Thanks, Gary. Good article.
Something struck me reading it that never has before. It must be because I finished books on Napoleon and on Waterloo recently. The idea of an essentially “European” war near the year 1800 ending with an epic battle between two armies totaling 20,000-odd soldiers! A twentieth of what would have been present at the climax of a typical war in Europe.
What a thimble-sized conflict–one English infantry division, roughly!– this was, to have had so massive an effect on history.
Edit note: When you wrote penultimate (next-to-last) did you mean ultimate (last)?
You are absolutely right. I have corrected the post.
This post was foreshadowed by an earlier post about the Battle of Hastings, listed as the second most important in “The Battle 100.” See https://ricochet.com/812312/today-is-the-anniversary-of-the-battle-of-hastings-october-14-1066-the-second-most-impactful-battle-in-history/
Yes, I read that–another good one.
(But one that also uses penultimate for ultimate. I ignored it then, but brought it up this time because I was concerned that it might be becoming a habit and lead to the hard stuff, like it’s for its and starting a sentence with “So”, like an aged Valley Girl, and that you would have a bad influence on our younger writers. I was going to continue to ignore that next-to-last…penultimate!…error. Water under the dam. Or is it over the bridge? But since you just called attention to the earlier work, prompt action was called for ;-)
And I thought that penultimate meant the absolute final important thing. I have learned something new today!
Was there any mention of that pivotal 1982 SCTV battle?
Conservative Conversation: You teach me what you know that I don’t, and vice versa. You will never make this mistake again, and when common courtesy permits, will guide the younger generation of writers along the right path. The search for right thought, well written.
I have said that to younger attorneys when I catch them making a mistake that I made once. Thank you so much.
Years ago I had a boss who kept using “penultimate.” I had to look it up, and he was using it correctly.
“Epicenter” is another one. How many times have you seen something like “The epicenter of the digital revolution…” But it rarely if ever means what people think. The epicenter of an earthquake is not the center of the quake, but the spot on the surface directly over the center of the quake, which can be miles below the ground.
A very good post, GR, as well as a great reminder of an important moment in our history.
The thing about the American Revolutionary War is that the American part was a side show. If I remember rightly, by the end, Britain was battling the French, Spanish, and Dutch around the world. There were battles in India that were part of the Revolutionary War. It’s just like what we call the War of 1812. We were a sideshow in the Napoleonic Wars.
That’s the reason it took another two years to sign the Treaty of Paris for Britain to recognize American independence.
Exactly. What the Founding Fathers accomplished and built was amazing, and it took deep insights into human nature, but on the war front, I think we sometimes give ourselves far too much credit.
Exactly. That was what our revolution was about. The British Parliament was trying to pay off the Seven Years’ War (that George Washington started as the French and Indian War) and thought those ruddy Colonists should pay their fair share.
Yes Mark we don’t want Gary Robbins to become the New York Times Union (of Journalists!!) and use “its” for “it’s” all the time! He’s already a little too close to NYT as it is so definitely keep him on the straight and narrow.
Thanks for that. It should indeed be in the top 100 battles.
Yes when you read enough about the American Revolution (both war and founding nation part) you become convinced that God was watching over us.
No discussion of Yorktown is complete without a shoutout to Admiral De Grasse for winning the Battle of the Chesapeake which was the proximate cause of Cornwallis’ predicament. With British ships able to provide artillery support, supplies, and reinforcements, it would have been a different outcome.
It certainly sounds more ultimate than ultimate. There is a cartoon superhero called ‘The Tick’ who proudly says, “I’m not just invulnerable, I’m nigh invulnerable!”
Gary,
Regards,
Jim
You can win more battles with a false sense of superiority than an accurate sense of inferiority. Maybe there’s something to the self esteem movement after all.
You can make the argument that, because the British were trying to deal with multiple situations at once during that time period, the Battle of Brooklyn was more important, not because the Colonists won, but because they got out of Brooklyn in August of 1776 without the key Revolutionary leaders being captured and their Army destroyed at the very outset of the war. The Brits would hold NYC for the rest of the war, but their failure to capture Washington and his troops when they seemingly had all escape routes off western Long Island blocked meant the revolution couldn’t be strangled it its crib.
I was in a panel a few years ago. Matthew Caffery was arguing that this battle was the most important Naval battle in history and I told him that it wasnt even the most important naval battle of the war. That was the battle of Saintes a few weeks later, when the Royal Navy smashed De Grasse and their Spanish allies, thus guaranteeing British Naval dominance for the next 100 years.
I had the battle of Lepanto, but we lost to the grand daddy of all navy fights, the Battle of Salamis.
Also this.
Oh my goodness! “It’s” is a contraction of “It is.” “Its” is the possessive of “It.” Where did I err? If it is in the body of the post, I can’t edit it without being removed from the Main Feed!
I completely agree.
That is absolutely true. The French fleet was to be going to New York City, but providently went to the Chesapeake Bay instead. I fear that I suffer from a tendency to highlight the Americans over non-Americans, when the French defeat of the British in Chesapeake Bay set up the victory.