The Yorktown Campaign
After marching throughout the Carolinas and Georgia, winning most of the pitched battles but never securing the “hearts and minds” of the upcountry people, British commander Lord Charles Cornwallis entered Virginia to await reinforcements and further instructions. In late July 1781, Cornwallis was ordered to establish a deep-water port in the Chesapeake Bay and he selected Yorktown on the York River. Meanwhile, General George Washington had been keeping an eye on the British Army in New York City. Upon hearing from Admiral de Grasse, the French naval commander, that he planned to sail to the Chesapeake and arrive off the Virginia Capes in late August, Washington immediately seized this opportunity and headed south to attack Cornwallis.
Tom Hand, creator and publisher of Americana Corner, explores the planning of the Yorktown campaign, and why it still matters today.
Images courtesy of The New York Public Library, Brown University Library, Smithsonian Institution, Library of Congress, Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center at the Boston Public Library, Naval History and Heritage Command, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Wikipedia.
General George Washington led his Continental Army and the French Army under General Jean-Baptiste de Rochambeau into Virginia in mid-September 1781. The combined force was on its way to Yorktown and its appointment with destiny with the entrapped British command of General Lord Charles Cornwallis.