Virginia is for lovers? (04-22-13)

If Virginia is for lovers, then how come so many battles were fought here? We’ve settled ourselves in historic Williamsburg, Virginia, to explore the wealth of history in this area. We’ve also taken some time out to do some long range planning, and have made several reservations for later in the year.  We booked a spot at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta in October, and we booked a month at an RV park in San Diego for Christmas. With those chores out of the way, we started exploring.

Yorktown:

We’ve spent a lot of time visiting Civil War sites over the last few months, but now we are going even further back in time to the Revolutionary War.  In 1776, after years of arguing and fighting with England, the Congress of the U.S. colonies wrote and signed the “Declaration of Independence”, declaring the united States of America to be an independent nation, free from allegiance to the British Crown.

Of course, England didn’t just roll over, and in the following years, a war between the two countries raged on. In some ways it was a Civil War- people living here were English subjects and some considered thoughts of independence to be treason. In 1781, there was no victory in sight for either side.  It was during that timeframe that the battle of Yorktown took place.  Yorktown was held by the British at that time, and General George Washington was situated in New York, preparing to engage the British there.  He heard that a French fleet was headed towards Chesapeake Bay and the town of Yorktown, to maintain control of the harbor for the colonies.

Why so dark?
This is the actual tent used by George Washington. 
Low lighting helps protect the artifact.

Washington decided to take advantage of the edge the French would give his troops, and changed his plans.  He did everything he could to convince the British that he would soon attack New York, even setting up a fake camp, complete with empty tents.  In the meantime, he and his men headed to Yorktown. By the time he arrived, he had amassed an army of 17,000 troops.

Yorktown- many buildings were built in the early 1700s.

In cooperation with French troops, Washington led the fight against the British at Yorktown, who were led by Lord Cornwallis.  After several weeks of fighting, Cornwallis was left with no option but to have his 7000 troops surrender.  The siege of Yorktown was the last major battle of the Revolutionary war.

The original Purple Heart was a patch that was
worn over the heart area of a uniform.

One of the interesting displays was about the Purple Heart Medal, and it’s origin. When General Washington ordered the attack on Yorktown, he told his men not to use their muskets- only their bayonets.  He felt that reloading would slow them down and distract them too much, so the British lined up and essentially mowed down the first row of American soldiers (the first “line” was appropriately called The Forlorn Hope). After the siege, Washington created the decoration The Purple Heart to honor soldiers for “singularly meritorious action”. It’s one of the highest military honors and is only given to those who have “given of his blood in defense of his homeland”.