Yesterday, the family drove 11 miles away from Williamsburg to the Yorktown Battlefield, largely regarded as the last major battle of the Revolutionary War.  Here on October 19, 1781, General Cornwallis of the British Army surrendered to General George Washington.  We stood where Alexander Hamilton stood when he was a lieutenant colonel in the Continental Army tasked with leading a storming of a British defensive position (called a “redoubt”).  His act proved to be a decisive move that allowed the American and French artillery to fire upon the British from a mere 400 yards away.

The Park Ranger explained that, while a matter of opinion, many historians regard Yorktown as the single greatest combined army and naval battle that changed the course of human history. From this single result, a new free nation was born and the world’s strongest tyrannical, imperial nation bent on strict colonization transformed into a more responsible, compassionate global nation-bulder. I can think of the several African nations who have benefitted from English colonization (just compare their stability today with those colonized by the French!)

Regardless of what one thinks, we were standing in the midst of this great battlefield and could see both sides of the battle lines. It was a humbling feeling.

The trip was more meaningful because Derek, Peter and Jeremy chose to participate in the Junior Ranger Program, a gem of an offering from the National Park Service that guides participants on a fairly intensive learning quest where certain requirements must be met before they are award the coveted badge, or patch in this case. Here are the boys completing their worksheet, which took a good two and a half hours.

Ruth was helping her brothers out by pointing out the difference between a cannon and a mortar.

Jeremy is striking a pose as a ship’s captain in the museum. He has proven to be quite an actor in his young age.

Here is Redoubt 10, the one Alexander Hamilton’s platoon stormed.  Behind it is the mouth of the York River which pours out into Chesapeake Bay.  The British tried to escape to the other side of the river, but a huge squall arrived at that exact moment and sunk several of the British escape ships.  Sounds like a bit of Divine intervention to me.

Here we are touring the siege lines.

We ended up at the Moore house.  This was the home where the terms of surrender were negotiated between Washington(American)/Rochambeau (French) and Cornwallis(English).  Supposedly Cornwallis fell ill after this meeting and required his lieutenant to perform the actual surrender ceremony while he remained in bed.

I have to say, there’s nothing like eventually touching and feeling where history was made after reading it from a book.  We’re learning a lot about our country and it only makes us appreciate it all the more.