The Battle Of Yorktown By William Faulkner

In 1781 general George Washington and his 17,000 troops of the continental army and the army of France entered the city of Yorktown, Virginia. With Lord General Cornwallis he only had 9,000 troops to try to defend the city of Yorktown. This is known as the most important battle in the revolutionary war.

He believed that they needed about 20k soldiers to scare the colonists in to obeying their rule. Whig leaders knew that Massachusetts should remain defensive. Then General Gage ordered “the troops… marched over the people’s land—some where their grain sown—and gardens; broke down their fences, walls.” Then the Battle of Lexington and Concord took place. “An assault on unresisting militiamen at Lexington common, a military confrontation at Concord’s North Bridge, and a classic guerrilla action by ill-disciplined provincials, drawing on Indian fighting experience to harry the Britain retreat to Charles-town on the bloody Battle Road.” Americans then met the British soldiers at the east end of the bridge. Shots’ begin to ring off killing Abner Hosmer and Isaac Davis. The battle was about two to three minutes

(They were sometimes called redcoats.) The British woke up to see americans 6 foot dirt wall, and their leader, was not happy, they had done more work in one night than his men could do in a month. Bang, bang, bang, the British marched up the hill in a perfectly straight line with their guns, horses, and drums. The British had boats and ships. They burnt down some houses.There were more british than colonists. Unfortunately, the British had to go up a hill, which made them an easier target. Most british marched by foot, but some were on horses. It could have been that the British had the general and important people on horses and their soldiers on foot. The British struggled a lot in this battle from being pushed down to the river. Even though they won, and it gave them control of the Boston Harbor, it had a very risky cost about 266 British were killed and 828 wounded And for the Americans, they suffered less than half. Was this battle worth

During the American Revolution, the Americans and French (Franco-American coalition) fought the British at the Battle of Yorktown also known as “The Siege of Yorktown”. The Americans and the French fielded a combined force of roughly 16,000 soldiers to defeat the British force estimated at 7,000 soldiers. American General George Washington and French Lieutenant General de Rochambeau led the American and French soldiers. The British commanding officer was Major General Lord Cornwallis. The battle occurred from September 28 thru October 19, 1781. Cornwallis lost his dominance in the Carolinas and decided to march his army north to Virginia and seize Yorktown and Gloucester along the York River.

Most people did not expect the colonists with their under trained militia to last long against the British superpower. The colonists did just that. In the night of June 16, 1775, a detail of 1200 troops under orders from Artemas Ward, and led by William Prescott was supposed to entrench themselves on the rise on Bunker Hill, but instead misunderstood the instructions and went to Breed’s Hill by mistake. The next morning, the British were shocked to see Americans threatening them. In the 18th century, British military custom urged that the British soldiers attack the American soldiers, even though the Americans were in a superior position. Major General William Howe, leader of the British forces could easily have surrounded the Americans with his ships, but chose to march his troops up the hill; to the Americans. Howe might have believed that the Americans would retreat in the face of a smashing, head-on attack. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how a person looks at it, William Howe was wrong. The Americans stood their ground, dug in their heels, and stood firm. In the first wave, the Americans waited until they were within forty meters, then opened fire. The British force retreated with their wounded for a second wave. The British rushed up yet again. Again they retreated, suffering a great number of casualties. By the time the

When the colonists got mad and were rebelling British acts, Thomas Gage, governor of what is now Massachusetts, also took action by making orders to seize Patriot supplies. Gage started taking responsibly on April 14th, 1775 when he got a letter to take force against the Patriots. In response to the letter he ordered to seize and destroy colonists artillery, ammunition, small arms, and tents and the only way for this plan to be successful was to make it very secretive. If word got out Gage knew the Patriots would gather up and face his troops, so he made the strategy so private his own troops didn’t know what they were going to be ordered to do only his most authorized men knew. The colonists were suspicious of British movement and watched all their activity. On April 15th, 1775 Patriots knew that the British were up to something when they started testing boats and

The battle at Yorktown, Virginia in 1781 is most famously known as the “ battle that ended the Revolutionary War.” While this is true, there is still much that can be learned from the principles applied, that still has relevance today. General George Washington, along with his allied French commanders, Lieutenant General Jean-Baptiste Ponton de Rochambeau and Rear Admiral Sir Thomas Graves, they exquisitely displayed how a execute siege operations. This battle also displayed a great example of how multinational operations can be successful.

He commanded his guns in the battles of Long Island, helped fortify Harlem Heights, and employed two artillery pieces effectively at White Plains. He led his company throughout the New Jersey campaign and saw action at Trenton and Princeton.

In the year 1676, colonists of Jamestown rose up and rebelled against their governor, Sir William Berkeley, following the slaughter of several hundred colonists by the Native Americans. Their leader, Nathaniel Bacon, claimed that he was fighting for the colonists best interests because it was his duty to protect them. Following Bacon 's lead, the rebellion began attacking all Native Americans, both hostile and peaceful. Was Bacon a hero for attempting to protect the colonists, and putting a stop to the attacks from the Native Americans? Or a traitor for attacking innocent people, and trying to take Jamestown from Berkeley and the other colonists? While Bacon claimed his actions were for the protection of the colonists, they do not justify his actions. Bacon attacked many peaceful tribes of Native Americans, and in doing so he put many colonists in danger. And Berkeley was not any better considering he was willing to sit back and watch it all unfold.

The days before the battle helped the Americans capture a victory at Yorktown. At first, the war was between the Colonies and the British; however, the French came into the war to help aid the Colonists and win the war over Great Britain. Before the battle of Yorktown, General George Washington was stationed in New York with his army. “In the spring of 1781, Washington traveled to Rhode Island to meet with Comte de Rochambeau and plan to attack on Clinton” (“History of the Siege”). Lieutenant General Henry Clinton is a British general who marches through the northern and middle colonies in an attempt to gain control in those areas. The French were a big advantage to the Colonists because of their naval fleet. George Washington was expecting the French fleet to arrive in New York and help aid in the attack on Clinton, however, he “learned that the French fleet was sailing to the lower Chesapeake Bay”

England made any town meeting, except authorized by the governor illegal, and housed British soldiers in select public buildings. In Massachusetts the British military governor, General Gage, ordered his 3,500 British soldiers in Boston to seize armories and storehouses in Charlestown and Cambridge. After the seizure, 20,000 colonial militiamen mobilized to protect other military supply depots and in the town of Concord the famous defensive force, the Minutemen, were organized.2 With these acts Parliament declared that Massachusetts was in open rebellion. British Secretary of State, Lord Dartmouth, quickly ordered Gage to send his soldiers on a search and destroy mission to capture colonial leaders, and military supplies in Concord. “At the same time Gage would attempt to find, capture, or kill John Hancock and Samuel Adams.”3 The stage was set for the first major engagements of the American Revolution.

The Battle of Yorktown gave General Washington the advantage he needed to win. General Washington, with the help of the French saw the opportunity to end the war by cornering General Cornwallis at Yorktown. (The History Channel Website, n.d.) Prior to the surrender of General Cornwallis to General Washington at Yorktown, the British were winning several battles. General Washington needed to do something before he had no other options left. General Washington’s forces were low in numbers and strength but knew the land to give them an edge in being rooted out by the British. (Lanning, 2005) General Washington used time and heavy militia to replenish his losses but did not have the troops to capture British Garrisons. (Lanning, 2005) The British in turn, could not pass the militia aiding General Washington. (Lanning, 2005)The militia, fighting alongside continental troops, had the land and the support of the people who aided their cause during the battle. The stalemate continued with no sign of either side budging. Guerilla-style operations were used to win many fights and battles that General Washington’s own troops could not. (Lanning, 2005) General Cornwallis, saw Yorktown in Virginia as a viable location to gather resources for future encounters with the Americans. General Cornwallis moved northward from the Carolinas toward Virginia and occupied Yorktown with an estimated 6,000 to 9,000 British troops. (Lanning, 2005) (The History

Leading up the battle of Yorktown, in February, 1781, Major General Marquis de Lafayette was ordered to take his Continental troops to Virginia. About a month later General Cornwallis and his army had entered Virginia believing that if the American forces had resistance, he would have victory against the Americans and the French. Later that year in August on 1-2, 1781 Cornwallis and his army set up at Gloucester point, hoping to use it as a base for supply and weapons. Couple of weeks later, Washington heard about the base and sent a large army to destroy Cornwallis base. A month later on September 14, 1781, French General Rochambeau and General Washington arrived, and sent 400 French soldiers and 400 American soldiers to storm the British redoubt. On October 19, 1781, being taken under heavy from the Americans and the French, Major General Cornwallis realized that he was short of troops and decided to escape Yorktown before surrendering. Making the move to escape, a sudden storm from the Americans and French ruined his evacuation plan and Cornwallis was forced to surrender, due to the lack troops and supplies.

Over 150 years, the Civil War had been the bloodiest war in the American history, also known as “The War Between the States” or “Brother Against Brother”, it was fought between the Union or the United States of America and the Confederate States of America. The war lasted four years from 1861 to 1865. What motivated these men to fight and what is the cause of the Civil War is a subject that many historians tried to find out.

John Keegan describes his book, The Face of Battle, as "a personal attempt to catch a glimpse of the face of battle." This personal aspect that Keegan mentions is essential to his book and is excellently articulated, driving home his point. Keegan, who taught at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst for over 25 years, begins by acknowledging his uneasiness with the fact that even though he taught British cadets military history, "I have not been in a battle; not near one, nor heard one from afar, nor seen the aftermath . . . And I grow increasingly convinced that I have very little idea of what a battle can be like." Keegan is clear to state his proposition that almost all military history has functioned simply as a “battle piece” description in which one can see all the larger moving aspects followed by the outcome. However, this sort of recounting fails to acknowledge the personal side of war, the experience of battle. What really ensues when a cavalry unit meets an infantry unit? What are the vital features in determining whether soldiers stand and fight or turn and run?