Slide 1 : The World Turned Upside - Down
Battle of Yorktown
The War Dragged On. : The War Dragged On. The War Unpopular in England
Too many English casualties
Too expensive
America’s alliance with France
Howe’s resignation
Low morale in general the British soldiers wanted to go home.
The War Dragged On. : Colonists continue to fight
- Washington won’t stop
- More committed
Commitment = Advantage The War Dragged On. "Nothing short of independence, it appears to me, can possibly do.
A peace on other terms would..... be a peace of war."George Washington, Letter to John Banister, 1778
The War Dragged On. : In the NORTH the war became a stalemate
Cornwallis went south and had success in GA, NC, SC
Washington turned his attention to the South The War Dragged On.
Geography’s Role : Geography’s Role Cornwallis chooses Yorktown as supply base.
Lafayette, Hamilton and Von Stuben advance.
Admiral DeGrasse sails up from Cuba.
G. W. goes to Elkton
French blockade Bay trap Cornwallis
Royal navy rescue attempt
French & British navy battle.
GW is picked up by DeGrasse for the final battle.
British Role : The Losers who shouldn’t have lost,
1) Terrible decision to go to Yorktown
2) Bad luck – DeGrasse was available and close to assist. British Role
American Role : After a five-day bombardment, the combined American and French forces attacked and overwhelmed Cornwallis's fortified position on the night of October 14. American Role
French Role : The French, allied with the Americans since 1778
Landed 6,000 troops in RI while
French fleet gathered in the Caribbean preparing to do battle with the British. French Role
Alexander Hamilton : Washington gave him command –
New York and Connecticut light infantry battalion.
Orders to lead an assault on British redoubt number 10
On October 14, Hamilton and his battalion did just that. Redoubts were taken. Alexander Hamilton "People give me credit for some genius… It is the fruit of labor and thought."
General Henry Clinton : Army demoralized by The Battles of Saratoga
War altered by France's alliance to Americans.
Powerless to intervene in Cornwallis's campaigns
Clinton became scapegoat for Cornwallis General Henry Clinton Sought to vindicate his actions by publishing his Narrative.
Lord Charles Cornwallis : Able commander of troops in the south.
Captured- Savannah, Charlestown, Camden SC
Planned to chase Lafayette after resupplying at Yorktown Lord Charles Cornwallis “We may destroy all the men in America, and we shall still have all we can do to defeat the women.”
Admiral Comte de Grasse : After little more than three hours of smoky but unspectacular gunnery, the fleets drifted apart. No ship on either side had been sunk, though three of the British had been badly damaged and one was later scuttled. Casualties were moderate and remarkably equal. But the French sailed back into the Chesapeake and held it. Admiral Comte de Grasse Hide & Seek. The English misjudged both the skill and the intentions of Comte de Grasse, lieutenant general of the naval army.
Sweet Surrender : Sweet Surrender With the Surrender – the war was over. For the next years there would be small skirmishes. John Trumbull (1820) The World Turned Upside Down