A Blast From the Past
New Yorktown exhibit a treat for July 4 travelers
YORKTOWN, VA. » History is full of unsung, overlooked and under-appreciated heroes.
To most Americans, for example, the French nobleman and general Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau is hardly a household name.
But if not for his intervention, George Washington might have committed a major blunder altering the Revolutionary War’s outcome.
In the summer of 1781 — almost four years after the decisive Battles of Saratoga — Washington wanted to drive the British from New York City, which they’d held for the war’s duration.
But Rochambeau, commander-in-chief of the 7,000man French Expeditionary Force, convinced him to instead attack the British at Yorktown, Va., where Lord Cornwallis’s army was much more vulnerable.
Marching 440 miles south from New York, the combined American and French forces reached Chesapeake peninsula in late September and with help from the French fleet, forced Cornwallis to surrender following the siege of Yorktown (Sept. 28-Oct. 19), which turned out to be the war’s last major engagement.
“It was a crippling blow,” said Brandon McCollum, a living history interpreter at the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown. “It made the British Parliament realize, ‘We should just cut our losses. What are we doing over there?’”
Great Britain was involved in conflicts around the world and could no longer afford to lose men, money and munitions fighting its former American colonies, which had declared their independence on July 4, 1776.
A new museum exhibit gives visitors a first-hand look at the heavy weapons armies on both sides used at Yorktown. It’s called, “A Blast From the Past: Artillery in the War of Independence,” and makes Yorktown a great destination for the upcoming Fourth of July holiday period.
The attraction includes daily
cannon firings, matchlock musket demonstrations and special events that explore a range of topics from artillery deployment and transport, to the science, technology and innovation behind these powerful weapons.
“Cornwallis had no supplies and he was outgunned, while both the American and French had 60 guns apiece,” said Senior Curator Sarah Meschutt. “The French had a new 24-pounder and fired thousands of rounds of 24-pound solid shot. Artillerymen had to know math, triangulation and topography. They were the most advanced part of the army.”
The exhibit features eight guns including six authentic, original pieces — two each used by the Americans, French and British. Artillery was comprised of long-range cannon that fired solid shot; mortars with explosive devices; and smaller Howitzers mounted on carriages that could be moved quickly around the battlefield. Grapeshot — little iron balls that exploded when fired — produced shrapnel that devastated enemy infantry lines.
Prior to the Revolution, artillery wasn’t made in America. With the onset of war, a series of 27 foundries was quickly set up in the 13 colonies.
“It’s amazing how many were established in such a short amount of time,” Meschutt said. “It’s a massive enterprise and it worked.”
The American Revolution Museum, through a wide array of films, galleries and displays, gives an incredibly thorough look at all aspects of the entire struggle for independence from start to finish. This includes events leading up to the war such as the Boston Tea Party, and the Treaty of Paris, which marked its formal conclusion in 1783.
Cultural, social and economic impacts of the war are presented and, of course, there’s a special section about the war’s turning point — the 1777 Battles of Saratoga. A brief film, “The First Great Victory,” is presented inside an officers’ tent that serves as a theater.
Some Americans who served at Saratoga were also at Yorktown such as Israel Evans, a Continental Army chaplain, and Col. Alexander Scammell, who was mortally wounded near Yorktown.
“But the biggest personal connection is Major General Benjamin Lincoln,” said Eric Schnitzer, a Saratoga National Historical Park ranger. “He was American General Horatio Gates’s number two man here at Saratoga, and he was Washington’s number two man of the Continental Army at Yorktown. It was Lincoln, not Washington, who accepted the sword surrendered up by Charles O’Hara, Cornwallis’s adjutant and number two man.”
The surrender scene painted by famed artist John Trumbull — he also did “Surrender of General Burgoyne,” which hangs in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda — depicts one of Yorktown’s most fascinating “stories within a story.”
Cornwallis, humiliated by his defeat, feigned illness and didn’t show up, but sent O’Hara in his place. O’Hara attempted to give his sword to Rochambeau, who deferred to Washington. But the great American general wouldn’t accept it from anyone other than Cornwallis, and motioned to Lincoln.
“Washington wasn’t playing those games,” said U.S. Army Lt. Col. (ret.) Bruce Burroughs, a museum volunteer and Vietnam veteran. “He’d been insulted by the British all those years. This was the ultimate slight.”
The new 80,000-squarefoot museum, which replaced the former Yorktown Victory Center, was dedicated last year. One of Burroughs’ favorite features is an experiential theater where “The Siege of Yorktown” is shown, complete with rumbling seats, wind, smoke and the smells of gunpowder and seawater.
“If you sit in the front row, you can even smell the soldiers’ coffee,” he said. “It’s just like being there.”
The 22-acre property includes an outdoors Continental Army encampment and Revolution-era farm where vegetables, herbs and tobacco are grown.
The museum site is near Colonial National Historical Park where visitors may take self-guided battlefield tours.
“The town itself is the same size as it was in 1781,” Burroughs said.
Many old brick buildings have been preserved intact and streets look the same now as they might have nearly 240 years ago, giving 21st century travelers a glimpse of what late 18th century life was like.
“Blast From the Past” opened June 10 and will stay up through Jan. 5.
A variety of special July 4 museum events are planned to celebrate the 242nd anniversary of America’s independence. These complement other activities taking place in Yorktown throughout the day including a parade and spectacular fireworks shows over the York River.
Yorktown is part of the “Historic Triangle,” only a short distance from Jamestown Settlement and Colonial Williamsburg. It’s a great way to explore America’s past on the most patriotic holiday of the year.