Battle
Block · invest · advance · secure surrender
Military history
Yorktown was the final act of the Virginia campaign, not an isolated pitched battle or the immediate legal end of the war. When Washington's and Rochambeau's armies arrived on 28 September, de Grasse already controlled the Chesapeake. The Allies invested Yorktown and Gloucester, opened two parallels and advanced their batteries. Redoubts 9 and 10 east of the town still interrupted the second line: two separate columns took them on 14 October. A British sortie suspended the fire only briefly; an attempt to evacuate across to Gloucester failed in a storm. The parley on the 17th led to the articles and surrender of both posts on 19 October.
In July, Clinton requests a protected naval position in Virginia; after reconnaissance, Cornwallis chooses and fortifies Yorktown and Gloucester. Their later controversy apportions responsibility for the trap differently. The dossier therefore retains the order to create a base and the actual choice of both posts without treating one commander's retrospective justification as a neutral explanation.
The Battle of the Capes and de Grasse's continued presence in the Chesapeake precede 28 September. They are not another land phase: they prevent rapid relief by sea and give the Allies time to carry artillery, tools and men to the works. The fleet therefore appears only when this constraint must be read again on the map.
Yorktown stands on the south bank of the York River; Gloucester Point is opposite, to the north. Yorktown Creek protects the town's western side, while Wormley Creek and its marshes close the east. The Allies place their French sector in the west and their American sector in the east, toward the river and Redoubts 9 and 10.
Syntheses place the Allied total between more than 16,000 and about 17,600 men, and the initial garrison between roughly 7,500 and 8,300. On 17 October, Cornwallis reports only about 3,200 fit for duty at Yorktown and 600 at Gloucester. These figures change date and denominator; they are neither merged nor converted into regimental precision on the map.
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Military history
Entrée du 28 septembre : départ de Williamsburg, séparation de la colonne française sur la route directe et de la colonne américaine vers Murford's Bridge ; entrée du 29 : Américains à l'est de Beaver Dam Creek, reconnaissance et choix des approches ; entrée du 30 et notes éditoriales : ouvrages extérieurs et préparation du siège.
Investment march, initial axes, Beaver Dam Creek, reconnaissance, logistics and geography of the approach.
View ↗Entrées des 6–10 octobre, lignes 30–43 : première parallèle et ouverture des batteries ; 12–15 octobre, lignes 48–83 : seconde parallèle, assauts, pertes et incorporation des redoutes ; 16–19 octobre, lignes 84–105 : sortie, passage vers Gloucester, parley, commissaires et reddition.
Principal chronology, reported distances, assault sectors, six guns spiked, sixteen boats, negotiations and Allied losses.
View ↗Paragraphes 2–5, lignes 68–76 : attente du secours, retrait du 29 septembre, première et seconde parallèles, redoutes ; paragraphes 6–11, lignes 77–88 : sortie, onze pièces revendiquées, seize bateaux, tempête et décision de capituler ; paragraphe sur les effectifs aptes, lignes 92–94.
British viewpoint, decision chain, condition of works and ammunition, failed evacuation, fit-for-duty strengths and contradiction over the spiked guns.
View ↗Page imprimée 138 (PDF p. 160) : combat du 3 octobre et renforts de marines à Gloucester ; pages imprimées 142–148 (PDF pp. 164–170) : interruption de la seconde parallèle, ordre de la colonne française, assauts simultanés, abatis, prise de la redoute 9 et pertes rapportées.
French perspective on Gloucester and direct check of Deux-Ponts's conduct of the column against Redoubt 9.
View ↗Préambule et article 1 : reddition des garnisons de York et Gloucester et des forces navales ; article 2 : artillerie et magasins ; article 3 : remise des redoutes à midi, sortie de York à 14 h et de Gloucester à 15 h ; articles 4–14 pour les conditions complémentaires.
Exact object, schedule and local reach of capitulation; distinction among land troops, navy, works and stores.
View ↗Entrées datées du 28–30 septembre puis des 3, 6, 9, 11–12, 14, 16–17, 18 et 19 octobre, section chronologique complète du siège.
Independent check of the boundaries and six-phase division.
View ↗Section centrale : ordre britannique de rechercher un port protégé et choix de Yorktown ; paragraphes sur de Grasse et le blocus ; estimations de 17 600 alliés et 8 300 Britanniques ; paragraphes finaux sur les parallèles, les redoutes, la reddition et le traité de 1783.
Strategic framework, control of the Chesapeake, orders of magnitude, general chronology and limit of the ‘end of the war’ shortcut.
View ↗Pages imprimées 7–9, sections The British Move to Yorktown et Strategy of the Siege ; pp. 18–20, Investment et British Position ; pp. 22–27, Gloucester Side, First Allied Siege Line, Second Allied Siege Line, Capture of Redoubts Nos. 9 and 10 et Last Days ; carte NPS 1956 aux pp. 30–31.
North-up topography, Yorktown Creek to the west, Wormley Creek to the east, French/American sectors, Gloucester, redoubts, works, surrender and force/loss estimates.
View ↗Sections The Siege of Yorktown et The Assault on Redoubts 9 and 10, lignes 63–76 : fonction des deux ouvrages contre la seconde ligne, préparation, deux partis d'assaut d'environ 400 hommes, armes non chargées, sapeurs, abatis, fossé et incorporation aux travaux.
Mechanics of assault and fortification; final chronology and the French chain are checked against Washington, Deux-Ponts and Hatch.
View ↗Notice Library of Congress, lignes 33–74 : plan levé et publié en 1782, échelle approximative 1:14 400, relief par hachures, références aux lignes britanniques et explication des opérations américaines et françaises ; fac-similé haute définition inspecté pour les rives, ouvrages, camps, routes et parallèles.
Contemporary cartographic check of relative positions of Yorktown, Gloucester, redoubts, lines and camps. Using it as a photograph of every phase would exceed the documentary use adopted here.
View ↗History, vol. 98, no 331, juillet 2013, pp. 370–389, DOI 10.1111/1468-229X.12014 ; abstract : trois chefs d'accusation de Clinton, réponse fondée sur les ordres navals, l'extension de l'effort en Virginie et le retard des instructions.
Historiographical framework for the responsibility controversy; no tactical detail is derived from the abstract alone.
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