240th Anniversary of Yorktown

The regiments of Redcoats & Ruffles are generally focused on the 1781 Siege of Yorktown.  Since today is the 240th anniversary of Cornwallis' surrender, here are a few vignettes from the siege.

Banastre Tarleton's cavalry were across the York River from Yorktown at Gloucester Point.  On October 3, Tarleton ventured outside his fortifications to forage, but was driven back by French hussars.  Rallying, he attempted to counter-charge the hussars, but was stopped by John Francis Mercer's militia who laid down covering fire from behind a fence.

As the American and French armies besieged Yorktown, sappers and laborers dug trenches closer and closer to Cornwallis' fortifications.  These trenches needed to be guarded by strong parties of soldiers to prevent enemy attackers from gaining a foothold.

Cornwallis' defenses were crumbling under the bombardment and the siege lines kept coming closer to Yorktown.  In a night assault, Continental light infantry captured Cornwallis' Redoubt #10, while the French captured Redoubt #9.  This allowed them to finish a second--and closer--siege line.

Shortly after losing his redoubts to the Americans and French, Cornwallis ordered a nighttime attack on the enemy lines.  British soldiers crept in and attacked the French portion of the lines, hoping to knock out some cannons and buy Cornwallis more time.  The attack was quickly repelled, the cannons were fixed, and Cornwallis surrendered on October 19, 1781.