[Music]

greetings and

what type of History Podcast I'm your

host Scott here with my wife and

historian Jen hello on this podcast we

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may

[Music]

now unless you've been living under a

rock since 2015 you will likely know

some of the songs from the Broadway

musical Hamilton I know Jen does

but did you know that you don't have to

pay a ton of money for a Broadway ticket

to see what Hamilton saw

or to walk in Hamilton's footsteps so

Jen what are we talking about today

we're going to talk about the Battle of

Yorktown the Battle of Yorktown so why

are we talking about the Battle of

Yorktown today because we actually

visited the battle site in Yorktown

Virginia yep so we're going to talk

about what that's like to go there and

what you can see and some of the

similarities between the Hamilton song

and what's actually there for you to see

yeah so

um yeah it's easy for us to get to so

where is the Yorktown Battlefield so

Yorktown Battlefield is in the city of

York it's one of those early colonial

cities

um it the city was called York first and

it was named after York

England yeah and and today it's in

between like Norfolk and DC yes and it

was settled in 1691 so it's one of those

Old Colonial towns but it's in that

historic triangle that we talked about

in the Williamsburg um podcast so

there's a neat little triangle of

History here in this southern western

part Southern eastern part of Virginia

with Williamsburg Yorktown and Jamestown

all within about 20 miles of each other

and they all form like a triangle right

yeah we've spent most of our time in one

corner of that you know that triangle

but

um going to Yorktown

it was actually more of an experience

than I than I realized because it's it

covers a lot of land it's really neat

and I think people should see it because

it does do like a

seven mile

45 minute

kind of Battlefield drive that you can

do and you can get the map at the um

at the National Park Service yeah

Visitor Center but it's free to do the

drive and if you get the chart it'll

explain everything to you plus there's

signs everywhere you stop yeah and you

can't really walk in between these sides

this is it's absolutely driving you

might be able to bike it if you got if

you if and if you're bringing family

like this would be a bigger kid biking

thing but honestly it's most likely it's

a driving it's a driving tour and they

have like a red route and a yellow route

right and the red route is like the

British side and the yellow route is the

American Revolutionary and then they

also have some French

so the French were with the Americans

okay all right yeah I had to educate

Scott as we you do even after I make it

even even after I make the video

um I just I thought they had some

separate French routes too so on the

yellow side when you go drive out you'll

you'll hit

um lafayette's Campground you'll hit

rochambeau's Campground then you'll hit

George Washington that's yeah that's

probably so that's what you remember is

they camped separately because they

can't they can't put their troops right

and George Washington was the furthest

out and he's the farthest out because

he's the most protected yep right so and

so that's where we close the video yeah

because I'm so excited to walk in George

Washington's footsteps and to be where

there's a tent that's in the visitor

center that's George Washington's

campaign tend and that tenth more than

likely was at that spot yeah where we

were walking or walking around is that

where the surrender or near the

discerner battlefield or was that

somewhere else no the surrender battle

about midway between both of those

routes it's not it's

interesting it's not specifically on the

yellow route it's not specifically on

the red route it's kind of where they

both converge yeah yeah and that's the

surrender field yeah that was that was

that to me that was really cool but I

think we're kind of jumping ahead so so

set the stage for okay for you for the

battle here

[Music]

York the city is on a it's in Eastern

Virginia it's on a river it's on York

River it's called Yorktown at about the

1781 it becomes the epicenter of the

Battle of Yorktown so leading up to that

it you know the U.S had been at war with

England for about six years by the

summer of 1781. and then when they you

get into Hamilton they're like the

Battle of Yorktown 1781 you're like

we've been the America's been fighting

for six years now

um we the first shots are fired in 1775

at Congo Lexington and Concord and then

you have these hard winters of 1777 1778

1779 1780 we did Washington Crossing

yeah so these hard Winters that

Washington is enduring there's no real

they have a few decisive victories but

nothing that's really over you know

that's winning the battle right

so what happens in 1780 is the French

send over 5 000 troops and the French

are helping America because they're at

war with yeah I mean if correct me if my

high school history memory is wrong but

the French helped us a lot I mean we win

because of the friends right and then

they're going to have a revolution yeah

right after and we're just gonna hang

out and we're just gonna watch them kill

their monarchy yeah but

but so the French come in 1780 and they

bring roshambo so Roshan Beau is a

general a French General and he's very

like like Lafayette he's very

um

professional good at his job just like

Washington so Washington goes to meet

him he goes up to Rhode Island to meet

him in 1781 and they make this plan and

they decide to attack Cornwallis and

surprise him George Washington loves

this surprise attack right then you

think of Washington Crossing he loves

this idea of a decisive victory in one

location he's he's very single

Battlefield focused he's always been

that way which is traditional of the of

the era and for George Washington if you

study George Washington he is a very

single battle focused oh really and so

he him and um Rochambeau traveled down

to Williamsburg in September of 1781 and

so that's when I spoke with Lafayette in

Williamsburg where did you guys stay

yeah on last week's podcast yes so

Washington stays at like the with house

yeah right and they plan their strategy

because like I said they're in close

proximity to each other her right and so

in September of 17 September 28th

actually of 1781 Washington would throw

some Rochambeau and Lafayette will

travel to York and attack Cornwallis and

this takes about three weeks the whole

battle is from September 28 1781 and

they finally will surrender on October

17th yeah and then the whole surrender

ceremony happens October 19th

of 1781. yeah so

this is when right before this happens

in the beginning of September the

British sent some ships down to try to

reinforce York the kind of hearing that

these French ships are coming and the

French just annihilate them yeah and

that's one of their if you go to the

visitor center

they have a recreation of the HMS Sharon

and the kids loved it and you can walk

through it yeah that's right that was

that was really neat it's really neat so

that's a recreation of a British frigate

44 gun British frigate that the French

sunk right there

in the York River yeah it's still there

and I think that's the one thing that I

remember from my high school about

Yorktown and all that stuff like that

that and then obviously the battlefield

but the French holding them off there

yes was like the decisive thing that

that kind of turned the tide and and

tipped the scales in our favor well

that's what happens is the British can't

get in to reinforce Cornwallis they go

back up to New York and cord Wallace is

kind of like okay

um I'll give it my best shot but then

George Washington is very

this is strategic yeah and what he does

and we'll talk about it but um

Cornwallis just gives up basically so

when they get there they start basically

Cornwallis is dug in to Yorktown and if

you go to Yorktown you will see these

Earthworks that that was really yeah

they still exist today that was really

it was like so again just kind of from

from someone who wasn't particularly

interested in this right growing up and

even in college like again I'm not

history is not my my area of particular

interest I love doing this with you

but when I'm there it was one of those

interesting things like I probably never

would have gone maybe I would have gone

you know by myself but you you bring me

out there you bring the kids up we bring

the kids out there and being there and

like literally walking around the

battlefield I love how

at the Yorktown Battlefield they they

actually don't develop a lot of it they

let a lot of it kind of stay open and it

really gives you the feel of what it

must have looked like and felt like back

then it doesn't feel overly developed

like some big Park like some you know

whether it's the Jamestown Settlement

Recreation which we'll talk about

another time and it it felt like you

walking around like oh my gosh like

here's these readouts that they dug or

here's these Earthworks that they dug

and they dug this notch in this hill

here just so the Canaan could shoot over

there yeah those trenches the trenches

and like that was so cool I mean and for

kids they're just running they're having

a blast they're running they're running

everywhere it that to me was probably

the coolest piece of it again I like

kind of like the experience

it was so cool so they dug in these huge

trenches that's what they did the

British had reinforced Yorktown dug in

these huge trenches is to kind of guard

them made these readouts to kind of

they're kind of like a readout is kind

of like a little

um

fourth yeah I would say like you know

when you put all the earthwork around

you and you can have it and they'd have

like the sharp the sharp logs that they

sharpened sticking out yep the sharp

lugs will be all around and the parapets

where they can put cannons up on top and

what George Washington did with his

troops as he gets in and starts digging

in close to those yeah so he can get his

cannons in so what you see is you'll see

The Siege lines you'll see the first

Siege line the second Siege line and

you'll see the British Siege line and

those haven't changed they've grown over

with grass now but their earthwork

hasn't changed so you can walk on them

and walk inside there it was it was so

cool because you can walk down and they

are probably good if you're down inside

of a readout yeah yeah it's probably a

good six seven feet yeah if you see the

video my opening is from readout nine

yeah so I'm standing in the there's two

readouts that were instrumental in The

Taking of Yorktown nine and ten ten is

the one Alexander Hamilton took nine is

one as the French took his ten the one

he sung about yeah ten or 20 seconds

but nine is when you can go in today and

stand in because it's more Inland 10 is

on the water and it's been slowly

um deteriorating yeah but um nine is is

more Inland so we were able to stand

inside of it and I talked about can you

imagine 400 people in here that night

and because that's how many people were

inside there yeah and it was again to

kind of tutor our own horn you know on

some of the production value we have

like these little wireless mic you know

receivers so I actually stood at the top

of the readout and you were standing in

the bottom and as you walk towards me it

helps it helps in the video give you

perspective because sometimes it's hard

to see from a straight video shot not

the perspective of how deep these things

are how big they are but when you're

walking when I'm beating you you walking

through it and the audio is very clear

you're talking about it as you're

walking towards the camera that was that

was a fun thing for me to do just from

the production side and they're very so

you can park close to them and then walk

out to them but they are accessible if

you have even a wheelchair I think they

would yeah yeah I think a good portion

of them are not all of them but that

those readouts are really close to the

visitor center so like I said if you

start at The Visitor Center you'll go in

they have a recreation of the ship they

also have George Washington's campaign

tent

it's protected it's you know so for

conservative but you can walk inside

underneath it in glass and it kind of

lets you know how tall George Washington

was because that for them they have

markers that's right yes by the time

he's a tall man he was six six three

yeah when the average man around then

it's about five nine so he's pretty tall

for the time and they all also have

Cornwallis campaign table what they

believe is Quinn Wallace's campaign

table and I talk about why they would

say that usually they don't have exact

prominence but it's it points to it but

that's also protected and you can see

that's probably the table he used for

his strategy and planning and so those

are the three really cool things in the

visitor center and then of course you

can get your

map to start your drive

but um you know there's there's about

17

000

troops for the American Revolution you

got about nine eight to nine thousand

Americans and the French have brought

about seven to eight thousand and then

Cornwallis has about nine thousand with

him he's about seven thousand British

and three thousand Germans yeah so

remember we talked about this by the the

Hessians yeah and so

[Music]

they start to dig in this starts in

September and so the song is about

September about October 14th and October

14th is when Hamilton and a French

officer are given the orders to take

these readouts right and the French

officers told to take nine which is the

Inland one and ten and Hamilton's told

to take ten which is on the water now in

the play is this where because he's

always asking for his own command like

he keeps asking for command he wants

this is his name is this his chance this

is his chance this is his one chance

well like talk about like perfect timing

you know right here's your chance it's

the last battle right obviously they

didn't know that they didn't know that

but like hey here's your last chance of

like Hamilton's like oh it's my one time

and he does it and then the battle lens

he's like yep yeah I know and honestly

so the the whole part is like take the

bullet such a gun take the bullet touch

again we move into current we move as

when George Washington had given the

orders to just use your bayonets right

to keep it silent to keep it silent he

didn't want to tip them off because

Cornwallis doesn't think they're that

close right he doesn't have any intel to

let them know that they're that close

and so they take these readouts by

surprise and because they take them by

surprise there's really very low

casualty numbers

I think um Hamilton loses eight and the

French officer loses 20. but when you're

fighting 400 men that's a pretty big

deal

um

for the French side the Jersey so the

French attack the Germans that's who's

inside their readout And when they see

the French coming they fire back a

little and then they go okay we give up

they're like we don't they're like we're

not really invested in this they're

really our country yeah so that's why

you know it's kind of like Hamilton did

it but it's like okay there you go you

know but if you go there and we have we

have gone there you know for friends for

Flat Stanley there's a whole thing that

says Alexander Hamilton stood here you

can stand where Alexander Hamilton stood

and I'm sure that didn't come around

until 2050. I know and after the play

came out um John Laurens who's also a

character in the Hamilton play John

Lawrence is with Hamilton when he makes

this Siege a readout 10.

um so he's also there so that's kind of

that that is accurate of the song

um and then he talks about you know a

young man stands on a parapet waving a

white handkerchief that does happen so

they take these readouts October 14th

they fill them with cannons they start

firing onto your Cornwallis just

basically holds out as long as he can

and on the 17th he surrenders and he

does have a drummer and a British

officer climb on a pet a pet and wave a

white handkerchief just like in the song

oh wow and then on the 18th they the day

after is when the four officers meet at

Morehouse so that's another place you

can go remember we went to Morehouse we

walk around it

and vaguely that's what the negotiation

of surrender takes place and that's one

of them yes remember one American office

it was like an actual house that's an

actual house one French officer two

British officers and they meet in there

and they basically at the time you had

to come on terms of surrender what are

what are your terms and George

Washington you know you can't unfail

your colors you can't walk away with

your banner flying high you can't walk

away with any bullets in your gun yeah I

think I think that they had like threw

it on their arms yeah you have to do

these kind of symbolic things

um your highest in command has to give

the sword to me well what happens the

day of surrender which is October 18th

at the surrender field which is awesome

yeah it was cool they've got like a

whole audio thing that you can like go

in there you're looking over yeah it's

like you so you walk down from the

parking lot it's probably what maybe 100

yards maybe right so you walk down this

path to this kind of little

larger stage gazebo covered thing but

then they've got audio playing and so

it's telling you and they're playing

like the the drums and the trumpets and

you know they're so it sounds like

you're there and then you're looking

over where they surrender yeah like what

would you see that day looking out on

the field what would you see you will

see a line of American officers you will

see a line of British officers and then

you will see the French having to walk

side by side between them yeah and

they've got the old kind of beams like

the cross beams right that would line

kind of almost like fences yes

um so Cornwallis that day says he's sick

and he doesn't show up yeah I'd be sick

too and because of that his second in

command presents the sword to George

Washington but George Washington won't

accept it he makes his second in command

take it oh wow so very symbolic this all

of this is like you know men of the time

being sure it's it's a different era

Yeah a different era but it you know

it's very neat to be there uh the war

will this so this is the decisive battle

right there won't be another

big battle although the war technically

is not over until another two years

September 3rd 1783 is when the Treaty of

Paris is actually signed yeah

at this time British Parliament has

backed down Armament so they they

basically won't attack anymore and so

these two years are basically just

little skirmishes but nothing big until

the war is over and there was a

centennial in 1881

and Chester Garfield spoke because he

had been president for 30 days because I

mean Chester Arthur spoke because he had

been president for 30 days because James

Garfield had just died oh yeah and then

there was a bicentennial in 1981 when

Ronald Reagan spoke that's cool yeah

yeah and again

if you're ever in the area and you're

doing the Williams work thing because

that's the big draw right I'd say for

the area right that's that's uh

the the first first one that everybody's

going to go to if you get a chance

though

I go to go to Yorktown Battlefield

because one if you kind of just want a

day where you can drive do a little bit

more driving a little bit less walking

right maybe do Williams work first walk

around all day get your feet all nice

and tired then go drive out to Yorktown

and just driving around there was

amazing because we ended up going back

later

and this lighting was just beautiful so

we went around Sunset and it was the

most Serene and beautiful it was like

think of any movie that you've ever seen

about you know Revolutionary War era I

mean it was just those the purples and

reds and oranges and it was like I felt

like I was I was in that time it was

absolutely amazing and like we said this

battlefield has been relatively

untouched yeah so you do feel like

you're standing in history when you're

there it was just that was one of those

things

you know aside from being in my Colonial

Williamsburg and even Colonial

Williamsburg you feel like you're there

but there's a bunch of other there's

people walking around with strollers and

stuff like that right here I really felt

like I was transported back in time it

was just absolutely amazing so as you

can tell from today's podcast

watching a Broadway musical bring

history to life is an amazing experience

but what I hope you learned from today's

podcast was that being able to walk in

the footsteps of those historical Giants

gives you just that much more context to

all the words and Rhymes of those catchy

Hamilton Tunes

so thank you to listening to the talk

with History Podcast and please reach

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