1743 Lauren Lane
Auburn, AL 36830-7563

15 October 1996

Mr. Phillip Lucas, Editor-in-Chief
Opelika-Auburn News
Opelika, Alabama

Dear Sir:

Please print the following contribution calling readers’ attention to the Victory at Yorktown:

This week in 1781, American forces led by General George Washington, assisted by French forces on land and at sea, redeemed the pledge of the lives, fortunes, and sacred honor of the signers of the Declaration of Independence with a crushing defeat of British forces led by Cornwallis at Yorktown, Virginia. On 14 October 1781, Alexander Hamilton, then a young officer, led a brilliant nighttime attack with unloaded muskets and fixed bayonets on the British strategic position Redoubt 10, the capture of which led to the British defeat. The fight at Redoubt 10 lasted about five minutes with a loss of only nine American men. Unable to retreat by water because of adverse weather, Cornwallis was ultimately forced to surrender on Washington's terms.

On 17 October 1781, four years to the day after the American Victory at Saratoga, General Lord Cornwallis sent a British officer, waving a white handkerchief, who on being taken to Washington's headquarters, informed Washington that Cornwallis wished to suspend the battle for twenty-four hours to negotiate terms for an American surrender. Washington counter-offered a two-hour suspension of the siege to allow Cornwallis to draw up and submit proposals for a British surrender. Cornwallis had no alternative but to comply.

Articles of Capitulation were signed on 19 October 1781 at 11:00 a.m., followed by the formal surrender of the British standards, arms, and men at 2:00 p.m. So deep was Cornwallis' humiliation that he was taken ill and was unable to participate in the surrender ceremony, instead deputizing British General O'Hara to conduct the surrender on behalf of the British.

While the American Revolution did not end at Yorktown, history records the Victory at Yorktown as the pivotal event in ending the Revolution and making possible the perfection of our new Republic, the United States of America.

Benjamin Franklin, our Ambassador to France, thought the victories at Saratoga and Yorktown so important that he commissioned the French engraver Augustin Dupre' to create the "Libertas Americana" (American Liberty) Medal to commemorate the events. Copies of the medal were presented to heads of state and friends of America.

The Richard Henry Lee Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution, whose namesake offered the original resolution* dissolving our connection with the British Crown, calls upon all Americans to celebrate the Victories at Saratoga and Yorktown with appropriate patriotic observances such as display of the Flag and prayerful remembrance of the sacrifices our patriot ancestors made to secure the blessings of liberty for us all.

Prospective members and others interested in the patriotic, historical, and educational objectives of the Sons of the American Revolution are welcome to call Chapter President William A. Segraves at (334)826-2988 for further information.

William Alexander Segraves, President
Richard Henry Lee Chapter
Sons of the American Revolution

*"Resolved

That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved."