Petersburg High School - Missile Yearbook (Petersburg, VA)

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Down Y orktown’s History Lane By Jean Ide HERE Yorktown is to- day, about three hundred years ago there were only a forest of trees and per- haps a few Indians. Then one day Ben- jamin Read came to Gloucester Point, which is directly across the river. He had a very large farm, which covered all of Gloucester Point and crossed the river to include the land on which Yorktown is now. Years later, in 1621, a surveyor, by the name of Lawrence Smith, was sent to buy the land on the shore opposite Mr. Benajmin Read’s home on Gloucester Point for the purpose of laying out a shire-town (which means a court-house town) . Mr. Read received ten thousand pounds of tobacco for his land. The tobacco was paid to him from the king’s treasury. The river which runs between Gloucester Point and the Shire of York was call- ed at first the Charles River, but it was changed later to the York river and the shire was called Yorktown after the town of York in England. Mr. Lawrence Smith laid out the town in little plots. There were sev- enty-five of them. Anyone could buy one of these half-acre lots — if he built a house on it within a year. If he did not build a house, he had to for- feit his land. The price of the land was one hundred and eighty pounds of tobacco for each lot. When the town was first laid out, there were seven streets that ran across the one main street which was parallel to the river. This street’s name was just plain Main street. The other streets were (and still are) called Pearl, Bacon, Grace, Smith, Read, Ballard, and Buckner. In its early days Yorktown was the first port of entry for all ships from abroad. Each ship as it came into North America went to this port to the Custom House to get its papers before going to the northern cities to trade. Yorktown during these early years was probably a very peaceful, or- dinary little village that went to the Episcopal church on Sunday and fish- ed or grew tobacco during the week. But Yorktown was very gradually growing. As more and more ships came to the New World, more and more people would stay and settle in Yorktown until at the outbreak of the Revo- lutionary War there were about 3,600 people living there. THE MISSILE Page twenty-three

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YOEKTOWN MONUMENT

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Yorktown’s part in this great Revolution was very important because it was here that the decisive move was made toward freedom. The siege of Yorktown began in 1781. Lord Cornwallis was in pos- session of the town, and he had several of his ships lying at anchor a little above Gloucester Point. The American army was stationed around the outskirts in t he form of a half-circle. There they built breastworks and forts. The American commanders were General Washington, to the south ; Nelson, whose home was in Yorktown, to the east; and Rachambeau to the west. In the river below Yorktown was stationed the French fleet whose commander was Comte de Grasse. Thus Cornwallis and his army were almost completely surrounded. They did, however, have Gloucester Point as a means of escape. If they could get across safely, they could make good their escape. Cornwallis secured several small flat-bottomed boats (which are pretty hard to manage in rough weather), which he intended to use at the first opportunity that presented itself. One calm, very dark night it was decided that a crossing should be at- tempted. At twelve o’clock, therefore, they started out, but before they had gotten half-way across a sudden storm came up. The little boats could not be managed. They drifted down the river ; some were turned over and some managed to return to shore. Those that went down-stream were cap- tured by the French, who then moved up the river and conquered the Eng- lish fleet. Before the English fleet had been taken, however, all valuable equipment had been put overboard into the river. The river since then has been dragged several times for a chest of money that was supposed to have been thrown over, but it has very likely sunk into the mud beyond recovery. The capture of the English fleet took place on October 18th. This necessitated the surrender of Cornwallis ; but he had written earlier to New York for reinforcements and was expecting them any minute. He there- fore sent a note to General Washington asking him to postpone the surren- der because “of his inability to attend on account of sickness.” Washing- ton learned of the reinforcements and sent the French fleet to check them. The English fleet was met at the mouth of the river. One of the ships was sunk; the others retreated. Therefore, Washington insisted that there should be no postponement of the surrender. The next day, the 19th, Corn- wallis sent General O’Hara to present the sword of surrender. General Washington deputized General Lincoln to receive it for him. It is not known exactly where this sword, the symbol of American freedom, exchanged hands, but the fact that it happened at Yorktown makes the town itself a living monument to the brave founders of free America! Page twenty-four THE MISSILE