ran 3.5 miles
On this day in 1781, hopelessly surrounded in Yorktown, Virginia, British General Lord Cornwallis surrendered 8,000 British soldiers to an overwhelming Franco-American force, ultimately ending the American Revolution.
Cornwallis’ numerous victories against the Americans in the recent past and his reputation were rivaled by few other British generals. As Cornwallis settled and fortified Yorktown, General George Washington ordered the Marquis de Lafayette and his 5,000 man army, currently in Virginia, to block Cornwallis’ escape from Yorktown by land. Washington’s 2,500 soldiers in New York combined with a French army of 4,000 men led by Count de Rochambeau to bolster their numbers. And with the aide of a large French fleet under the Count de Grasse, Washington was able to encircle Cornwallis by land and sea, rendering the end of the Revolutionary War and the beginning of what America was to become for what the Founding Fathers hoped would be a very, very long time.
It is easy to neglect or not realize how young this country is and to fully underestimate how much important history has been packed into it in such a short amount of time. America is only 234 years old, from the day the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776. Technically, it was not a free and independent country until September 3, 1783, when the Treaty of Paris was signed, but the point is America is less than 250 years old. That is a smidgeon of time compared to other regions with well-documented early civilization. America is the capitol of the world and it is in its infancy. This is a huge statement! Other countries, which are struggling desperately among a broad spectrum of problems have been civilized and governed for thousands of years, compared to our less than two and a half centuries, and look where they are now.
America is like a young child that somehow, almost impossibly (use your imagination) was conceived by a couple of parents in their eighties. America was born among dozens of siblings ranging in age from fifty to sixty years old. And what the young child did was take the initiative to look at every single mistake his brothers and sisters had ever made and to not repeat them. That is America’s strength and if it does not utilize it the greatest waste in history will occur. This globe has been completely covered and there are no new terrestrial frontiers. There is no new Land of Opportunity to rely on should this one fail.
1,945.0 miles to go.
On this day in 1781, hopelessly surrounded in Yorktown, Virginia, British General Lord Cornwallis surrendered 8,000 British soldiers to an overwhelming Franco-American force, ultimately ending the American Revolution.
Cornwallis’ numerous victories against the Americans in the recent past and his reputation were rivaled by few other British generals. As Cornwallis settled and fortified Yorktown, General George Washington ordered the Marquis de Lafayette and his 5,000 man army, currently in Virginia, to block Cornwallis’ escape from Yorktown by land. Washington’s 2,500 soldiers in New York combined with a French army of 4,000 men led by Count de Rochambeau to bolster their numbers. And with the aide of a large French fleet under the Count de Grasse, Washington was able to encircle Cornwallis by land and sea, rendering the end of the Revolutionary War and the beginning of what America was to become for what the Founding Fathers hoped would be a very, very long time.
It is easy to neglect or not realize how young this country is and to fully underestimate how much important history has been packed into it in such a short amount of time. America is only 234 years old, from the day the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776. Technically, it was not a free and independent country until September 3, 1783, when the Treaty of Paris was signed, but the point is America is less than 250 years old. That is a smidgeon of time compared to other regions with well-documented early civilization. America is the capitol of the world and it is in its infancy. This is a huge statement! Other countries, which are struggling desperately among a broad spectrum of problems have been civilized and governed for thousands of years, compared to our less than two and a half centuries, and look where they are now.
America is like a young child that somehow, almost impossibly (use your imagination) was conceived by a couple of parents in their eighties. America was born among dozens of siblings ranging in age from fifty to sixty years old. And what the young child did was take the initiative to look at every single mistake his brothers and sisters had ever made and to not repeat them. That is America’s strength and if it does not utilize it the greatest waste in history will occur. This globe has been completely covered and there are no new terrestrial frontiers. There is no new Land of Opportunity to rely on should this one fail.
1,945.0 miles to go.
