Existing comment:
After Alonzo Chappel
Hamilton at Yorktown in 1781, 1858
Although he had been an artillery captain, Hamilton clamored to lead a major offensive. Such an opportunity arose in 1781 at the decisive Battle of Yorktown when American and French forces attacked British and German soldiers stationed at two redoubts, or fortified structures. Hamilton led 400 light infantrymen in a successful charge on one of the enemy strongholds, requiring less than ten minutes to seize control from the 70 opposing soldiers. After the two redoubts fell into French and American hands, it was not long before the British commanding general, Lord Charles Cornwallis, surrendered, ending the last major conflict of the Revolutionary War fought on American soil. |