Existing comment:
York Under Siege 1781:
18th century commerce moved by water wherever possible. Yorktown's waterfront reflected this. Tobacco warehouses, ship's chandleries, grogshops, and wharves lined the waterfront... Among them passed the diverse array of merchants and sailors, planters and inspectors, travelers, laborers, and slaved who kept business moving briskly.
Early in October, French-American forces closed their grip on the besieged British army at Yorktown and bombarded the town with their combined artillery. Incessant shellfire drove the townspeople to seek shelter under this bluff and forced the British commander, Lord Cornwallis, to move his headquarters to a nearby cave. The end came quickly with the British surrender on October 19. Yorktown returned to peace, but never to its former prosperity. |