HJ730: Yorktown Campaign of 1781; recognizing Gloucester County's important role therein.
WHEREAS, midday on October 3, 1781, 250 French hussars and infantry of Lauzun’s Legion and 160 of Lieutenant Colonel John Mercer’s Select Battalion of Virginia militia, fought a brief but fierce battle with 240 cavalrymen of the British Legion under Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton and 350 British infantry; and
WHEREAS, in the largest cavalry battle of the American War of Independence, Lauzun’s Legion and Mercer’s Virginians defeated Tarleton, forcing the British forces to stay in a defensive position for the remainder of the siege; and
WHEREAS, after a feint attack against the British positions in Gloucester, American and French forces seized British redoubts Nine and Ten at Yorktown on October 14th, allowing General Washington to construct a second siege line to better bombard the forces of General Cornwallis; and
WHEREAS, on the night October 16-17, the British made a desperate and unsuccessful attempt to escape from Yorktown to Gloucester; and
WHEREAS, on October 18, Cornwallis was forced to negotiate the surrender of his forces; and
WHEREAS at two o’clock in the afternoon of October 19, the British forces and their allies in Yorktown marched out to lay down their arms; and
WHEREAS, at three o’clock on October 19, 1781, in a final surrender all of the British, German, and loyalist troops under Cornwallis, 1,100 men and 300 horses were surrendered at Gloucester Point to representative units of the victorious Lauzun’s Legion and Virginia militia, thus ending the Yorktown campaign; and
WHEREAS, with this historic and dramatic victory, the American War of Independence was won and Tarleton’s slaughter of Buford's Virginians at the Waxhaws in May 1780 was avenged; and
WHEREAS, the French and American marches through Virginia, the Battle of the Hook in Gloucester County, and Lauzun’s encampment there, were all singular events in Gloucester County, Virginia, and United States history; and
WHEREAS, never before nor since have American allies—French or any other nation—marched to battle on American soil; and not again until the American Civil War would such a large number of men and animals travel to war on the roads of Virginia; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That Gloucester County be recognized for its important role in the Yorktown Campaign of 1781; and, be it
RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates transmit a copy of this resolution to the administrator of Gloucester County, requesting that the County further disseminate copies of this resolution to its respective constituents so that they may be apprised of the sense of the General Assembly of Virginia in this matter.