Posted on 04/28/2016 8:03:06 AM PDT by C19fan
A few paces west of the public beach in Yorktown, Virginia, is a little cave looking out toward the water. We all know Yorktown from history class. This is where, in October 1781, the British army commanded by Lord Cornwallis surrendered to the Americans under General George Washington and the French under the Comte de Rochambeau.
It’s not much of a cave, really, but tourists by the thousands stop to peep into it, as they have for more than two centuries. It is known to this day as “Cornwallis’s Cave,” and for most of our history visitors have been told that this is where the British general took refuge during the last days of the siege. He hid there, guides said, and visitors nodded knowingly. That is because, as we all know, Cornwallis was a coward, and it was just like him to find such a fittingly ignominious hole wherein to snivel and whimper while, in the defenses around the town, his troops were destroyed.
(Excerpt) Read more at theamericanconservative.com ...
One of the amazing things about the American Revolution is that we beat the best army in the world. Washington was pretty amazing.
While I am in no way disagreeing with the writer, he seems to have forgotten a lesson, I learned during a tour of Shiloh.
“Winners get National Cemeteries and the narrative, while the losers get a common mass grave and scorn.”
Spoken by a man who had at least two relatives buried in that mass grave.
Taking money to take away other people freedom doesn’t make you a good person, even if you are brave, even if you are good at it.
Washington gave all credit to "Divine Providence".
If God is with us, who can be against us. Rom 8:31
One of the few times our French Allies acted like French troops and not surrender monkeys.
But then, that was before the best were killed off in Napoleonic and Prussian wars.
In reality, MacArthur was a brave man. I recall reading a story about an infantryman in the Pacific. I believe it was during the New Guinea campaign. Anyway, the infantryman was advancing through hostile jungle, and he glanced to his side. There was MacArthur, doing a little recon of his own with a few staff officers.
A famous British scholar, now deceased, once came to speak in the US and revealed his connection to American history--he was descended from an illegitimate son of Lord Cornwallis.
Some British tactics were OK, some were foolhardy. But the overall strategy set by the top generals was incoherent. Both Burgoyne and Howe made major mistakes in the first years of the war. The British never really recovered from these errors.
The other problem was that all soldiers, and most supplies, had to be shipped across 3000 miles of ocean. This was enormously expensive. The American forces could recruit soldiers locally.
I knew someone who was a survivor of the Bataan Death March and a Japanese POW camp. He didn’t have a high opinion of General MacArthur.
I think Jeff Shaara’s series on the Revolution is the best. It attempts to get into the minds of the people involved. Washington won because he was patient. It caused him grief but he knew when a direct pitched battle was bad for him. He only engaged when he had some advantage.
bookmark
I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone suggest that the Redcoats did anything less than fight bravely.
The only action that I think makes Cornwallis seem a coward was that he personally did not hand over his sword when he surrendered, claiming he was ill. However, given the state of his army and situation at that time its very very likely Cornwallis was not feigning illness.
Other than that act however, its hard to claim Cornwallis was a coward, he served his nation dutifully and nobly, just wound up on the losing side in the end.
The Battle of Lexington/Concord was a pretty epic one day march for the British. They left the North End of Boston at 0 early 30 and marched on foot out to lexington and back in one day while being shot at most of the day.
I rode that on my bike one day and thought it was a pretty good work out.
Most of the French commanders lost their heads to the guillotine during the French Revolution.
For countries governed by the likes of 0.00 and Turd-owe, that Scripture verse SHOULD strike terror in the hearts of such leaders!
“In reality, MacArthur was a brave man. “
MacArthur was a pompous idiot.
The problem comes with defining freedom for other people. I'm sure there are Iraqis and Afghans who would say that American soldiers are taking away their freedom to do what they want to do.
I studied a fair amount about the American Revolution and it still is an interest of mine. I have to say that I don’t remember Cornwallis being portrayed as some stuffy snob. I remember him being portrayed in most of what I read as an aristocrat who initially opposed the war, but then was an intelligent, risk-taking commander who fought well. The one really bad thing I heard about him was that he fired into his own troops to try to win a battle. Howe is the one who was portrayed as dithering and undercutting his field commanders.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.