Independence Day
I have a little trouble celebrating independence on the 4th of July, as the date commemorates a statement of intention, rather than the fact. The fact arrived five years later, with the surrender of Cornwallis’ forces at Yorktown.
Thinking of this brings to mind a painting I saw a a child. It was done in the old style, and I imagined it to be from the time of the battle, but it was actually done in 1962. It shows the decisive moment of the Yorktown campaign: the French fleet driving off the British relief force at the Battle of the Chesapeake:
Battle of the Virginia Capes, by v. Zveg (1962) - Image Source
I remember the strong impression it made as I gazed at the plate in my history book. I was particularly taken with the imposing depiction of the French fleet, which chose this one day - with all the chips on the table - to go toe-to-toe with the Royal Navy. The artist softens the British fleet by shrouding them in smoke, while the French ships, riding high on rough seas in their gold trim, express nothing but strength and determination:
The National Park Service site linked below gives a nice narrative of the battle:
The British fleet reached the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay around 9:00 am on September 5, 1781 and soon received word from a scouting frigate of a large French fleet in the bay. Graves directed his ships-of-the-line to begin the slow process of moving into battle formation…
The British and French fleets slowly maneuvered to engage each other. The wind direction and confusing flag signals sent by Admiral Graves prevented the back half of the British battle line from getting close enough to fire on the French ships. At 4:15 PM, the action finally began with a deadly volley of cannon fire from the leading ships of both fleets.The battle lasted over two hours. The British fleet suffered six ships damaged and 90 sailors killed and 246 wounded.The French faired better with 209 causalities and only 2 ships damaged.
When the sun set at 6:30PM, the two fleets disengaged to evaluate and repair damage. Admiral Graves, realizing his fleet was heavily damaged, was reluctant to renew the battle... The fleets drifted south within view of each other for several days without further engagement [this allowed a separate French force to land additional siege equipment at Yorktown]. On September 9, De Grasse slipped out of the sight of the British and sailed back to the Chesapeake Bay, arriving there the next day. De Barras' fleet had arrived…and now the French had 36 ships-of-the-line.
[When] the British fleet [arrived] on September 13. Graves realized his fleet was in no condition to take on so many French ships. He sailed his fleet to New York [and] raced to repair the fleet to get troop reinforcements to Cornwallis at Yorktown. Contrary winds, difficulties in securing replacement parts, and slow repairs delayed the departure of the fleet until October 19th, too late to be of any help. That same day, Cornwallis surrendered…
Cornwallis offers his sword to Washington as the French fleet looks on
"[It] was one of the decisive battles of the world. Before it, the creation of the United States of America was possible; after it, it was certain." -Michael Lewis, The History of the British Navy
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