We visited the Yorktown battlefield yesterday. This is where the revolutionary war was won. It was the final battle against the British. Three years after this battle they signed a treaty and the war was over. It must be noted that if it hadn't been for the French we would not have won this war.

 Here is Karen hoochykooing with George Washington. She is getting a little cheeky on this trip. She is having a good time except for all the walking. I can say one thing though, she and Marion never miss a gift shop no matter how much walking. Myron and I man the benches and watch all the sticks.

 Here is a typical military camp on a small scale. The tents you see in the front are the enlisted swine. They pack 6 guys in these tents. All they have is a little straw. We always get the short end of the deal. Behind the enlisted tents there are two officer tents.

 This is the officer tents with just one person to each tent. This sucks even in this day and time. I didn't get a pic of the Commanders tent for some reason, but his tent is large enough to stick four of these tents in and has furniture and table with cutlery. What adds insult is the generals never stayed in the field, they had a home in some nearby town.

This was the hospital tent. After seeing this I have very little to complain about when it comes to my care. This is out of the Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble era. Yikes!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here is the Kitchen. Yes I said Kitchen. They dig a ring hole around in a big circle. They throw the loose dirt on top. They make these little burrow holes at the bottom and one on top connecting the two holes. They place wood in the bottom holes then set pots or whatever they are heating on the top hole. It was working while we were there and it really heats good. The purpose of this was that since the wood was being burnt below ground level it got less oxygen and burned slower saving wood and it also controlled smoke thereby not giving the position away to the enemy. There would be many of these pits and each individual fire hole supported 6 men and there were about twelve cooking holes per pit meaning each tent had it's own hole. Now you can imagine how many kitchens were needed for several thousand men.

 This is a picture of the actual battlefield. I was standing on the British gun mount looking directly at the American lines about a quarter mile away. To the right was the French lines about the same distance away. Much of the battlefield now is wooded when in fact all the trees for about three miles around here was cleared for battle. The real feeling here is that you are actually standing on the ground that our country was started and where the blood was spilled for our freedom. Below is the house where the British surrendered to the colonial army. Corwallis was cowardly and did not attend the surrender. He sent a colonel to represent him. Reason was that the Washington would not allow him to surrender with military honor. Cornwallis was incensed and would not attend, however this is exactly what Cornwallis did to the colonial army in Charleston when he defeated the colonial army. The house is called the Moore house and is the original house.

As we were departing the Yorktown visitors center we toured a typical farm. It was interesting on two levels. I was impressed with the construction of the log cabin as it was truly unique. The second reason was the character that gave us a little insight into the mindset of those during those days.

Here is the character I am talking about. He had several of us semi dressed in period clothing and gave us each a personality. One was a rich guy who is the guy to the distant left. The Farmer to his right who wants to join the revolutionary army and his wife to his left who is a fence sitter not able to decided which side to support. and then there was me, a slave, guess he must have talked to Marion before I got there, as she has me enslaved. LOL.

The coat he gave me was for a midget as you can see. Well he went though each character and gave us their fate. The rich guy turned out to be one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and he was ultimately banished and killed by the British. The farmer joined the revolution and lived and his wife had to choose sides or face banishment from whatever side she didn't choose, fortunately she chose to follow her husband and lived. I as the slave joined the British to fight the colonialists as Cornwallis promised me freedom, oops, the British lost and I was sold into slavery. Bummer. The interpreter then summarized that people reacted much the same as they do today. You have to choose sides in the political argument. Today we also have to choose sides in the battle of ideologies. The difference is that in those days your choice and outcome could determine how or if you lived. That took a lot of us back and you had to stop and think for a moment about this. I still have trouble with the thought process here but he did make a good point. I am sure that the winner of the ideological argument of today will determine how a person will live and that is the real scary part.