Monument to the Alliance and Victory
Yorktown Monument Commissioners , 1881
R. M. Hunt, Architect, Chairman
Henry Van Brunt, Architect,
J. Q. A. Ward, Sculptor
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Oskar J. W. Hansen, Sculptor of Liberty, 1957
Front of Monument:
At York on October 19 1781, after a siege of nineteen days by 5500 American and 7000 French troops of the line, 3500 Virginia Militia under command of General Thomas Nelson and 36 French ships of war, Earl Cornwallis, commander of the British forces at York and Gloucester, surrendered his army, 7251 officers and men, 840 seamen, 244 cannon and 24 standards, to his Excellency George Washington, Commander in Chief of the combined forces of America and France, to his Excellency the Comte de Rochambeau commanding the auxiliary troops of his most Christian Majesty in America and to his Excellency the Comte de Grasse Commanding in Chief the naval army of France in Chesapeake
Left Side of Monument:
The Provisional Articles of Peace concluded November 30, 1782 and the definitive Treaty of Peace concluded September 3, 1783 between the United States of America and George III King of Great Britain of Ireland declare his Britannic Majesty acknowledges the said United States, viz New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia to be free, sovereign and independent
Back of Monument:
Erected in pursuance of a resolution of Congress adopted October 29, 1781 and an Act of Congress approved June 7, 1880 to commemorate the victory by which the independence of the United States of America was achieved.
Right Side of Monument:
The treaty concluded February 6, 1788 between the United States of America and Louis XVI King of France declares the essential and direct end of the present defensive alliance is to maintain effectually the liberty and sovereignty and independence absolute and unlimited of the said United States as well in matters of government as of commerce.
Shaft:
One country, one constitution, one destiny.
Marker is on Main Street, on the right when traveling north.
Courtesy hmdb.org
