Yorktown, VA

This is about what the Allied forces saw when they arrived in Yorktown. This is taken from the position Cornwallis' troupes were fighting from.











This is lookout #10 taken by Andrew Jackson (left side of picture).















This is the type of gun Washington brought from outside New York City on his 450 mile march to Yorktown. It fires a 3# ball 1000 yards with accuracy.






6/20 Wednesday Today found us visiting Yorktown although the heat and humidity was rather oppressive. Our living history lesson continued with so many recollections that now are falling in place, while others were either not part of our formal education or lacked emphasis and became lost over time.

Yorktown was the breaking point for Britain in the new America struggling to be independent of the rule of an English king with appointed governors here in the colonies to see over the day-to-day operations and compliance to the kings orders. These governors were living well because the colonists had to get licenses for everything and strangely, these licenses were all issued by the governor at a cost he kept in addition to what he was paid by the king and the supplies from England that were part of his compensation.

At one point, General Washington was sitting in New Jersey looking across the Hudson River at British troupes who controlled New York City. Washington wanted to attack these troupes but that would require the support of the French navy. When Washington was advised the French navy would not bring ships north of Virginia due to shallow waters. Washington snookered the commanders there into thinking that the colonists had more troupes arriving to attack New York City based on the British seeing and hearing about the addition of hundreds of new tents. The British leaders assumed each tent had the normal count of six men sleeping inside.

The French were now involved in the war supporting the colonists. They had the naval fleet that was so critical to any chance of the colonial forces being successful in this fight. England had the undisputed superior navy, but the old adage, “location, location, location” is apropos. Washington and the commander of the French navy, Captain Francois deGrasse, communicated and the commander advised he would not bring his ships north of Virginia due to the shallow areas around NYC. On the other hand, the depth in the Norfolk area of the Chesapeake and up into the James and York rivers was 90 plus feet as well as several miles wide. This would allow the French navy to fight English ships without fear of running aground or being trapped in a narrow area with no escape. Most of the British ships were in New York undergoing repairs from a battle with the French in which the French had damaged almost all of the British ships while only sustaining significant damage to one of theirs. The earlier naval battle in the Cape Henry area of Virginia was to keep the British ships from reaching Yorktown to supply the forces there.

Washington marched about 8,000 troupes from New Jersey to Yorktown to attack Cornwallis’ forces there. The French, mixed with fighters from other nations that joined them added another 8,000 to the number that would go up against Cornwallis. The commander of the British navy was to sail and bring 5000 troupes and supplies to Cornwallis, but the British commander in NYC failed to react when Washington marched his troupes south by land and the naval commander failed to sail his fleet out because a British dignitary visited NYC and time was lost conducting the appropriate pomp and circumstance associated with the visit of this high official. The commander did send a message to Cornwallis that they were coming, however he failed to say the fleet had not actually left. Cornwallis decided to hold Yorktown believing the navy would arrive at any moment, though he was fighting forces double the size of his and the colonists were adequately fed and had the supplies they need to fight. Local farmers were driving herds of cattle in to provide fresh meat for the 16,000 troupes.

It took Washington about five weeks to march his troupes 450 miles along with all his guns (field artillery) and supplies. When he arrived, he was greeted by almost ½ mile of cleared, flat land and Cornwallis behind high earth bunkers with his guns trained on this open area. The British were well prepared to fight having been in this area for quite awhile. In addition, Cornwallis’ selection of a battleground was great because he had water barriers on three sides. Washington moved his troupes beyond the range of Cornwallis’ guns and began to dig in. The first night Washington’s army made little progress digging their trenches, but on the second night it rained hard all night and by morning the British looked out and found Washington’s men within gun (cannon) range. Cornwallis did not have the same type of guns with the range as the guns Washington brought, so his firing on Washington’s troupes was more an annoyance than a major threat.

When the combined forces of Washington and the French began firing on Cornwallis, it continued around the clock for days. The pounding of guns tore down the earthen walls that had been created and disabled all but one of the British guns. Cornwallis did have two lookouts, raised and fortified bunkers that kept the colonial forces from moving up, so about 100 hand selected colonial soldiers attacked lookout #10 while a similar number of French soldiers attacked lookout #9. Ironically the leader of the colonial troupes against lookout #10 was Andrew Jackson who took the lookout in 10 minutes of fighting and became our 10th president and now has his likeness on our $10 bill.

Cornwallis received a message that the troupes and ships he was depending on had not left New York, so fighting against overwhelming troupe forces of the opposing armies was fruitless and surrender was his only option to save the men under his command. Of the 7,000 men he had, it is likely 25% were too ill to fight. Even at the time of the formal surrender ceremony, Cornwallis had to send his second in command to carry Cornwallis’ sword to the surrender ceremony because he was now to ill to leave his room. In those days the commander would surrender his sword to show the fight was over.

Fighting was full of rules, honor and a respect for the opponent that we can hardly imagine today. One thing Cornwallis demanded was recognition in the surrender ceremony stating his army fought bravely to the end. He did not get his demand and it turns out this affront was in retaliation for an earlier battle where the colonists were denied the same recognition. During the ceremony at Surrender Field, close to where the battle had taken place, the British brought their flag bound in a case and dropped it on the ground. Each soldier then had to walk past a point and drop his musket on the growing pile before being marched off to prison camps. In contrast to the plight of common soldier, the officers were not jailed, instead they promised not to leave the area until given approval to travel to a specific location. It is even reported that Washington and Cornwallis dined together a few nights after the surrender ceremony.
It is after the British soldiers were released from prison about two years later when all the surrender papers were finally signed in Paris, many of the soldiers remained in the new land and worked to become worthy members of their communities. Of course, others did return to England.

Berkeley Plantation

Berkeley Home

Horn that may have played the first Taps

First trial of balloon observation of a battlefield
Back yard of home where Union troupes camped

6-19 Tuesday We went to the Berkeley Plantation today. We planned to visit in Colonial Virginia and then head over, but parking was impossible because we had a late start. We decided to go to the plantation thinking it was not very far away. Instead we saw considerable countryside before arriving. We kicked off our visit with a picnic on the grounds under some very old trees.

Going into the plantation home and buildings, we learned it had a long list of history that made it unique among other plantation homes. Benjamin Harrison, the son of the builder and its second owner, was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and governor of Virginia three times. The third son born at Berkeley, William Patrick Harrison was a famous Indian fighter known as “Tippecanoe”. When he ran for president, his slogan was “Tippecanoe and Tyler too”. He became our 9th president and years later his grandson Benjamin Harrison became our 23rd president. This plantation was the location of the first Thanksgiving celebration in America on December 4, 1619 when settlers from England came ashore at Berkeley.

The Berkeley home dating back to 1726 was built Benjamin for his wife Anne. It is believed to be the oldest three-story brick house in Virginia. It was built in the Georgian style meaning one side of the house was the mirror image of the other. During a renovation another owner, tired of having to walk through other rooms to go upstairs, moved a doorway to allow access from the front hall.

Of course this family was going to have guests in their home, so the front door had to be very open and impressive. Because guests would also arrive by boat on the James River a quarter mile behind the house, they could not be expected to enter by a back door, so this house has two equal front doors. This created a large hallway that was used for dancing and ventilation in the summer. The musicians sat upstairs and played near an opening between the first and second floor so they were out of sight but their music could be heard throughout the house. In all, Berkeley can boast to having entertained President Washington and the succeeding nine presidents. Not diminishing the number, remember two presidents lived there.

In the course of history, in 1621 through 1622, the first Bourbon whisky distilled in America was at this plantation. In 1862, Gen. George McClellan’s 140,000-man Union army camped on the plantation grounds. Something we are all familiar with, Taps was composed and first performed used here in 1862 to awaken the Union army. While the army was camped there they experimented with balloons as a method to raise a man above a battlefield to get a better view and guide the troupes on the ground. At one point they constructed ships on the property.
Like so many other Southern homes, the boys found other places to live, possibly as early as age 12; however, the girls remained at home. At Berkeley, the Harrison’s built a house next to theirs to be both a home for the boys and a guest house for the many visitors they received. They had the kitchen in another building due to the heat associated with a stove that was continuously burning. At Berkeley, they built an underground passage from the house to the kitchen so food would not get cold in the winter, nor would insects be as likely to be able to get on the food as it was being brought to the house. Slaves carrying the food were required to whistle while carrying the food because they could not sample or eat the food and whistle at the same time. This was a common practice in the South.

Billy Graham Library - Opened only a week

Rally that lasted six weeks instead of the scheduled two weeks















Radio studio model - he knew the power of broadcasting.















License plate he had on his car while in Washington, DC. Good only while there.















President G.W. Bush greeting him.
Annimated cat that is in the barn replica where Billy helped his father; the story of his roots.














6/11 Monday After a slow start for the day punctuated by heavy clouds and the clear threat of a much needed rain, we finally left to check out some bowling locations Phyllis will be going to over the next two days. Completing that project we headed off for the new Billy Graham Library that opened to the public for seven days. Although it is on the edge of downtown Charlotte, NC it is quiet and very peaceful.

Billy Franklin Graham was raised on a farm, so the theme of the library reflects an old farm barn with a silo. As you enter the barn, the entrance is the base of a very large glass cross; symbolic of the only way to Heaven is through the Cross of Jesus Christ. Even the least observant most likely will recognize this symbolism.

Once inside a talking cow that tells stories of Billy’s life on the farm greets you and tells how he came to Jesus. From there you move to a small theatre where you see clips of Billy’s early ministry work, how he came to meet Ruth his wife, and how spoke to millions of people across the world while being the pastor to eleven US presidents. This helps you understand some of the displays that will follow on your self-guided tour.

In 1948 Billy went to Los Angeles to hold a tent revival. The tent was not that large and the revival was to last two weeks, but it went on an additional six weeks because the crowds continued to come each night. This revival made his name known across the country and also helped him know God’s plan for his life. He headed only one church in his career, a Baptist church in the Chicago area. The rest of his life was to be spent preaching the Word to packed stadiums throughout the world.

The library has interesting and attractive displays of many of the gifts he was given by people of all walks of life. One display includes the notes Edward R. Morrow used to introduce Billy when the dinner they were attending turned out to be the This Is Your Life TV show that was very popular around 1960. The person whose life was being featured did not know he or she was to be so honored on the program. Another display shows a plaque from Queen Elizabeth along with notes that when ask what she hoped would come in her lifetime, she responded, “Jesus would return to earth so she could lay her crown at his feet”.

The whole museum is a marvel of electronics. Displays, lights and sound come alive as you walk through the facility in a way that causes you to focus on as many as three or four displays within the same room, but in sequence before leading you through another doorway to the next room. In some cases actual doors automatically open allowing you to enter the next exhibit.

The grounds were lush with many garden areas. There were areas to sit surrounded by woods, flowers and relative quiet to pray and reflect. The gardens are to literally to be walked through and benches provided and made to look like split logs from days of old.

If you go here, take your camera, but leave your phone and other things that can disrupt you in your vehicle. This library will provide spiritual comfort to anyone willing to open his or her heart to the Lord.

6/14 It was announced that Ruth Graham died after a lengthy medical problem. Billy had said she was the love of his life after being together over 60 years. He also said she was the Christian person he always wanted to be.

Spec. Ops. - cont.

Posters















Germans promising Mexico CA, AZ & NM if they would attack America from the south















Part of the Berlin wall
Martha Raye helped the troops in the war and for this she was black listed by Hollywood. It took 3 years for her to get a guest appearance after her support of the troops .
Anyone want to question if there are those who will attack America anywhere they can?



6/8 cont. Leaving the 82nd Airborne Museum, we went to the JFK Special Forces Museum within Fort Bragg. After a rather thorough search of the car we were admitted onto the base. Once inside our GPS software was unable to provide much help. The museum building is so small it was very hard to see. To make matters worse, there was considerable construction blocking the view of the front door. We only found it with the help of one of the construction guys in the area.

The exhibits look at the efforts of the Special Forces and their accomplishments that can be talked about. To me, what was more important to me were the people in the building and listening to their conversation about their tour and tours in Iraq and the people they worked with and the importance of the fighting. Having been in this area, in Norfolk and Virginia Beach, it is very hard not to understand why we are fighting this war. It is a shame that the American people have decided to let the news media and the Hollywood stars to their thinking for them and to follow like sheep to slaughter. How people have to come to trust those who have never been in the military, don’t think about anything but remembering their lines and only get their information from pacifists who really never stand up for anything is a mystery to me.

We have a choice to either fight these people in their home country or, due to envy of our lifestyle and hatred of our religious freedoms and the fact that our country was founded on belief in God and His only Son, Jesus Christ, they will anything in their power to destroy us just as Stalin attempted to destroy all the Jews. Even now we can look at those who live in parts of Iraq who are committed to destroying other sects in Iraq. Believe me, they intend to do to us what they are doing to their fellow countrymen as soon as they achieve their goals there.

Airborne and Special Ops Museum

6/8 Friday We leave the Fayetteville area Sunday, so it is time to scramble and get a few more things visited in the area. We went to the Airborne and Special Ops Museum associated with the 82nd Airborne here in Fayetteville. The museum is a very impressive facility both inside and outside. They have some very good displays that focus on the history of the 82nd over the years and the growth to the unit it is today.

Equipment used in various wars is on display in very good settings. You can see the equipment and the men in fighting situations that are very realistic. There are docents throughout the museum ready to answer questions. In my case, Bob who was a docent close to the beginning of the tour path was concerned about my using flash in the museum because it would lessen the effect of the lighting for others on tour. I assured him I had disabled the flash and suddenly he was my private guide through the rest of the museum.

One story he told me was about took place in WW-2 when the Germans surrounded an American detachment on “D” Day. A German soldier came to the American commander under flags of truce with a message that the Americans had to surrender within two hours or the Germans would kill or capture all the Americans. The American commander went to his staff and told them of the message and one officer said, “NUTS”. The commander asked what was that and his officer told him that would be their response. The commander said he was concerned the German commander would not understand and his officer assured him the message would be clear and understood. Therefore the message sent to the Germans was NUTS. The Americans had losses but were not captured as other forces reached them attacking the Germans from behind.17, 45, 46, 50, 54

Fayetteville Poe House 6-6-07

Poe home on the hill

WW-1 poster leaving little doubt what was expected of you as a male.





















Home decoration created by the wife as one of the required social skills to be accepted in her community.
















Gas and electrical lighting fixture. The gas and electrical wire use the same down rod - really sounds safe - NOT!
Model stove used by the salesman to show when taking orders. Kids of wealthy families often ended up with these as toys.











6/6 Wednesday Our notes today are quite lengthy, but we learned so much history and ‘rules’ of North Carolina on a tour. We toured the Poe House in Fayetteville, the home of a rather wealthy businessman whose wealth was derived from his brick business. He had this large two story home built in 1897 on a hilltop to take advantage of the prevailing winds and to stay away from the river with its associated bugs. Screens are not yet available, so open windows allow all the critters in.

Heidi who was very well versed on the home and the traditions in North Carolina at that time gave us a private tour. The home was in summer dress meaning the upholstered furniture was covered in white linen and the mirrors and pictures that lacked glass were covered with white netting. The linen was put over the furniture to protect the material with something that could be easily washed. The netting over the mirrors and pictures protected them from the dirt left behind by flies. Mirrors were imported and considered to be a luxury. They did not have anything to clean the surface of the mirrors like we do today and they were concerned with damaging the mirror while attempting to clean dirt from the surface.

This house was built before the introduction of electrical power in homes, but Poe knew it was coming, so he had combination gas / electric lights put in. In each room the power-gas combination pole came down from the ceiling to the light with an “S” shaped pipe coming off the side of this down rod to an area where a gas flame burned. Later homes in the area with only electrical lights would have had these light fixtures draped with netting to keep the flies off the fixtures.

At the front door of the home one room was designed to be the show place of the home. This is where the expensive and special furniture was put so any guests visiting would see this and know your social status. In this home the special pictures, the really nice sofa and the piano was in this room.

Across the hall was more of the family room. This is where they spent a large percentage of their time and did things like correspondence. This would be a room where the furniture from across the hall might be moved when they bought newer, nicer pieces. By standards of the time, this room was large with a high ceiling. This and the entertainment room were wallpapered. We also saw many posters and other information related to World War One and questioning how much of an American patriot you were and how much you could support your forces overseas. They had a poster you put in your window to show you were had a family member who was serving in the war.

Off this was a bedroom. We now enter an area with painted rooms; this is very new at this time. According to Sherwin Williams, the paint people, they advertised this was much healthier because you could scrub the walls to clean them of anything that might cause sickness and possible death instead of wallpapered walls that were held in place with a flour based paste that attracted bugs and these bugs could promote disease. Families had multiple children and death to disease was common, so things like cleaning the walls was heralded as an important step in prevention. As for the family size, in North Carolina as in other parts of the South, women were expected to have kids about every two years. In North Carolina, any form of birth control was prohibited, as was even the slightest mention of the subject.

The cook in the Poe home was a black girl who arrived when she was 13. She was responsible for all the meals for the family and the hired hands around the home. Black females could only do domestic work; then could not work elsewhere or in other occupations such as a mill. The men could only do manual labor such as tending the fields or gardening. By contrast, the white females who were of a lower social standing worked in the mills making things like cloth and socks, the latter being especially important during WW-1 when the troupes were fighting in water filled ditches. For these men a dry pair of socks was extremely important to avoid ‘trench foot’ a fungus that could lead to the amputation of the infected foot.

The Poe family, due to a combination of wealth and status, had a nanny / nurse. She took care of the kids, likely under the age of 7. She assisted with the birth of the babies that marked the beginning of her responsibility for the young children. She was likely more educated, however, none of her education had been formal. In fact these families would buy educational toys and this girl learned with the kids from her time playing with these toys. When the kids were asleep she was expected to handle other chores around the home like cleaning, washing, ironing, dusting; well you get the idea. This girl had a small room, but it was one of the best in the winter as it had a fireplace. In the summer, however, it was one of the worst as it was the west side of the house where the afternoon sun hit. If this girl married, due to customs of the time, she had to move out of the home and then get up early enough to walk to the home, stoke the fireplaces in the winter to warm the home meaning the demands on her time were increased.

The wife was educated to be the worthy wife of a man in a high social position. Her value was measured three ways: 1) By the social position of her family; 2) a combination of her artistic, decorating and creative abilities; and 3) by her financial dowry or the money and/or possessions she would bring to this marriage. In the home there were three examples of shadowbox art; one made from strands of hair, another from various threads from sewing projects and a third that was a mixture of tree bark, moss and other natural products. The high social wife was responsible for the decoration of the home and her worth by visitors was evaluated based on the family home.

Going upstairs, we used one staircase that was narrow at the back of the house. Only the black help used this staircase as they carried dirty laundry or bedpans from the house. This staircase went directly to the back door. If the kids the nanny cared for went upstairs to play, they went up the family stairs that faced the front door and was much wider while she went up the back stairway to the same hall on the second floor. Meantime the maid went up the other stairs to the same large hall on the second floor. This upstairs hall was quite wide and was where kids played who came over. Although this was the hall that led to the bedrooms, all non-family kids were forbidden to enter any of the bedrooms. All the toys were in this hall as was the recycled furniture from the family room downstairs. Dressers lined the walls holding the winter clothing and blankets. In warmer times the upstairs windows and doors were left open to take advantage of any breeze. The front stairway or family stairway was wide and faced the special guest room near the front door. When daughter married, she would descend this stairway to meet her groom in the special guest room. This meant the stairway had to be straight and impressive in its design.

In the case of this home, the kitchen was attached by a breezeway. Unlike so many other kitchens we have seen that were clearly separated from the main house, this design was quite different. Many kitchens were removed from the main home due to the frequency of kitchen fires. Being separated improved the chances that any kitchen fire would be contained to this building only and save the home from destruction. The stove was in the middle of room and was the main feature. When in operation, the heat from the stove would easily keep this area well over 1000 when used. There were windows on all four walls to help remove the heat.

Looking back a moment to the war efforts of the citizens, at times such as Thanksgiving and Christmas, these people would create a meal made from rice and other products that was then shaped to look like a turkey before being baked. In this way the real turkeys could be sent to the men on the front lines of the war. Those made many sacrifices at home so that the fighting men could have the food and other things they associated with being home.

When Heidi introduced herself and began the tour she told us she was ours for one hour, the length of the tour. She said the tour could be less if we were bored; however, our tour was closer to 1-1/2 hour as we had many questions and with just a little encouragement, she continued to tell stories about the Poe family and the customs. She helped us understand that even after the slaves were freed, they lived much like they had during slavery times. These former slaves had to work to live but now they did not have a Master to look after them during times between crops when there was less work needed. For a while the life of the former slave was likely worse than during the times when they were owned by a Master.

Heidi explained how the Gibson Girls of the time set the fashion for women like the fashions of today are set by the clothing and cosmetic empires. They were responsible for the introduction of the corset, the bustle and the resulting “S” shape of women as viewed from the side. The corset caused women to be unable to bend at all, thus the beginning of the curtsey. In addition wearing a corset and being unable to bend now required ‘ladies in waiting’. These were girls who stayed to the side or just out of view, but they quickly and unobtrusively moved in to pick up anything the lady dropped.

Regarding the family children, the Poe family had a bunch of them; 10 in total. The difficulty raising kids in the time was the frequency of their death from disease. The Poe’s twin boys who survived lived in a shared a room and bed until they were out of the house. One went to the military while the other followed other endeavors. As they grew up they were reported to be trouble looking for a place to happen. On the other hand, the girls in the family had fragile reputations to be carefully guarded. This meant they were always under the proverbial microscope related to how they dressed and how they conducted themselves in public. Throughout their formative years they were ‘in training’ how to be a good wife of a man in high social standing. If they fell from grace they could only expect to find a mate of lower social standing. By contrast, by being very proper they could move up the social ladder even greater than their parents and find a man who was part of a higher social standing. The old South had its rules and those who were trying to live the good life clearly understood the rules. Boys tried to be boys, but girls who expected to live the high social life were very careful to protect their name and virtue.

Finally Heidi told us about the tradition of wearing black and dark colors with a lot of black in the dresses of the wife and mother. When she had a child die, she wore black for two years. By now she has most likely replaced the child with a new infant and it was expected the grieving time was now over. If her husband died, she wore black a minimum of three years, then she wore a dark dressed with considerable black in the pattern for many more years. These were considered to be minimum times and many women would extend the morning dress time. The color reflected the latest death of a loved one she had experienced. Mrs. Poe wore black for over 25 years until her own death. This was due to multiple deaths including that of her husband although both of them lived much longer than the life expectancy of most adults of their time.

This was a very interesting tour and we would strongly recommend anyone visiting in the area to take this free tour (donations gladly accepted for the continued maintenance of the home) to learn many things that could not be included in this blog. If Heidi is there, be sure to ask for her!