Good morning.
Sunday in Whitewater will be windy with a high of 57. Sunrise is 7:13 and sunset is 6:05 for 10 hours 52 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 3.5 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
October 19th has been a happy day for many centuries. On this day in 1781, the British surrendered at the Battle of Yorktown:
After initial preparations, the Americans and French built their first parallel and began the bombardment. With the British defense weakened, on October 14, 1781, Washington sent two columns to attack the last major remaining British outer defenses. A French column under Vicomte de Deux-Ponts took Redoubt No. 9 and an American column under Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Hamilton took Redoubt No. 10. With these defenses, the allies were able to finish their second parallel. With the Franco-American artillery closer and its bombardment more intense than ever, the British position began to deteriorate rapidly. Cornwallis asked for capitulation terms on October 17. After two days of negotiation, the surrender ceremony occurred on October 19; Cornwallis was absent from the ceremony. With the capture of more than 7,000 British soldiers, negotiations between the United States and Great Britain began, resulting in the Treaty of Paris of 1783.
While the Revolution would continue for two more years, America’s victory was assured after Yorktown:
The British Prime Minister, Lord North, is reported to have exclaimed “Oh God, it’s all over” when told of the defeat. On March 4, 1782, a motion to end “further prosecution of offensive warfare on the continent of North America”—effectively a no confidence motion—passed in the British House of Commons. Lord North and his government resigned on March 20. [Citations omitted.]
The time between the beginning of the war at Lexington and Concord and victory at Yorktown stretched over six years, six months.
Our forefathers were resolved and tenacious.
Bright fireball seen over Kentucky and Alabama: