Nathaniel Philbrick, in his excellent history of the final campaign of the American Revolution which ended at Yorktown tells some grisly tales about what the British troops under Cornwallis did in the Virginia countryside.
A pregnant American woman, an American patriot, her abdomen sliced open, her breasts sliced open, her baby butchered and decapitated heads lined up along her pottery shelves where pottery had been, with "Breed No Rebels" painted in her blood on the wall.
These British soldiers were not the benign Redcoats depicted in our American history books, who were simply trying to protect the king's tea from being dumped in Boston harbor.
The level of butchery wrought upon the natives rivaled what we later saw in movies like "Platoon" about American soldiers in Vietnam.
But what was just as appalling was the story of the treatment of Black slaves, who the British commander, Cornwallis, had taken from surrounding Virginia plantations, promising them freedom if they would help build fortifications at his redoubt at Yorktown: When Washington and Lafayette finally surrounded him and their usefulness was spent, Cornwallis ejected the slaves into the no man's land between his fort and the American lines, where, once the slaves walked across, they were once again enslaved. George Washington appointed a slave procurer to take custody of these unfortunates and to return them to "their rightful owners."
After the British commander surrendered, Washington hosted a surreal dinner for the French officers who had fought alongside the Americans and for British officers.
Having read through 200 pages of the fierce and ruthless fighting, of the bombardment and saber slashing, it strikes one as almost incomprehensible that these soldiers could sit down to a catered dinner together.
But what is really interesting, is that the British and French officers got on wonderfully well. Neither liked the Americans much. The French had fought long and hard side by side with the Americans, but the French officers were from the upper classes and considered the Americans ill mannered and not of their station. The British officers were, of course, gentlemen and it was the class bond which mattered.
Of course, there were exceptions: Lafayette was well loved by Washington and Hamilton and returned their affection, but on the whole, the gentlemen of the upper classes found affinity.
As Philbrick notes, among the best American soldiers who lined the road out of Yorktown as the beaten British troops marched by, were the Black soldiers from Rhode Island, who had been steadfast and reliable and effective but now they watched as lines of hundreds of slaves marched by them, on their way back to "their rightful owners." What they were thinking, Philbrick notes, one can only imagine.
This is not the story portrayed in high school history books in Texas, or in any of America, one can imagine. Those grisly, grimy, ghoulish parts get scrubbed clean.
But it's where we come from, and that may explain some of where we are today.
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| Cornwallis |
A pregnant American woman, an American patriot, her abdomen sliced open, her breasts sliced open, her baby butchered and decapitated heads lined up along her pottery shelves where pottery had been, with "Breed No Rebels" painted in her blood on the wall.
These British soldiers were not the benign Redcoats depicted in our American history books, who were simply trying to protect the king's tea from being dumped in Boston harbor.
The level of butchery wrought upon the natives rivaled what we later saw in movies like "Platoon" about American soldiers in Vietnam.
But what was just as appalling was the story of the treatment of Black slaves, who the British commander, Cornwallis, had taken from surrounding Virginia plantations, promising them freedom if they would help build fortifications at his redoubt at Yorktown: When Washington and Lafayette finally surrounded him and their usefulness was spent, Cornwallis ejected the slaves into the no man's land between his fort and the American lines, where, once the slaves walked across, they were once again enslaved. George Washington appointed a slave procurer to take custody of these unfortunates and to return them to "their rightful owners."
 |
| Slaver |
After the British commander surrendered, Washington hosted a surreal dinner for the French officers who had fought alongside the Americans and for British officers.
Having read through 200 pages of the fierce and ruthless fighting, of the bombardment and saber slashing, it strikes one as almost incomprehensible that these soldiers could sit down to a catered dinner together.
But what is really interesting, is that the British and French officers got on wonderfully well. Neither liked the Americans much. The French had fought long and hard side by side with the Americans, but the French officers were from the upper classes and considered the Americans ill mannered and not of their station. The British officers were, of course, gentlemen and it was the class bond which mattered.
 |
| Lafayette |
Of course, there were exceptions: Lafayette was well loved by Washington and Hamilton and returned their affection, but on the whole, the gentlemen of the upper classes found affinity.
As Philbrick notes, among the best American soldiers who lined the road out of Yorktown as the beaten British troops marched by, were the Black soldiers from Rhode Island, who had been steadfast and reliable and effective but now they watched as lines of hundreds of slaves marched by them, on their way back to "their rightful owners." What they were thinking, Philbrick notes, one can only imagine.
This is not the story portrayed in high school history books in Texas, or in any of America, one can imagine. Those grisly, grimy, ghoulish parts get scrubbed clean.
But it's where we come from, and that may explain some of where we are today.
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