The British had seen the new allied…
October 1781 CE
Over the past two days the allies have completed the gun placements and dragged the artillery into line.
The British fire begins to weaken when they see the large number of guns the allies have.
By October 9, all of the French and American guns are in place.
Among the American guns there are three twenty-four pounders, three eighteen pounders, two eight-inch (203 mm) howitzers and six mortars, totaling fourteen guns.
At 3:00 pm, the French guns open the barrage and drive the British frigate HMS Guadeloupe across the York River, where she is scuttled to prevent capture.
At 5:00 pm the Americans open fire.
Washington fires the first gun; legend has it that this shot smashed into a table where British officers were eating.
The Franco-American guns begin to tear apart the British defenses.
Washington orders that the guns fire all night so that the British cannot make repairs.
All of the British guns on the left are soon silenced.
The British soldiers begin to pitch their tents in their trenches and soldiers begin to desert in large numbers.
Some British ships are also damaged by cannonballs that fly across the town into the harbor..
People
Banastre Tarleton
View →
Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis
View →
Claude Gabriel marquis de Choissey
View →
Donatien-Marie-Joseph de Vimeur, vicomte de Rochambeau
View →
François-Joseph Paul de Grasse
View →
George Washington
View →
Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette
View →
Henry Clinton
View →
Nathanael Greene
View →