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Yorktown Memorial
Dedicated 1880
Richard Morris Hunt,
architect
Jpg: Excite image search
The Yorktown
monument which stands 95 feet high is in memory of the French-American
victory of over the British during the American Revolution. Generals
Washington, Rochambeau, the Comte de Grasse, and the Marquis de Lafayette
laid a successful siege to Lord Cornwallis and his troops who had been
held up waited in vain to be rescued by an expected British flotilla. In
October 1781 Lord Cornwallis surrendered. The victory would bring the end
of the war and seal the Declaration of Independence as the birth document
of the United States.
The Continental
Congress, in appreciation, gave its ok to erect a monument right after
the fact, but it was never built.
It's was fitting
that the architect that helped, in some way, design some of
the the public buildings in Paris when he was working under Hector Lefuel,
would now be the architect for the monument which commemorated the joint
effort for America's independence. On the eve of
the centennial President Chester B. Arthur laid cornerstone.
Right after this, Hunt was chosen
to design the base of the Statue of Liberty (a gift of the French people).
Yorktown is
a small historic village right on the York River in eastern Virginia. It
is 62 miles southeast of Richmond and is part of the Colonial National
Historic Park.
Notes:
Forum:
From: ENCYCLOMAN@aol.com
Date: Thu, 11 Jul 2002
Nice writeup on the Yorktown Battlefield
Memorial by Hunt - but you neglected to tell us who the lady on the top
of the monument is supposed to be??? Any clues?
Thanks!
From: Natasha
No clues as to the woman at top nor
the reliefs at the base. Sorry. My info is from the World Book. |
