A New Perspective for a New Year

I have been reading this amazing historical fiction series called, A Prelude to Glory.  It is all about the Revolutionary War. The first book starts with the story of Paul Revere and how the war started.  Around Volume six, the battle of Yorktown and the surrender of the British is explained and told.  By Volume six, I am fascinated.  I am hooked.  I love this series.  So I decided that I needed to go to the Battlefield of Yorktown.  Friday morning, I told Jason to see if there was a hotel available for one night and by noon we were on the road.  It was a great decision!  We were able to spend some family time together and I was able to have one of the most amazing experiences of my life.

 Eleanor and Savannah had received the historical American Girl dolls for Christmas and we took them with them.  It was fun for them to see the history and the actual clothing on people. They got a lot of compliments and saw their dolls in "real life." 

 Williamsburg is one of my most favorite places in the world.  I love it.  I love history anyway and it was so fun to see it at Christmastime.  There weren't a lot people, so nothing was crowded.  It was really cold, but it was still beautiful! I could live there.....really I could!

 One of my favorite parts about Williamsburg is the decorations.  They are beautiful and so creative!  Every door and window was decorated with wreaths and boughs of boxwood, greenery and fruit and natural elements.

Of course, while I am enjoying all aspects of history, my husband and my teenage son were enjoying the modern conveniences of the 21st century!  

 The gallows, as always, were a big hit.  I think we need one of these at home.  Good for rowdy children and ones that need discipline!

 This is one of the reasons I love Williamsburg....the period costumes, everything is in time period.  It makes it so fun to walk the streets.

 All the people that are dressed up are in character.  They have their own story and they tell you about what building they are in front of.  They answer questions as if they were actually in that time period.

 All up and down the streets, the houses are so quaint and cute.  They have tried to maintain their original character to the best of their ability.  I am love!

 And this is something else I love....this man!  He is amazing!  He is my everything!  I love him!

 More amazing wreaths.....couldn't get enough ideas or enough pictures of how beautiful they were.

This is Mr. Randolph.  He is the nephew of Thomas Jefferson.  He is a lawyer at the courthouse.  He was quite informative and charming. 

 This guy worked at the shoe shop.  He told us about the huge stack of wood in the front of the house.  We talked about how the houses were heated with wood stoves and how they cooked their food also.

I know, I know!  More of these great arrangements!

 Then we went to the Battlefield of Yorktown.  In the Spring of 1781, the American War of Independence entered its seventh year.  Having practically abandoned their efforts to reconquer the northern States, the British still had hopes of subjugating the South.  By trying to do so, they unwittingly set in motion a train of events that would give independence back to the colonies and change the history of the world.

In May, 1781 British general Charles, Lord Cornwallis, moved his army to Virginia from North Carolina after and arduous and costly southern campaign.  He believed if Virginia could be subdued, the states would readily return to British allegiance.  In June, he received word from his superior officer in New York to establish a naval base in the Chesapeake Bay area.

The Marquis de Lafayette, operating with a small American force, shadowed Cornwallis' movements and clashed with the army near Jamestown in July. 

After the Americans withdrew, Cornwallis chose the port of Yorktown for his base.  He transferred his army there and began to fortify the town.  

Meanwhile, a large French fleet under Admiral Francois Joseph Paul, Comte de Grasse, ad sailed up from the West Indies for combined operations with the allied french and american armies and proceeded to blockade the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay.

 On September 28th, they marched to Yorktown to face Cornwallis's 8,300 man garrison.  After a week of laying out camps and preparing for a siege, the allied army constructed its first siege line and three days later commenced bombarding the British positions. After capturing British redoubts 9 and 10 on the night of October 14, a second siege line, designed to bring the Allied artillery to within point blank range, was completed the morning of October 17th.  That same day, after nine days of intense, round-the-clock bombardment that wrecked the town, and a failed attempt at escaping across the York River, Cornwallis requested a cease-fire to discuss surrender terms.  Two days later, on October 19, 1781, he formally surrendered his army.  When Lord North, the British prime minister, learned of Cornwallis's defeat, he is reported to have cried, "Oh, God!  It is all over!"

 The American victory at Yorktown, the last major battle of the American Revolution, secured independence for the United States and significantly changed the course of world history.

 As I have been reading this series, I have become fascinated at the people who lived and died and fought for the freedom of this nation.  The characters, some fictional, most real, have come alive.  They have made me appreciate the conviction and desire these people had to gain freedom, freedom to choose, freedom to become a nation united.  And though they didn't know it at the time,  freedom to practice religion.  The Revolutionary War was a significant precursor to Joseph Smith and his religious quest.  The winning of the war made it possible to be able to open doors for him to bring the gospel back on the earth.

  Seeing the redoubts and the mounds of earth dug by those men, day after day, was fascinating.  As I looked at the battlefield for the first time and breathed in the crisp winter air, I was overwhelmed with the spirit.  The battlefield was a big open area of grass and dirt, but it came alive.  Reviewing in my mind the events that occurred, I could feel the spirit of the men who fought.  There were no other people around, so it was quiet.  I looked across the field and imagined.  I looked at the mounds of dirt and told my children about the men who dug them, who hid behind them with their muskets.  The men who left their wives and children for almost eight years to fight for our country.  I told them about the way the wars were fought, so formal, and yet so bloody.  I told them, with emotion, that this country we live in is free, but we still have men and women who risk their lives everyday to make sure they we are free.  I told them how grateful I am for the freedom to live here, the blessings we experience and the blessings we don't even realize.  I think they understood.  They have seen me reading these books, they have heard me talk about eating leather and freezing in the winter of Valley Forge, and the amazing man that George Washington was. They have heard me describe the event I am reading about.  They have asked questions and we have discussed what it means to be free, to fight for your country, to be in a battle, to leave your family.  They have seen me tear up and choke with emotion as I have told them about what happened in the lives of these people.  They have heard me passionately talk about the things that happened to make this country what it is.

One last picture of the field before we left.  It closed at sundown and we stayed until the last minute.  I wanted to soak it all in!  How grateful I am for this experience!  I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to give myself a new perspective on the upcoming new year, to look forward with a renewed determination to be a better person, a more patriotic and righteous person, someone who like those who lived long ago, had a driving desire to build a better life for their families, praise their God and live a life that could be written down in history as a life that made a difference.  That is my goal for the new year. Life my life so I make a difference.  Welcome 2013!  I can't wait to meet you!