Goodbye to the Colonial Williamsburg Teacher's Institute

Big monument to the Yorktown victory, put up by the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1931.

Cool flag at Yorktown, one of many.

At the battle of Yorktown a brave soldier attacked a British redoubt and helped take the key site.  George Washington created this special patch for the soldier, and awarded it to several other soldiers as well.  The name of the soldier?  William Brown.

Hand painted map of Yorktown, VA.

American cannons at the battlefield

The American and French (pre-Revolution) flags.  I learned more about the battle when I visited the battlefield, through the videos, maps, dioramas and seeing the lay of the land.  First, I would say that the French were instrumental in winning the battle, and there is no way the Americans would have won the battle without the French navy.  Second, it was something like a chess game, and Cornwallis comes out much better after the battle than I had previously understood.  It was his commander, Clinton, that ordered him to go to Yorktown and to defend it.  Cornwallis' surrender at the battle was a brave decision, because the British forces in Yorktown were going to get crushed in a bloody way without the reinforcements that Clinton promised Cornwallis.  The French prevented the British Navy from helping Cornwallis out, and so the battle did not go well for Cornwallis and the British.

Well, now I'm off to Atlanta for the night, and then I should be in Costa Rica by lunchtime.  It looks like it's hot there, with lots of rain.  I have made contact with Fabian, a professor at the university in Heredia.  I will probably have the first afternoon to look around Heredia and perhaps get some laundry done.

The week in Virginia was interesting.  It's the second time I've visited Virginia in the past few years, and I have been impressed by the state.  It seems well run, it is pretty, and the people are polite and take themselves seriously.  I have only good things to say about them.