November 2-3 - 2017 Toano, Virginia

Thursday and Friday (2nd and 3rd) we went back in history again. All the way back to when the first permanent English settlement was established in America.

Thursday, we went to Jamestown and Williamsburg.

In 1607, one hundred men landed on a small island in what is now the James River in Virginia. They were sent out by a private company, The Virginia Company of London, who had received permission from King James I.

They build a fort and named the settlement Jamestown, after the king. And they struggled. They were hit by diseases, the worst drought (tørke) in many years, attacks from the Indians. After the first summer only 38 people were still alive.
The Virginia Company sent more men and at some point, also women.
In 1609-1610 there was a famine (hungersnød) within the settlement. Many of them died, and some of the survivors were so desperate that they reverted to cannibalism.

A model of the first fort

Foundations of one of the buildings from the mid 1600's

The Indians were both hostile and friendly. They protected their territories and families, but they also traded with the colonists, taught them how to survive in the new country, shared food when possible. The most famous of these Indians was Pocahontas. She served as a peacemaker between the two races. You can read a little of her story below.

 The settlement/colony didn’t really get a foothold and start to prosper until they discovered “the golden leaf” – tobacco, that could be exported back to England. They started plantations along the shores of the James River.

Around 1620 the settlement in Virginia became a colony under the English Crown, with governor and all, and the English had started their development of their new territory – America.

Jamestown was the capital (hovedstad) until 1699 when it was moved to Williamsburg (about 10 miles/15km north).

In Jamestown we also found a third contender (kandidat) as far as the Birthplace of the United States is concerned. First Boston, then Philadelphia and now Jamestown 😊. (I wonder if there are more).

 

 

We followed the line of history and went to Williamsburg.
They have a very nice recreation of old Williamsburg there (Frilandsmuseum).
Some 80 buildings: houses, businesses, a church, the governors building and the capitol (regeringsbygningen) in which the politicians of Virginia decided that they would join the other colonies in signing the Declaration of Independence in 1776.

Governor's mansion

 

 It is quite amazing to see how far they were able to get in just 150 years.
From cannibalism to a well-functioning society with impressive buildings and a political system that could make the big decision of revolution.

Capitol

We also ran into a couple of the usual suspects. In this case Washington and Jefferson.
Not as rebellions or presidents, but at church, in the museum, that they attended when they were students at the famous college William and Mary, which is nearby.
 

 

Friday, we went to Yorktown. The Battle of Yorktown took place in September/October 1781.
It was the last major battle in the war for independence.
George Washington beat the British general Cornwallis. That’s the short version.
The longer version includes the facts that the French (who the year before had decided to send troops to help the colonists) decided to send their fleet to the end of Chesapeake Bay to block the British from sending reinforcement to the British soldiers at Yorktown.
At the same time a big part of Washington’s army (3000 men) and as many French soldiers marched the almost 400 miles/600 km from New York to Yorktown to meet up with troops already in the area.
With an army of close to 20.000 men Washington started the campaign on September 28.

The morning of the Battle of Yorktown

 

Trenches and canons at the battle field

On October 19th the British laid down their weapons.

This took place on Surrender Field outside of Yorktown.
There they have an audio presentation of the surrender. And I just laughed when it ended:
“Of this field it might be said: The United States was born” 😊 😊 Just hours after I had wondered if I would run into more candidates!

In Yorktown there is a great museum about the revolutionary war. From start to end.

Very nice exhibitions, movies, pictures and artifacts, but the most exciting was a 45-minute classroom session, where a very competent speaker took us through the war including years before and after (from 1763 to the signing of the Constitution in 1787). When he asked about the birthdate of the US, I was ready with my four candidates 😊. This guy believed in September 17th 1787 when the Constitution was signed.

This is what they thought the soldiers camp looked like.



Field kitchen

 

After Yorktown there were no major battles, but it took another two years before the Treaty of Paris was agreed upon in 1783. The British gave up all rights in the colonies.

So this ended our long journey in the footpath of the revolutionary war.

The weather has been exceptional these 2 days. Even according to the Virginians it is unusually good.
Both days it has been 78 Fahrenheit / 25 Celsius, sunshine and no wind.

Written by JJ