The last of the Bicentennial re-enactnents concluded last month at Yorktown, in front of grandstands erected just outside the inner British defenses. Those with either advance reservations or the hardihood to brave the traffic saw not only 4,000 performers in 18th Century uniforms, but representatives of the modern armed forces of five nations. Activities began shortly after noon on Friday, October 16. This writer arrived just as two parachutists landed bearing French and American flags, while the band of the French Marines played both national anthems. At 2 p.m. the re-created units paraded past the reviewing stand: French, American, British, Hessian, Highland, and Loyalist. The French were resplendent in their white uniforms (units with lapels piped in the facing colors seemed to be favored), The Americans were more motley, often with a wide variety of uniforms within the same regiment. Spectators frequently confused red-coated musicians from regiments of the Mid-Atlantic states With the British. The Hessian contingent made up in variety for what they lacked in numbers: 8 miter-capped grenadiers with a pair of colors, a dozen rusketeers from 4 different regiments, and five jaegers. The Loyalists were well-represented; three units had come all the way from Canada. The cavalry contingent included 8 American dragoons, 8 of the Duke of Lauzun's Hussars, 4 Loyalists, and a single trooper of the British 17th Light Dragoons. Visits to the encampments yielded interesting details. A group of three, complete with regimental flag, dressed in white with blue facings, represented the Spanish Louisiana Regiment. A group from Pennsylvania chose to represent the infantry of Lauzun's Legion when they heard that there would be more than enough militia units present. Since neither the regimental colors nor the Duke's coat of arms had survived the French Revolution, they carried a flag of their own devising. It featured a white cross with alternating red and green corners. The red corners contained Irish harps, and the green ones, the Tower of King Gedymin of Lithuania, reflecting the cosmopolitan character of the original unit. A sign outside a French regiment's camp advertised tours "in passable English and atrocious French." While the words of command were in French, the accents must have brought tears to the eyes of any French visitors. The afternoon concluded with a re-enactment of the assault on Redoubts 9 and 10. After the customary exchange of volleys, a swarm of Continentals rushed out to clear away the brush piled in front of the ditch, after which the French and American storming parties swept forward (one scaling ladder care untied during the advance.). That evening, a lavish fireworks display was staged on a barge in the York River. One wondered if the site was near the location of any of the British ships that were set afire and sunk during the siege. One British and five American warships lay at anchor. As night fell, the American ships were illuminated by strings of lights running from the bow and stern to the mastheads. Only later did the British floodlight their upper works. The waterfront was a scene of mass confusion as the spectators tried to find space on the shuttle buses. All the while a jukebox in a shop played a rock ballad describing the siege, with the refrain, "And the British played 'The World Turned Upside Down'/For a little revolution they could not put down." Modern Military Displays Saturday afternoon featured modern military displays. Paratroopers dropped from helicopters, and four more climbed down ropes from a hovering CH-47, hooked onto the rope, and were lifted off the ground for a circuit of the area. The Army's Golden Knights performed a series of drops, guiding their black-and-gold, rectangular parachutes to pin-point landings. At this point, I encountered other people from the office, and we tried to reach an encampment. We arrived in time for one of John Victor's famous "medicine shows." Two wounded soldiers were carried in, and one received a simulated leg amputation. Dr. Victor explained that for the second patient, any care was strictly to boost his morale since chest wounds were nearly always fatal. A colleague quickly announced that the ball had merely glanced off a rib and that the patient should recover. Dr. Victor soon corrected him. The patient had expected the worst, gone into shock, and died. Then came "sick call," and one of my companions was singled out for a hair-raising description of 18th Century treatments for constipation! Six helicopters then buzzed the encampment as they demonstrated aerial assault tactics in front of the grandstands. We then watched a Continental regiment get under arms and march through the trenches on its way to a tactical demonstration, and watched the British march the other way. (As the Highlanders passed, one of my companions said, "There go the McDuncans!") The tactical demonstration was a long time getting started, and we had all seen better. There were no amateur actors in the ranks that day. Nobody took a dive after a volley, fled in panic, or indulged in conspicuous heroics. Neither side tried to close, and all blazed away at what seemed ridiculously long ranges. I learned from a participant the next day that Park Service regulations accounted for it. Sunday I went to the Moore House. A guide dressed as a French officer showed the room where the surrender agreement had been signed, and a Hessian corporal descended from upstairs and described life in Yorktown during the siege. "Don't go there," he said, "there's nothing but death, ruins, and disease. Und vatch oudt for de Vriginia militia! Und dey call us thieves!" I was also present when Presidents Mitterand and Reagan landed at the Coast Guard station and went to lunch aboard the French destroyer de Grasse. (Coincidentally, there was also a U.S.S. Comte de Grasse anchored in the river.) After another visit to the encampments, I returned to the Victory Center and compared its film of the Yorktown campaign with a film at the Park Service's Visitor Center re- enacting the surrender. Despite the drama and the special effects, I preferred the latter. Among other details, the former contained no recognizably French uniforms. Parade Monday's ceremonies began with a parade of modern and re-created units. The U.S. Army's Fife and Drum Corps and Old Guard color detachment came first, followed by the French Marine Band, a detachment of the 99th Regiment, and sailors from the de Grasse and Georges Levgues, Then came a German army band with army, navy, and air force detachments. The British were represented by sailors, Royal Marines, and the band of the Royal Welch Fusiliers, and followed by an Irish cadet detachment. Then came the whole student body of VMI, U.S. ceremonial attachments, the U.S. Army Band, the flags of the states and territories, and all the recreated units. Once the area before the grandstand was filled, the speechmaking begang featuring the Secretaries of the Navy and Army, Senator Byrd, Lord Hailsham (who had a maternal ancestor in the Continental Army at Yorktown), Congressman Trible, President Mitterand (with an interpreter speaking at the end of each paragraph), Senator Warner, and President Reagan. The speeches lasted until 1 p.m., after which the troops all paraded off the field. The surrender ceremony, scheduled for 2 p.m., was an hour late starting. In the meantime, the Golden Knights did another drop. Despite strong winds, all ten performers landed near the grandstand. Gradually the re-created French and American units filed into their positions, forming two lines with a corridor between them. Finally the British marched out with colors cased, some but not all bands playing "The World Turned Upside Down," and followed by what seemed like an equal number of camp followers. They formed up by the grandstand, and grounded their arms. After cannon in the French grand battery fired 13 shots, they picked up their arms and marched back to camp with colors flying. No one played the parts of Generals Washington, Lincoln, Rochambeau, or O'Hara, and the actual Surrender Field was nearly a mile south. But the weather was as splendid as it had been 200 years ago, when thousands of spectators had come to see "the world turned upside down." Back to PW Review December 1981 Table of Contents Back to PW Review List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1981 Wally Simon This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. 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