Redoubts 9 and 10

French forces captured Redoubt 9 while American forces captured Redoubt 10 during an October 14 night assault that lasted about 30 minutes. Both were protected by sharpened tree trunks and earthworks, although the current versions seem a little small for 100 troops.

The view from Redoubt 9 towards British lines.

You can go in and around Redoubt 9, but 10 is fenced off. The tree trunks currently installed are made out of reinforced concrete.

Redoubt 9 as might have been seen by assaulting American troops.

The second American/French siege line used the redoubts as a starting point, and were dug roughly perpendicular to the British inner line. My guess is that no man's land was about 300-400 yards wide, compared to about 1200 yards from the first American/French siege line. No traces of this second line exist except at the redoubts and French Grand Battery.

Jumbo Information Panel for Redoubt 9 (very slow: 341K)

Redoubt 10

Lt. Col. Alexander Hamilton led 400 Americans against Redoubt 10 and its 70 British defenders. They Americans took it in 10 minutes.

Thankfully, a worn path, not shown on the guide pamphlet map, leads back to the Visitor's Center. We had to complete the rest of the battlefield tour via car.

Jumbo Information Panel for Redoubt 10 (very slow: 260K)

More Yorktown Battlefield

Introduction
Historical Preliminaries
Visitor's Center
The Quick Tour
Forward March...Ouch! Ouch!
Redoubts 9 and 10
Grand French Battery
Augustine Moore House
Surrender Field
Yorktown Victory Monument

This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web.
Other articles covering military history and related topics are available at http://www.magweb.com