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Primary
Source of the Month

Miniature painting. Surrender at Yorktown, by Louis-Nicholas van Blarenberghe, Paris, France, 1785.
From the collections of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
CONTENTS
"The World Turned Upside Down"
Primary
Source of the Month
Teaching
Strategy
Colonial Williamsburg Teaching Resources
Teaching News
Quotation of the Month
The
next
Electronic Field Trip is

Jamestown Unearthed
October 11, 2007
2007-2008 Teaching
Resources Catalog

20072008 Electronic Field
Trip Scholarships

Games,
activities, and resources about life
in colonial America
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TOP STORIES
“The World Turned Upside Down Yorktown: Britain’s Loss of the Colonies” by Dan Lovelace
As
he stood at attention with his Virginia
militia unit on the afternoon of October
19, 1781, seventeen-year-old Samuel Clark
probably viewed the surrender of 7,500
British and Hessian troops to the 16,000-man
Franco-American army at Yorktown as "the
vengeance of The Lord." After all,
Gen. Charles Lord Cornwallis’s veteran
army had spent the preceding six months
laying waste to tidewater Virginia . .
. .
Learn
More
Primary
Source of the Month:
Miniature painting, Surrender at Yorktown,
by Louis-Nicholas van Blarenberghe
This
miniature watercolor was painted in 1785
by Louis-Nicholas van Blarenberghe, a
professional painter of battle and campaign
scenes for the French army. It is a meticulous
rendering of the 1781 British surrender
of Yorktown. Despite its very small size—measuring
only 3 1/8 inches in diameter—this miniature
is incredibly detailed, illustrating over
300 individual figures. The scene closely
mirrors the written descriptions of the
surrender.
Learn
More
Teaching
Strategy:
Surrender at Yorktown
John
Adams supposedly said that "without
(Thomas) Paine’s pen Washington’s sword
would have been raised in vain."
But George Washington not only possessed
military and leadership skills, he also
wrote very well. In this lesson, students
read two letters written by George Washington,
examine the writing style and word choices
used in each letter, and summarize the
basic content.
Learn More
Colonial
Williamsburg Teaching Resources for Your
Classroom
Colonial
Williamsburg offers a variety of quality
instructional materials dealing with 18th-century
life, including:
- Hands-On History: Soldier’s Haversack (object kit)
- Life in the Continental Army (lesson unit)
- Red Thunder (book)
- Echoes of Revolution (CD)
- Fifes
Learn
More
Teaching
News
Bring History to Life in Your Classroom with Electronic Field Trips!
Colonial Williamsburg’s Electronic Field
Trip series begins October 11 with an encore
of Jamestown Unearthed, in
commemoration of the 400th anniversary of
the founding of Jamestown, Virginia. Jamestown
Unearthed is a documentary that
examines how history is re-evaluated as
new methods of study are introduced and
archaeological discoveries offer new clues.
Electronic Field Trips are broadcast once each month from October through April at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Eastern time on participating PBS stations, educational access channels and cable channels. The programs consist of a one-hour live broadcast which includes a story on subjects in American history, interspersed with live question-and-answer sessions.
Learn
More
Quotation
of the Month
"I have had the Honor of receiving Your Lordship’s Letter of this Date. An Ardent Desire to spare the further Effusion of Blood, will readily incline me to listen to such Terms for the Surrender of your Posts and Garrisons of York and Gloucester, as are admissible. . . ."
—George Washington to Lord Cornwallis
October 17, 1781
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