Impact Without Limits

S5 E15: The Battle of Yorktown

• Dale and Brian Karmie / Adkins Media Co.

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This episode of Impact Without Limits explores the pivotal Battle of Yorktown, the decisive victory that effectively ended the American Revolution. Brian and Dale trace the events that led to the siege, highlighting the leadership of George Washington, the crucial support of French forces under Rochambeau, and the strategic decisions that culminated in Cornwallis's surrender. Along the way, they share fascinating details about the battle, the people involved, and the remarkable chain of events that secured American independence.

Beyond the history itself, the brothers reflect on the faith, sacrifice, and perseverance that shaped the founding of the United States. They discuss the importance of understanding America's origins, honoring those who risked everything for freedom, and preserving the principles that have influenced generations. This conversation serves as both a history lesson and an encouragement to explore the nation's story at a deeper level.


Episode Highlights: 

  • A Revolutionary War turning point.
  • Why Yorktown changed history.
  • Washington, Rochambeau, and the French Alliance.
  • Hamilton's midnight assault.
  • Faith, freedom, and America's founding story.


Links Mentioned in Episode/Find More on ForeverLawn:

This show has been produced by Adkins Media Co.


SPEAKER_02

If we don't have pride in who we are and how we were founded, then there's nothing to protect.

SPEAKER_01

So why would two guys leave comfortable jobs, move across the country, and start a business in an industry they don't know, a place they don't know? And could it be successful? We're Dale and Brian Carme.

SPEAKER_02

Join us as we share our story and inspire you to become people of Impact.

SPEAKER_01

Welcome to the Impact Without Limits Podcast. Welcome back to the Impact Without Limits Podcast. Brian Carmy here with my brother Dale. Hey everybody.

SPEAKER_02

New shirt. This one, courtesy of Meyer. And in keeping with my hat tradition.

SPEAKER_01

He has Land of the Free because of the Brave on his shirt.

SPEAKER_02

Yes, because of the Brave. He's got a new hat. It looks like a firebird off of a Trans Am. And uh another America hat. I've got a bunch of them. You do. This looks like it goes better with you. You have a bunch of American hats. Your shirt than mine. Yeah. I have my I love that EIB.

SPEAKER_01

My Rush Limbaugh. If you can see that right there. And my American flag baseball shirt. Um yeah. We are in our patriotic garb because we are walking through um the semi-quincentennial celebration, uh, just talking about the history and founding of America. And we've been specifically going through battles, and I think we've covered three or four specifics, maybe five, but we are kind of flying through history here.

SPEAKER_02

There are dozens upon dozens upon dozens of battles.

SPEAKER_01

And to be honest, we just I don't think we can do it justice.

SPEAKER_02

We can't do it justice. So what we're gonna challenge you to do is go do go do a little research, do a little homework. What what's our one website, Battlefields?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, the American Battlefield Trust. And maybe we can put a link to that in the show notes. Um, again, I would say uh the White House.gov 250 celebration has some good stuff. Oh, that that's great. But I I was talking Battlesdale specific. Right, Hillsdale has some great stuff. Prager U has some good stuff. Prager U has some great stuff, but this uh website, we we can link all of these, but the American Battlefield Trust, really cool. You can walk through um all of the battles of the Revolutionary War.

SPEAKER_02

And and I'm gonna do this call call out right now because I don't want to forget, but Josh Howerton. I think so. In Dallas. Uh he's got a podcast. I don't even know what it's called, Josh Howarton Podcast. Live free. Live free. There you go. You're right. I love Josh and and his podcast, but specifically, um Caitlin sent us a link to one he just did recently where he had um Tim Barton. Tim Barton, who's Dave Barton's son. From wall builders, yeah, and man, they do a great job. Um, the Bartons have built a whole, I don't know if it's a ministry or educational program, outreach, whatever, on the true founding, the true principles, the true ideals behind the founding of this nation. Um, but boy, what a powerful episode that is. So we're talking internally. It would be really funny if we could do this. We're saying, could we like spoof this? Could we ask questions and then cut the clips of Tim and Josh doing their podcast? It would be I I think it would be mildly humorous if we think it's legal or what have you. So stay tuned. That may be coming.

SPEAKER_01

But if not, just go and listen to it. A lot of great resources, great podcast episode.

SPEAKER_02

So that did did we have a date on that podcast?

SPEAKER_01

It was this past week, which spoiler alert, it's May 4th. So I think it was the last week of April that that came out.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, it's you've been lied to about America, uh, America's uh history is the title of the podcast.

SPEAKER_01

That I I've only made it through half the episode, just listening on the way here today. Just tremendous. Shout out to Kaelin for referring there, sending that link over to us. Um, but just a great episode, we'd encourage you to all go check it out.

SPEAKER_02

So, all that to say, um, there's a lot going on. There's a lot we can't get into, but what we are going to do is travel through time now from 1778 coming out of Valley Forge. We're gonna show up in the fall of 1981, and not 1981, 1788 that would have been really big. Uh, and we're gonna land in Yorktown, and uh so we're gonna have a question.

SPEAKER_01

Okay, I've got a question for the audience. Okay, and I'm gonna be honest, I would have failed this question if you had asked me six months ago, maybe even yesterday. What state is Yorktown in? That's my question. I'm curious how many people know that because I honestly didn't. I had I thought it was one of the Carolinas.

SPEAKER_02

I'm I'll be honest, I didn't even read to see, but I think it's Virginia.

SPEAKER_01

It's Virginia. Yeah, crazy. So um so here's what's what's going on. Kind of the go ahead, you had a question.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I had another question. I'm like, what what's the significance of the Battle of Yorktown? Who won and what was the significance? I would have gotten that one right, but I wouldn't have gotten the other part right. Again, I think there's a lot of people that wouldn't. So do you want to answer it real quick?

SPEAKER_01

Give the highlights.

SPEAKER_02

Sure. This is spoiler alert. The significance is um it was kind of the closing battle of the Revolutionary War. It was the defeat for the British that signaled the end of the war. So America won, Britain lost. The Treaty of Paris isn't signed for another two years, which is the ending treaty, and there were additional skirmishes and battles that happened over the next year, but it was essentially done after this. And uh, you had General Cornwallis on the British side, who was their leading general, you had General Washington on the American side. It was a clash of the Titans.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, so just again, we flew through three years of histories, and most of the battles we have been talking about were up north. There were battles in New York, New Jersey, um, even into Pennsylvania. But the battle really battles really shifted south. And so that was part of Cornwallis, and and his he kind of went south and started kind of tearing through the Carolinas and and really dominated. I mean, they won battle after battle in the South.

SPEAKER_02

One of the big battles that we're we're kind of not going to touch on now, but we might come back to as we're talking about other characters, the Siege of Charleston. That was a big British victory where we essentially we lose Charleston, we lose South Carolina. Um, that was in 1780, and that kind of was the in the big initiation of that push to the South. There were there were a couple other battles south before that, but following Charleston, then you have another battle, South Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, South Carolina.

SPEAKER_01

You have the battle that I mentioned, North Carolina last week, or the week or the last episode of the episode before, with the Battle of Camden in South Carolina, which was Horatio Gates, was still the general at the time, who was appointed outside of Washington's knowledge by directly by Congress, and he gets thumped and run out. And then Nathaniel Green comes in as the new commander. And Nathaniel Green actually still ended up losing a lot of the battles, but the the terms that I saw were that that he fought well and bloodied the British forces, and and the British took a lot of casualties and and they were running low on supplies. And so Cornwallis is like, okay, we can't keep fighting in the Carolinas. We're gonna we're gonna kind of take a spot where we can rest and we can you know resupply. So he goes to Yorktown in Virginia and settles there on a coastal kind of peninsula. So right, so they got water on on three sides and one side of land. They think this is an easy spot to defend, and they can have ships come in and refill them. Except there's a problem. The the problem is that the French, Frenchies, they have a ship in the Caribbean or an armada, a fleet of ships, that they're like, hey, we can send up for this period of time. So Washington and and another name, Rochambeau, um, who was the leader of the French military, the French um presence in the US. And I do you want to go? Do you want to give us a whole name? I was gonna ask you the same thing. Uh uh. There's a Jean-Baptiste in there.

SPEAKER_02

There's about 10 names. Ten names. Do you have it handy? Uh it would be fun to read. I can't I don't even think I can read it. All right. So after a little quick lookup, here's what we have. And how many years of French did you take in high school? Three. Okay, just three. That's what it takes. Jean-Baptiste Dantienne de Vimur Comte de Rochambeau.

SPEAKER_01

Yes.

SPEAKER_02

I even had the accent in that. Come on, guys. That was pretty good. I thought that was Pepe Le Pew for a minute. French Royal Army officer played a critical role. American victory at the siege of Yorktown.

SPEAKER_01

So he's leading the French armies, and he's teamed up with Washington, and he convinces Washington. Washington, right? We still don't own New York City. New York City is still held, right? And the British are winning in the south. But Rochambeau says, hey, we've got an opportunity here. Let's leave the New York battles. Let's go to Virginia. Let's take Yorktown. We can have this naval fleet of the French coming up. And so they do. And and so they they start to head south. Um, did you have any how many miles they they marched? I mean, it was hundreds of miles. I said hundreds.

SPEAKER_02

It was hundreds of miles because the the army was stationed north of New York City at this point. And they've got to hike the whole way down, you know, through New Jersey, through Pennsylvania, whatever the route was, um, through Delaware, into Virginia, down to the Chesapeake Bay. Yeah. And so, I don't know, a couple hundred miles at least.

SPEAKER_01

So you have General Clinton up in New York for the British. And Washington, actually, one of the brilliant kind of maneuvers here is he he tricks Clinton into thinking they're going to attack. They know that Washington really has wanted to get New York back ever since he got chased out of there. And so they they put some false flags, right? They send some people out talking about how they're going to be attacking New York. They set up some different camps to make people think they're going to do that. And then they secretly move their troops. I don't know how you secretly move 17,000 French and American troops almost 500 miles south, but they do. They start moving them south. And then the boat coming in from the French armada actually runs into a British ship in the Chesapeake Bay, and they have a battle, and it goes for a few hours, and the the British ship's like, we got to go back to New York and you know resupply. And when they do that, this ship comes in and or group of ships cuts off Yorktown. So the port of Yorktown is closed, so they can't resupply Cornwallis troops, and then this group of 17,000 French and American soldiers come in and take the front end of that peninsula, and it's a siege, right? So the British are stuck in here for a I think a I think it's about a month this year.

SPEAKER_02

It was a little bit over a month.

SPEAKER_01

And you've got Cornwallis a little bit under a month, September 28th to October 19th. Okay. So you've got 8,000 British and Hessian soldiers. Um and they're camped, and they have these things called redoubts. I think I'm saying that right. That are these mounds of earth with these posts sticking out of them, and they kind of camp behind that and they shoot from outside from inside of those. So it's it's it's well fortified, I guess is the point. But the Americans start just by cutting them off, trying to cut off supplies, and then they start digging trenches, these parallel trenches, just like a little bit so they can inch up, right? Inch up. Again, think about digging the trenches.

SPEAKER_02

Crazy. They don't have backhoes. No. They don't have a skid steer. I mean, when they're digging trenches, you're talking shovels, picks, uh, bare hands, you're talking about moving the dirt, tossing it, hauling it out, wheelbross, what have you. What they did was was just remarkable. But they they would build these trenches parallel to to where they were trying to get to, so they would advance to the trench and they take up position, and then they would hold it. And it would get to where what they were trying to do is to get to where they could strike with their artillery. They could get cannons there that they could launch and get to the fort. They could not not just like have the siege, you know, you know, in terms of cutting off, they could begin to inflict damage. Um you know, uh if you can hit them with your cannons and with your muskets, that starts to change the battle a little bit.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, so they they get the first trench done, completed, they get the artillery up there and start hitting the British, and the British can't really respond. They start to set up this second one, and somehow, I don't I I'm trying to picture this on my head, but they're running parallel, and these redoubts are coming out the other way. They kind of have this spot where they they hit, they intersect the these parallel trenches that the Americans are digging with this British redoubt, and they realize like we need to attack the troops that are stationed there. And so this is um where Alexander Hamilton gains some fame. He's been wanting to, you know, he's kind of been Washington's right-hand man and his scribe, and he's wanted like a military post, right? Because as we talked about in a previous episode, this this is how these guys kind of would elevate status and gain recognition and kind of improve their station in life. And so Hamilton sees an opportunity. If he can be seen as a great military general, he he's gonna have more um, you know, it's gonna mean a lot for him in his uh private life. And so he's asking for this, and and so Washington says, All right, you've you've got command, you're taking this. And why and Hamilton's trying to figure out how we can, we've got to be able to sneak up and and attack these British troops in this redoubt without them finding us coming. And he's afraid his guys are gonna fire their guns before they get there. So they're gonna attack in the middle of the night, and they've got to sneak. And he tells them, okay, you've got to not load your muzzles. You you've got to take the bullets out of your guns, and we're just gonna go in with our bayonet.

SPEAKER_02

Attack my bullets.

SPEAKER_01

Leonard Skinner, baby. That's good. I was the one going through my head was from Hamilton, take the bullets at the gun, take the bullets at the gun. I'm not gonna get it. Anyway, but so they do. They they actually attack with guns with no bullets in them, and they're just fighting with bayonets. I can't imagine what that's like. Like, I mean, war is gruesome, hand-to-hand combat is disgusting, but to I mean just attacking with unloaded guns with just the crazy.

SPEAKER_02

But they do what was the path? There was a password. This is a quiz. This is a quiz. We have said it already on this episode. The password is what was the password that the American troop used for this assault on the redoubt, the the British redoubts?

SPEAKER_01

The password. Roshembo. And so I think it was it like Rush em boys or rush on boys?

SPEAKER_02

Rush on boys, yeah. Roshembo, Rush on Boys. Um, yeah, so I'm uh as you as you're talking, and I'm I'm sitting here scanning through this, so again, to paint the picture, the the um the trenches the Americans drink ding were parallel, and I'm assuming that means parallel to the fort, and then they would move up, they'd try and get closer and dig parallel again, and the next one they wanted it said it was 400 yards closer, and they couldn't run the trench laterally far enough to get to the water because the redoubts came out. Yep. As long as the redoubts came out, the British were able to fortify, send troops out on the think of like a spoke coming out of the fort, they could get um troops and and supplies there. So the only way we could accomplish what we wanted and prevent the British troops from fortifying those redoubts was to take it, and that's you know, that's what you said, taking it literally stealthily in the middle of the night. Um crazy. That's a tough one.

SPEAKER_01

So at this point, they they take that and they're able to get their next uh parallel trench dug and they set up and they're they're just at this point total siege, total shutdown of the fort. The British really have nowhere to go, and there are 8,000 troops just stuck, right? And so eventually Cornwallis has to has to surrender, right? And so they're kind of negotiating terms back and forth, and that's where uh this is and it's this is October 17th, four years to the day of the Battle of Saratoga.

unknown

Wow.

SPEAKER_01

And Cornwallis has to surrender. And Washington says, you know what? And it does by this time old eggs Benedict is on the wrong side of the battle. The wrong way. But Washington says, you know what, we're gonna make you surrender with the same humiliating terms you make us surrender. So they have to take down their flag, they have to case it, fold it up and and and put it in casing, and like come out and surrender their flag to the troops. And Cornwallis is just like, he can't do it. And so he pretends he's sick and he's like, I I can't do this. And he sends out his second in command, leading these 8,000 troops marching in between the French and American troops to come out. And then his second in command, kind of to slight Washington, goes to Rochambeau and tries to deliver his flag to Rochambeau. Dirty dog. And Rochambeau's like, not gonna happen, sorry, sir, he's your man, and points to Washington. And so this guy comes over to Washington and tries to surrender the flag to Washington, and Washington says, No, I don't think so. You're gonna go to my second in command. If Cornwallis isn't man enough to come out and surrender, I'm not gonna take it from you. And he makes him go to General Lincoln, was the next in command. But just crazy. Like, and and here it is. I mean, Cornwallis and Washington have been kind of you know, over and over, back and forth battles, kind of cat and mouse. Um back in uh New York, I I think it was um was it Long Island when Cornwallis had an opportunity to capture Washington, they decide, oh we'll we'll get him in the morning. And that's when Washington does the escape, and just all the ways that the thin threads these things play together. It's just crazy. But here you are with 8,000 troops surrendering, and this moment is kind of I mean, this isn't just eight, this is like the the the lead part, the heart of the the British Army. And so it's over. Like that moment is it's a realization that that America's gonna win. They send notice back to Britain, and you said it was three weeks until it got back.

SPEAKER_02

It was uh five weeks. Five weeks. So the battle ended on October 17th and 19th, and the the notification reached Britain Parliament the end of November, so like November 29th, so cl close to that. And um yeah, I changed my notes, but uh Lord Yeah, but Lord North was the prime minister. Lord North reads it and it's over, yeah, it's all over. I don't know why that's funny. To me, I can just it's like that's a realization. They don't know what to expect again. It's not instant feedback, they're just they're sitting there and wonder what happened last month in this battle. And they get the notification it's over.

SPEAKER_01

And Cornwallis was like he was British aristocracy. He was he was like high level. I mean, again, that was the idea if if they could capture Washington, it would be the end, or if we capture Cornwallis. And for those of you i i you know i some of you might have seen the the musical hamilton i i thought this was interesting as the british surrender they have their their drummers or band or whatever play this tune called the world turned upside down which ends up being a song in Hamilton i i had no idea that that was a real song back then it's clearly not the same song but they that was their surrender song the world turned upside down and that was really how Britain sang right I mean Britain was the world power and to be beat by this ragtag it literally did think about the world upside down about the world today and what it would have been like if America wasn't America that was a pretty prophetic song so I know we skipped a ton of battles but we tried to have ones that come together and when you look at the things we talked about with the the battles in New York and then just a heads up I I was looking here it was how was the British general in the Battle of Long Island. But but I think Cornwallis Cornwallis was overseeing yes I think Cornwallis was the one who was supposed to go capture him correct yeah but um but yeah the you have the battles in New York you have the battle of Saratoga you have the winner at Valley Forge all these things that led to the French alliance and the French Navy if the French Navy weren't involved in this that siege at Yorktown never happens.

SPEAKER_02

Rochambeau's not there like there's a lot of French coming through in the clutch it's quite I would like to see re France return to return to that to have military power again. Yeah oh but all of those things come together at Yorktown and then you said it ends up being uh two years later September 3rd 1783 the British formally recognize American independence at the Treaty of Paris but what an amazing story yeah yeah and I keep saying I movies how can there not be a movie on the Battle of York there were so many I everything we've talked about every episode we've done could be a movie maybe we could start maybe we gotta talk to some people here um it's it's just guys man we this country I have no doubt was divinely formed we were raised up and brought out of the situation where we were in only through divine providence. The founders the majority of our founders were Christian men faith and belief in Christ we have that's we have a whole nother set of episodes we can get into on that and I don't think we today I know we don't we just don't understand we we don't we don't know it we don't want to learn it. Unfortunately I think we have an education system and um a lot of people in the media and even in the government that don't want us to know it. Because if if if we don't have pride in who we are and how we were founded then there's nothing to protect.

SPEAKER_01

I mean I don't want to go too deep into it but you were talking about the Howerton podcast with Tim Barton and I was just listening to the part where they were talking about the Marxist ideology that has kind of infiltrated our educational system. And it it actually it was at the time that Hitler was taking power in Germany you had kind of the Nazis and the Marxists and they were kind of going back and forth and neither are good, right? But Hitler chases out the Marxists and they go to Columbia University, a group of them these scholars go to Columbia University and they start setting up and from that point on if you start looking at if you read history from the 1950s 60s and later a lot of the educational material is kind of anti-founding of America or negative toward the founding anything before that it revered the founders and appreciated what they did. And were they perfect men? Absolutely not we're all flawed right and that was one of the things I loved about Howard then he was talking about well look at biblical heroes right I mean whether it's Paul or David or the apolog I mean we all fall. We're all fallen people but that doesn't mean that these founders weren't used by God in amazing ways to benefit not just their families and their lives or people by them but for generations.

SPEAKER_02

And we're yeah they were great men yeah it doesn't mean they weren't great men oh I see what you're saying you're saying it doesn't mean they weren't great men I was trying to finish you thought sorry it's not that they weren't great men but the fact that they were flawed as everybody is correct doesn't mean that they weren't great men. They were and they served a divine purpose no no doubt about it.

SPEAKER_01

Amen and very thankful um as I as we've walked through this I just so filled with gratitude for certainly the founders and the names we know but I think what struck me is how many of the names I didn't know yeah and there's so many more that I'll never know but that risk their unnamed soldiers fortunes and sacred honors for us to be able to be here today 250 years later celebrating the birth of you know what there's a pretty cool car out in that parking lot honoring can you see it Bethany honoring America this man. I love it. I was falling behind you today and uh just the way you have the bumper set up where you've got 1776 and then 2026 on the right side and the two flags underneath um it's just so cool. Yeah I just you know I was thinking about this as I was driving down here because you lots of people look right that car gets attention and I'm like man am I doing this just to show off just to get attention and the answer is yes I am doing it to get attention not to show off but I'm doing it to draw attention to America to the semi quincentennial to the prices that were paid again think about the quotes I had you just referenced I have if they mean to have war let it begin here and then have that closing line of declaration of independence it ends with mutually pledge our lives our fortunes our sacred honor but it starts with you know under the the divine providence um yeah so I want people to see it absolutely it's out there for a reason yeah it's good so we are um I oh I I think we're gonna shift just a little bit our next episode we're gonna be talking about the constitution and how you define freedom and getting into the Bill of Rights and and we're gonna celebrate America we're gonna party like it's 2026 or 1776 or 1783. I don't know what we're partying like but one of those great dates so all right uh God bless you guys remember we are truly doing this because we want to be people of impact and that impact is ultimately impacting people for Christ impacting the world for Christ we want to be people of impact we want to help create people of impact and in creating people of impact hopefully we've created you to be people that want to go out and research this for yourselves not just take things we've said but dive into this learn it read about it watch some of these good shows and then share with other people because we need to be impactful in returning the pride of the the great nation we've been given um respect it honor it and continue to protect and grow God bless this is the threat economy reminding you that faith looks up hope looks ahead and love looks all around to see whom it can help good day