Worksheet # 40          Home Questions Puzzle Links Next

VICTORY AT YORKTOWN

Now with France in the game, the patriots cheered,

With hearts and full hopes that victory neared.

Yet grueling battles raged on, with wins and with losses,

As a tempest brings always its turns and its tosses.

But in 1780, in far southern regions,

Things soured for England and her tiring legions.

Indeed, they had counted on far greater support

From those with a loyalty of a pro-British sort.

While the patriot Generals, Morgan and Greene,

Proved skilled in the warfare of woodland and stream.

Where they could better maneuver, and hound and harass

The Brit’s finest of troops. . . which did surely embarrass.

And with the might of French forces now by his side,

A chance came for Washington this whole war to decide.

-- He asked the French navy to fence in the waters

Of The Chesapeake Bay and all of its quarters.

And with French infantry to now add to their ranks,

The Rebs marched on Virginia and her harbor banks.

Where British troops in the south were thusly cut off

From all hope of rescue and, at last, said, “Enough.”

And as England gave in at the port of Yorktown,

Their band played a true tune: “The World turned Upside Down.”

To be sure, there were scrapes for another few years,

As Brits hoped to keep hold of their holdings most dear.

But the king’s reign had ended, and all did declare this,

When they signed on the line The Treaty of Paris.
‘Twas year 1783 and how spirits did soar,

Knowing they had won The Revolutionary War.

-- Though it were seasons of hell for brave men and boys,

Those first cries from Boston gave birth to great joys.

By their daring and dash, and the pluck they had shown,

They were Americans now, in a land of their own.