Military
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On October 29, 1781, just 10 days after the victory at Yorktown, the Continental Congress resolved that a marble column be erected at York in Virginia, adorned with emblems of the alliance between the United States and his Most Christian Majesty and inscribed with a succinct narrative of the surrender of Earl Cornwallis to General George Washington, the Count de Rochambeau, and the Count de Grasse. Funds for construction were not legislated until 1880, as the centennial anniversary of the battle approached. A congressional committee of legislators from the original 13 colonies delegated oversight of the project to the Secretary of War, who selected architects Richard M. Hunt and Henry Van Brunt and sculptor John Quincy Adams Ward to design it. The spirit of reconciliation after the Civil War shaped the design, reflected in the inscription, “One Country, One Constitution, One Destiny” on the shaft. On October 18, 1881, the cornerstone was dedicated during events marking the 100th anniversary of the siege.
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