Redoubts 9 and 10

During the siege at Yorktown, the completion of the Allied Second Siege Line was blocked by two detached British earthen forts, Redoubts 9 and 10, located 400 yards in advance of the British Inner Defense Line. General George Washington considered frontal attacks against the British Inner Defense Line impractical and costly, but judged these two positions vulnerable and called upon the infantry to capture them. On October 14, 1781, Allied artillery bombarded Redoubts 9 and 10 for most of the day in preparation for American and French assaults. At about eight o’clock that evening, the artillery briefly fell silent, then several cannons fired together as the signal for the attacking columns to advance. That night the allied forces carried the two advanced redoubts by storm and incorporated them into their second parallel, leaving General Charles Lord Cornwallis in a very critical situation.

Virginia · United States