Two hundred-forty-four years ago, a battle raged in this field. Soldiers attacked fortified redoubts and were successful. Trapped and cut off from supplies, the commander surrendered.

The reason the day is not lost to history as just another action in a long war is that the surrendering army was British and Americans were the victors. Thus — at Yorktown, VA — the primary action of the American Revolution ended.

The Military Park is quiet today. I’m sure wildlife romps without fear across the ground which once hosted gunfire, smoke, and blood. This group of trees has been witness to much — not the battle — but the decades since. Was the ground farmed? When did future-thinking people take action to purchase and then preserve the remnants which remained? Time to plan a return trip with more time to browse the museum exhibits.

Seven decades after the battle, on the eastern back on the Mississippi River, stood the fictional town of Elm Ridge, Illinois. Immigrants arrived each spring and summer to start a new life in America. Check out the sweet romance, New Dreams, for one story. Complete blurb is at the link: https://amzn.to/3vWydWE