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Secondary sourceSculpture1884

Yorktown Victory Monument

Richard Morris Hunt · 1884

A tall marble monument at Yorktown commemorating the 1781 victory and the French alliance, including Rochambeau's role, that ended the American Revolutionary War.

This monument commemorates the French alliance at Yorktown, in which Rochambeau commanded the French land forces.

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A tall white marble column monument on a grassy lawn under blue sky with clouds. A female figure with outstretched arm stands atop a Corinthian capital. Carved relief panels and inscriptions decorate the base, and a wreath is on the front. Two visitors stand at the right.
Yorktown Victory Monument, Yorktown, Virginia, 1884. Designed by Richard Morris Hunt.

About this source

What it is

The Yorktown Victory Monument stands in Colonial National Historical Park in Yorktown, Virginia. It was designed by Richard Morris Hunt and installed in 1884, fulfilling a resolution passed by the Continental Congress in 1781. A sculpted figure originally by John Quincy Adams Ward topped the column until it was destroyed by lightning in 1942 and later replaced.

Why it matters

The monument honours the American victory at Yorktown and the alliance with France, which included forces led by Rochambeau and the fleet under de Grasse. It shows how the United States chose, a century later, to publicly remember the French contribution to its independence.

Look closer

  • Why did it take about a hundred years to build a monument that Congress ordered right after the victory?
  • What does the choice of a figure of Liberty or Victory atop the column suggest about the message the monument was meant to send?
  • Whose names and roles might be missing from a monument like this?

This sculpture is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Primary source

Articles of Capitulation, Yorktown

Charles Cornwallis; George Washington; Comte de Rochambeau; Comte de Barras · 19 October 1781

Scan of a handwritten two-column manuscript on aged, browned paper. The left column is in English under the heading 'Treaty of Alliance', and the right column is in French under 'Traité d'alliance eventuelle et défensive'. The text opens by naming the Most Christian King and the United States of North America.Document

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Treaty of Alliance with France

6 February 1778

Photograph of the back cover of a book bound in red leather at the spine and corners, with dark blue, black, and tan marbled paper covering the boards. The marbled pattern shows swirling circular shapes.Book

Primary source

Mémoires militaires, historiques et politiques de Rochambeau

comte de Rochambeau · 1809

Oval oil portrait of an older man with powdered gray hair, looking toward the viewer, wearing a dark cloak with gold braided trim, a white cravat, pink garment beneath, and a large embroidered star-shaped order insignia on his chest, set in a gold frame against a dark background.Painting

Primary source

Portrait of Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau

Charles Willson Peale · 1782

Large painting of a battlefield scene with a grey, stormy sky. On the left, British redcoat troops stand in lines beside a white flag. On the right, American troops in blue and buff stand beside a striped flag. In the center, a mounted commander on a white horse, with a figure in red uniform walking in front, faces the lines.Painting

Secondary source

Surrender of Lord Cornwallis

John Trumbull · 1819

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