Storming the Redoubt at Yorktown

For four years Alexander Hamilton had been one of Washington's aides, writing letters while other young officers led men in battle. He wanted a field command badly enough to leave the staff in early 1781 and keep asking until he got one: a battalion of light infantry under Lafayette.

His chance came at Yorktown on October 14, 1781. Two British redoubts, Nos. 9 and 10, blocked the allied siege lines, and Washington ordered both taken at night. The American attack was first given to Lafayette's aide, Colonel Gimat. Hamilton argued it was his by seniority, took his case to Washington, and won.

About 400 men went in after dark with muskets unloaded, so no nervous shot could give them away. Pioneers hacked through the sharpened timber, the column went over the parapet with the bayonet, and John Laurens swung around to cut off the garrison. The redoubt fell in less than ten minutes, at a cost of 9 Americans killed and 25 wounded.

The painting puts the young officer at the top of the parapet, sword raised, his men coming over the wall behind him on fixed bayonets and the wounded down among the rocks at the right.