美国人参战以赢得英国的独立。在列克星敦和康科德的战斗爆发仅仅几周后，美国大陆会议任命乔治·华盛顿为“美国自由捍卫”总司令。无与伦比的美军经常撤退，但又重新参加战斗，挫败了英国镇压叛乱的努力。美国在约克镇的惊人胜利最终削弱了英国的战斗意愿，并在1783年，双方签署了《巴黎条约》。美国赢得了独立。
200年后的1981年10月，在弗吉尼亚州约克镇（Yorktown）的百年纪念活动中，我亲眼目睹美国人再次穿着色彩鲜艳的乔治·华盛顿（George Washington）大陆军制服，以及民兵部队和最初的13个殖民地的守卫。他们重新制定了战斗，最终赢得了我们的独立，观众可以体验到战斗的声音，气味和感觉。成千上万的观众回到了我们的祖先为捍卫自由和建立新国家而奋斗的时代。
Americans went to war to win their independence from Great Britain. Just weeks after fighting broke out at Lexington and Concord, the Continental Congress appointed George Washington commander in chief of an army “for the Defense of American Liberty.” Outmatched American troops often retreated, but returned to fight again, frustrating British efforts to crush the rebellion. A stunning American victory at Yorktown finally sapped Britain’s will to fight, and in 1783, both parties signed the Treaty of Paris. America had won its independence.
Two hundred years later, during the bicentennial events at Yorktown, Virginia, in October 1981, I witnessed Americans again dressed in the brightly colored uniforms of George Washington’s Continental Army, as well as those of militia units and guards of the original Thirteen Colonies. They reenacted the battles that finally won our independence, and spectators were able to experience the sounds, the smells, and the feel of the battle. It took thousands of spectators back in time to give us all a small glimpse into the era when our forefathers fought to secure our freedoms and form a new nation.
