OLD YORKTOWN AND ITS HISTORY



            MONUMENT MARKING PLACE OF SURRENDER.
he visited Yorktown in 1824. Scotch Tom Nelson's house stood
on the opposite side of the street from the Nelson House and was
shelled down during the siege. His office stood in good condi-
tion until two years ago, when it was burned. The Nelson heirs
owned this place until 1907, when it was sold to Mr. Joseph
Bryan, of Richmond. It is now owned by Captain George P.
Blow, of LaSalle, Ill., a retired naval officer and a Virginian by
birth.  In the gable end of the house can be seen a hole
made by the ball fired by Governor Thomas Nelson when it
furnished refuge for the enemy. Governor Nelson was a signer
of the Declaration of Independence, war governor, and conm-
manded the Virginia militia during the Revolutionary War.
When a boy of fourteen years he was sent to Eton and afterwards
to Cambridge, where he graduated with high honors. In 1761
he returned home and was made a member of the House of Bur-
gesses through the influence of his family.
  The monument which stands to-day in Yorktown was built
to commemorate the victory of the Revolution. In 1781 the
first Congress which met after the Revolutionary War adopted
resolutions ordering one hundred thousand dollars to be appro-
priated to build a monument in Yorktown to commemorate the
victory of the Americans.



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