Cornwallis Returning to Yorktown, Wants Rematch

A descendant of the man defeated by Washington at Yorktown will be present at the 225th anniversary celebration to be held there next week.

"I'm very pleased to do that," said Fiennes Stanley Wykeham Cornwallis, the Right Honorable Lord Cornwallis. "I'm very proud."

Cornwallis, 85, a former member of the House of Lords, will be a guest at formal anniversary ceremonies in Yorktown on Thursday.

In a telephone interview, Cornwallis joked that he has a "parental responsibility" to American citizens because of his ancestor's important role in giving the country independence from British rule. [Link]

As a proud American and descendant of a soldier who witnessed the surrender of Cornwallis, I am supremely grateful that the British "gave" us independence. I only wish they had done so earlier so we wouldn't have had to whup their tea-swilling arses so soundly.