Pencil on paper. Digital Collections, American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, PA.
This is a drawing of the famous woolly mammoth that Charles Willson Peale recovered in Newburgh, New York, and exhibited in his museum. Missing bones were carved by William Rush and missing portions of the head were sculpted using papier-mâché. (A second mammoth skeleton was also recovered in Newburgh; Rembrandt Peale brought these to London for exhibition.)
[Major General Henry] Knox proudly stepped aside on Tuesday, October 9 [1781] to allow Washington the honor of igniting the bore hole of a heavy siege gun and ceremoniously discharging the first shot from the American battery at Yorktown. The shell was clearly visible as it streaked across the sky and land with precision within the British compound, setting off cheers throughout the American ranks. The Continental artillery corps then continued an uninterrupted stream of fire that produced a relentless, unnerving, and deafening roar. Cornwallis would later recall: The fire continued incessant from heavy cannon, and from mortars and howitzers throwing shells from 8 to 16 inches, until all our guns on the left were silenced, our work much damaged, and our loss of men considerable