God's Victory

Three days after French troops under the command of Jean Baptiste de Vimeur, Comte de Rochambeau, and the Marquis de Lafayette helped George Washington's ragged forces defeat the British Army, the men celebrated the formal surrender of Lord Cornwallis.  The British band played the popular song "The World Turned Upside Down" as they stacked up their arms. 

The last major fighting of the American War for Independence had somehow ended in a resounding American victory.  Washington and the others could not help but recognize God's hand in the victory. Indeed, it was when the American forces were at their weakest, that victory had finally come.  Accordingly, Washington issued orders to the army that "Divine service is to be performed in the several brigades and divisions. The commander-in-chief recommends that the troops not on duty should universally attend with that seriousness of deportment and gratitude of heart which the recognition of such reiterated and astonishing interpositions of Providence demand of us."

That celebration of God's good providence occurred on this day in 1781.