A250 – America’s Semiquincentennial – A Year of Reflection

From the Desk of Chuck Fuller, CEO, The Results Company

 
Happy New Year to you and your family! 

This day marks the beginning of A250 – America’s semiquincentennial. As you begin the year anew, it’s my privilege to share with you some light thoughts about our national history and heritage. 

Before I start a history review, let me say how much I love our country! I never want to forget what a gift it is. This also makes me reflect on what’s at the center of my life. Rick Warren explains it like this: “The truth is, you’re going to center your life around something. You may center it around your career, your family, or your hobbies. You may focus on making money or being popular… Ask yourself this: ‘What’s going to be the center of my life for the rest of my life?’ It’s the most important thing you will ever have to decide.”

As we celebrate the upcoming year, know that I’ll be grateful to live in a country that allows me to make this decision. I have the opportunity, and I want to make the right choice too.

***

On this day 250 years ago, as the afternoon sun cast long shadows in the streets of Norfolk, VA, a British fleet opened fire on the waterfront. 

It was the culmination of a nearly month-long standoff. Patriot forces chased British troops into the city after the Battle of Great Bridge in early December, and the British retreated onto their flotilla in the harbor. The British were unwilling to abandon Virginia but unable to sit on their boats forever without resupplying themselves from the city. The Patriots patrolled the waterfront, denying the British access to fresh water and food. 

Matters came to a head on Jan. 1, 1776. The British fleet opened fire on the city to give cover for landing parties to make it to shore. The Patriots faced a dilemma: They didn’t have enough troops to hold Norfolk in a protracted battle, but they didn’t want the critical port city to fall into British control.

So the Patriots burned Norfolk to the ground.

It was one of the most important ports on the East Coast, and we burned it down. It’s a sign of everything that happened before 1776 and a warning of the brutality that would characterize the next seven years until the war ended in 1783. 

As we enter 2026 and begin our 250th anniversary celebrations, let us take time to remember the difficulty of the years leading up to the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the years following for the people residing in what would become our great country, the United States of America.

In the book, “Our First Civil War,” H.W. Brands reframes the American Revolution not just as a war for independence from Britain, but as a brutal internal conflict – an actual civil war between American Patriots and Loyalists (Tories) who were often family, neighbors, and friends. Brands explores how neighbors chose sides and the bitter divisions that split communities and families. The book highlights the internal struggles, the motivations for choosing loyalty to the Crown or rebellion, and the devastating impact on those caught in the middle – often viewing one another as traitors.

This battle for the future of our country, not to mention its heart and soul, lasted for a long time – far longer than just the calendar year 1776. It involved everyone from children to grandparents, armies to militias.

The last battle was also fought in Virginia from September 28 to October 19, 1781. 

According to the Battlefield Trust, the Battle of Yorktown proved to be the decisive engagement of the American Revolution. After a three-week siege in which they suffered heavy losses, British troops were outnumbered and outmatched, leading to their surrender to the Continental Army and their French allies. This final major land battle of the American Revolution led to peace negotiations with the British and to the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783.

After six years of war, both the British and Continental armies were exhausted. The British, in hostile territory, held only a few coastal areas in America. On the other side of the Atlantic, Britain was also waging a global war with France and Spain. The American conflict was unpopular and divisive, and there was no end in sight. For the colonies, the long struggle for independence was leading to enormous debt, food shortages, and a lack of morale among the soldiers. Both sides were desperately seeking a definitive victory.

General George Washington and his Continental Army had a decision to make in the spring of 1781. They could strike a decisive blow to the British in New York City or aim for the south, in Yorktown, Virginia, where Gen. Charles Lord Cornwallis’s troops were garrisoned.  The Allied armies marched hundreds of miles from their headquarters north of New York City to Yorktown, making theirs the largest troop movement of the American Revolution. They surprised the British in a siege that turned the tide toward an American victory in the War for Independence.

American forces in the battle totaled 19,900, outnumbering the 9,000 British.
The Americans suffered 88 killed and 301 wounded. No American soldier was missing or taken prisoner. British troops suffered 142 killed, 326 wounded, and 7,416 missing and captured.

The world truly changes that day as the military operations of the War for Independence come to an end.

***

Fast-forward 250 years, and we still have conflict today. 

As we begin this 250-year anniversary, remember that the American experiment was born in disagreement so profound that people were willing to sacrifice everything for what they believed the future should be. And second, that the endurance of that experiment has always depended on our ability to argue without destroying one another.

What distinguishes this day from Jan. 1, 1776, is not the presence of conflict, but the absence of violence – and that is no small achievement.

Let us celebrate our 250th anniversary like never before. And let us also ask ourselves: What’s going to be the center of my life for the rest of my life?

With much gratitude and respect,

Charles F. Fuller
CEO, The Results Company