Siege of Yorktown

28 September to 19 October 1781

American/French Victory

Continental forces, led by General George Washington, and French forces, led by Lt. Gen. Jean-Baptiste de Rochambeau, formed an allied Army of 8,845 Continentals and militia and 7,800 French Regulars and Marines. The allies began siege operations against Yorktown, Virginia, where General Lord Charles Cornwallis’s army was entrenched. The Battle of the Virginia Capes between France and England in early September and prevented Cornwallis from being resupplied or evacuated. The lack of the British navy left Cornwallis to battle the combined force alone. The Allies constructed the first parallel of trench and bombarded the British fortifications. On 14 October, Washington sent two columns to capture the last major British outer defenses at Redoubts 9 and 10. The British situation deteriorated as the Allies pushed their guns closer. On 17 October, Cornwallis asked for 1000capitulation terms and surrendered his command of about 8,000 men, ending all British hopes for victory in America.

So far as active campaigning was concerned Yorktown ended the war, though neither side realized it at the time. Both Washington and General Nathanael Greene maintained their armies in positions near New York and Charleston for nearly two years more, but with only some minor skirmishing in the south. Cornwallis’ defeat led to the resignation of the British Cabinet and the formation of a new government that decided the war in America was lost. With some success, Britain devoted its energies to trying to salvage what it could in the West Indies and in India. The independence for which Americans had fought thus virtually became a reality when Cornwallis’ command marched out of its breached defenses at Yorktown.

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