British forces surrendered at the Siege of Yorktown on October 19, 1781.
The siege took place in Yorktown, Virginia, where General George Washington’s Continental Army joined French forces commanded by the Comte de Rochambeau. The allied army surrounded the British army led by Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis.
French naval power was crucial. The fleet commanded by the Comte de Grasse blocked British reinforcement and escape routes through the Chesapeake Bay. After American and French troops captured key outer defenses and intensified their artillery bombardment, Cornwallis’s position became untenable.
Cornwallis requested surrender terms on October 17, and negotiations followed. He did not attend the ceremony, claiming illness; Brigadier General Charles O’Hara represented him. Major General Benjamin Lincoln accepted the sword on Washington’s behalf. Yorktown was the final major land engagement of the Revolutionary War, although the Treaty of Paris formally ended the war in 1783.