The Siege of Yorktown ended with British General Cornwallis’s surrender at Yorktown, Virginia, in 1781.
The siege began in late September after American and French forces converged on Cornwallis’s army. George Washington commanded the American forces, while French troops under the Comte de Rochambeau joined the operation. A French naval victory at the Battle of the Chesapeake helped prevent British forces from relieving Cornwallis by sea.
American and French engineers constructed siege lines and brought artillery close to the British defenses. After attacks captured key redoubts on October 14, the allied bombardment intensified. Cornwallis requested capitulation terms on October 17, and the surrender ceremony took place on October 19, 1781.
Cornwallis did not personally attend the ceremony, claiming illness. Brigadier General Charles O’Hara represented him and ultimately offered the sword to Benjamin Lincoln, Washington’s second-in-command. Yorktown was the last major land engagement of the Revolutionary War, although peace negotiations continued afterward.