For America250, which battle ended with Cornwallis’s British army surrendering in 1781?

For America250, the Battle of Yorktown ended with Cornwallis’s British army surrendering in 1781.

The Yorktown campaign culminated on October 19, 1781, when Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis surrendered his army to the allied forces commanded by George Washington and the French general Rochambeau. French naval power helped prevent British relief, while American and French troops surrounded the British position in Virginia.

Yorktown did not instantly produce a peace treaty, and fighting continued in other locations. However, the surrender was a decisive military and political turning point. It convinced many British leaders that continuing the war was too costly and strengthened the case for negotiations.

The Treaty of Paris, signed in 1783, formally ended the American Revolutionary War and recognized the independence of the United States. Saratoga was another major American victory, but it occurred in 1777 and mainly helped secure French support. Yorktown is the battle most directly associated with the war’s decisive surrender.