For America250’s Revolutionary War timeline, on what date did the British surrender at Yorktown?

For America250’s Revolutionary War timeline, the British surrender at Yorktown occurred on October 19, 1781.

The allied American and French forces had surrounded the British army commanded by General Charles Cornwallis at Yorktown, Virginia. George Washington led the American army, while French troops and naval forces helped block British escape and reinforcement.

Cornwallis requested capitulation terms on October 17. After two days of negotiations, the surrender ceremony took place on October 19. Cornwallis did not attend, claiming illness; Charles O’Hara led the British troops and formally offered the sword of Cornwallis’s deputy.

Yorktown was the final major land engagement of the American Revolutionary War. Fighting continued elsewhere, especially at sea, but the surrender led to peace negotiations and eventually the Treaty of Paris in 1783.