On what date did British forces surrender at Yorktown, a turning point remembered by America250?

British forces surrendered at Yorktown on October 19, 1781, a turning point remembered in the Revolutionary War history behind America250. Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis surrendered his army to combined American and French forces.

The siege began in late September after Cornwallis established his army at Yorktown, Virginia. General George Washington commanded the American army, while the French fleet’s victory in the Battle of the Chesapeake blocked British naval relief. American and French troops then tightened the land siege and captured key defensive positions.

Yorktown did not legally end the war immediately. Fighting and negotiations continued, and the final peace settlement came with the Treaty of Paris in 1783. However, the surrender badly damaged British political support for continuing the conflict and is widely treated as the war’s decisive military conclusion.