On what date did British General Cornwallis surrender at the Siege of Yorktown?

British General Charles Cornwallis surrendered at the Siege of Yorktown on October 19, 1781.

American and French forces had surrounded Yorktown, Virginia, while a French naval victory in the Chesapeake Bay prevented British relief by sea. George Washington commanded the American army, working with French forces led by the Comte de Rochambeau and naval forces commanded by the Comte de Grasse.

After weeks of trenches and artillery bombardment, Cornwallis asked for capitulation terms on October 17. Negotiations followed, and the surrender ceremony took place two days later. Cornwallis did not attend, claiming illness; Charles O’Hara represented him and ultimately offered the sword to Benjamin Lincoln after Washington and Rochambeau declined to receive it personally.

More than 7,000 British and German troops became prisoners. Yorktown was the final major land engagement of the Revolutionary War, although fighting at sea continued and the peace treaty was still nearly two years away. The surrender pushed Britain toward negotiations that produced the Treaty of Paris in 1783.