On what date did George Washington accept Cornwallis's surrender at Yorktown?

George Washington accepted Cornwallis's surrender at Yorktown on October 19, 1781.

The British army under General Charles Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, Virginia, after American and French forces surrounded the town during the siege. Washington commanded the combined American army, while French troops and the French fleet helped block British escape and reinforcement.

Cornwallis did not personally attend the surrender ceremony, citing illness. His deputy, General Charles O'Hara, presented Cornwallis's sword to Washington, who directed O'Hara to surrender to Benjamin Lincoln, the American officer who had surrendered at Charleston the previous year.

The Yorktown victory did not legally end the war. Fighting and diplomatic negotiations continued, but British political support for a large-scale continuation weakened sharply. The Treaty of Paris, signed in 1783, formally recognized American independence and ended the conflict.