On what date did Lord Cornwallis’s army surrender at Yorktown during the American Revolution?

Lord Cornwallis’s army surrendered at Yorktown on October 19, 1781. The surrender followed a Franco-American siege that trapped the British force on Virginia’s York Peninsula.

George Washington commanded the Continental Army, working with French troops led by the Comte de Rochambeau. French naval forces under the Comte de Grasse blocked British relief by sea after the Battle of the Chesapeake, making Cornwallis’s position increasingly difficult to sustain.

The allied army opened its siege lines in late September and captured key British defenses during the night attack of October 14. Cornwallis requested terms on October 17, and the formal surrender ceremony took place two days later.

Yorktown was the final major land engagement of the American Revolutionary War, but fighting did not stop everywhere immediately. Negotiations continued until the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783, formally recognizing American independence.