The British army surrendered at the Siege of Yorktown on October 19, 1781.
American and French forces surrounded the British position in Yorktown, Virginia, during the final major land engagement of the American Revolutionary War. George Washington commanded the Continental Army, while French troops were led by the Comte de Rochambeau. A French fleet under the Comte de Grasse blocked British relief by sea.
British commander Charles Cornwallis requested terms on October 17 after the allied bombardment made his position untenable. The formal surrender ceremony took place two days later. Cornwallis claimed illness and did not attend; Charles O’Hara represented him and surrendered the sword to Benjamin Lincoln after Washington and Rochambeau declined the gesture.
Yorktown did not end every military action immediately, but it made a negotiated peace likely. The Treaty of Paris, signed in 1783, formally ended the war and recognized the United States as independent.