On what date did the British army surrender at Yorktown, a decisive event in America250 history?

The British army surrendered at Yorktown on October 19, 1781, after the final major land campaign of the American Revolutionary War.

American and French forces commanded by George Washington and the Comte de Rochambeau surrounded the British position led by Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis. French naval control of Chesapeake Bay blocked effective British relief and helped trap Cornwallis’s army.

The allied siege began in late September. American and French troops dug parallel trenches toward the British defenses, and attacks on Redoubts 9 and 10 brought their artillery close enough to make the position untenable.

Cornwallis did not attend the surrender ceremony, citing illness. Charles O’Hara represented him, and Major General Benjamin Lincoln accepted the British sword on Washington’s behalf. Fighting continued elsewhere, but Yorktown led directly to peace negotiations.