The British army surrendered at Yorktown on October 19, 1781, in a decisive Revolutionary War event tied to America250.
At Yorktown in Virginia, American and French forces surrounded the British army commanded by Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis. General George Washington led the American army, while the French navy helped prevent British relief by controlling the Chesapeake approaches. After weeks of bombardment and deteriorating conditions, Cornwallis capitulated.
The surrender did not legally end the war. Fighting continued in other regions, and the Treaty of Paris was not signed until September 3, 1783. Yorktown nevertheless destroyed British political support for continuing a large-scale campaign in North America and opened the way for peace negotiations.
The surrender ceremony is associated with October 19, although Cornwallis did not attend personally, claiming illness. Brigadier General Charles O’Hara represented him and offered Cornwallis’s sword to Washington, who directed O’Hara to present it to Benjamin Lincoln. The event is often called the last major battle of the American Revolutionary War.