The British surrender at Yorktown was signed on October 19, 1781.
British General Charles Cornwallis surrendered his army at Yorktown, Virginia, after American and French forces surrounded the town during the Yorktown campaign. George Washington commanded the combined American army, while French troops under the Comte de Rochambeau supported the operation. French naval control of the Chesapeake Bay prevented Cornwallis from receiving effective relief or escaping by sea.
The surrender did not legally end the war, but it effectively ended major fighting in North America. Political support for continuing the conflict weakened in Britain, and peace negotiations followed. The final peace settlement was the Treaty of Paris, signed in 1783.
A famous ceremonial detail is often misunderstood: Cornwallis did not personally attend the surrender ceremony, reportedly citing illness. His second-in-command, General Charles O'Hara, presented the British sword. The date also differs from October 17, when Burgoyne surrendered at Saratoga in 1777, another turning point in the war.