The surrender articles at Yorktown were signed on October 19, 1781. The capitulation ended the siege and forced the British army commanded by Charles Cornwallis to surrender to Franco-American forces.
George Washington led the Continental Army, while French troops under the Comte de Rochambeau supported the operation. French naval control near Chesapeake Bay helped prevent Cornwallis from receiving effective relief or escaping by sea.
Yorktown was the final major land engagement of the American Revolutionary War, but it did not immediately produce a peace treaty. Fighting and diplomatic negotiations continued after the surrender, and the Treaty of Paris was signed almost two years later, in 1783.
Another common confusion concerns the date of the siege itself. The siege began on September 28, 1781, while the formal surrender documents were signed on October 19. More than 7,000 British and German soldiers became prisoners.