The Siege of Yorktown was the 1781 campaign that forced British General Charles Cornwallis to surrender during the American Revolution.
The siege took place in Virginia from September 28 to October 19, 1781. American forces under George Washington joined French troops commanded by the Comte de Rochambeau, while the French navy under the Comte de Grasse blocked British relief by sea. This combined land-and-sea operation trapped Cornwallis’s army at Yorktown.
American and French troops advanced siege lines and captured British outer redoubts on October 14. The closer artillery positions intensified the bombardment, leaving Cornwallis unable to defend or evacuate his position. He requested surrender terms on October 17, and the formal surrender ceremony occurred two days later.
Yorktown was the final major land engagement of the war in North America, although fighting continued elsewhere. The surrender led to peace negotiations and ultimately the Treaty of Paris in 1783, which recognized American independence.