The Siege of Yorktown was the final major land engagement of the American Revolutionary War.
The siege took place in Virginia from September 28 to October 19, 1781. American and French forces commanded by George Washington and the Comte de Rochambeau surrounded the British army led by Charles Cornwallis. French naval power helped prevent British relief or escape by sea.
Cornwallis’s army surrendered on October 19, after allied troops captured key defensive positions and completed a second parallel close to the British lines. More than 7,000 British soldiers were captured. The victory did not instantly end every military action, but it made continued British prosecution of the war politically difficult.
Peace negotiations followed, leading to the Treaty of Paris in 1783. That treaty formally recognized American independence. Yorktown is therefore a crucial military event in the chain from the Revolutionary War to the independent nation whose 250th anniversary America250 commemorates.