The Siege of Yorktown, the last major land engagement of the American Revolutionary War, ended in 1781.
The siege took place in Virginia from September 28 to October 19, 1781. American forces under George Washington joined French troops led by the Comte de Rochambeau, while a French fleet helped prevent British reinforcement or escape by sea. They surrounded the British army commanded by Charles Cornwallis.
The allied forces captured key British outer defenses and intensified their artillery bombardment. Cornwallis requested capitulation terms on October 17, and the surrender ceremony took place two days later. More than 7,000 British soldiers were captured.
Yorktown did not instantly end every military action. Fighting continued at sea, and the final peace settlement came with the Treaty of Paris in 1783. Still, Yorktown is widely treated as the decisive final major land engagement because the British defeat made continued large-scale campaigning in North America politically difficult.