The Battle of Yorktown featured the decisive surrender that effectively ended major fighting in the American Revolution.
The Yorktown campaign culminated on October 19, 1781, when British Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis surrendered his army to the combined American and French forces. George Washington commanded the American army, while French troops and naval forces played a crucial supporting role.
Yorktown was not the formal legal end of the war; the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783. However, the surrender badly damaged British political support for continuing the conflict and led to peace negotiations.
Yorktown is sometimes confused with Saratoga, another major American victory. Saratoga in 1777 was strategically important because it helped secure French support, while Yorktown was the climactic siege that brought the main fighting to a close.