Which 1781 battle produced the last major British surrender of the American Revolutionary War?

The Siege of Yorktown produced the last major British surrender of the American Revolutionary War. British General Charles Cornwallis surrendered his army to American and French forces on October 19, 1781.

The allied army, commanded by George Washington and French General Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau, trapped Cornwallis’s troops on the Virginia peninsula. French naval forces also blocked British assistance by defeating or preventing relief efforts at sea.

American and French troops gradually tightened the siege, captured key positions, and used artillery to bombard the British defenses. Cornwallis, whose army was surrounded and running short of supplies, opened surrender negotiations. He did not attend the formal ceremony, sending Brigadier General Charles O’Hara in his place.

Yorktown did not legally end the war immediately. Fighting and negotiations continued for some time, and the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783. Nevertheless, the surrender convinced British political leaders that continuing the war was too costly and helped bring the conflict toward a final peace settlement.