The Battle of Yorktown, together with the surrounding siege, produced the British surrender that ended major fighting in the American Revolution.
American and French forces trapped Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis’s army at Yorktown, Virginia, in the autumn of 1781. General George Washington commanded the allied army, while French naval support helped prevent British relief. Cornwallis surrendered on October 19, 1781.
The surrender did not instantly create a peace treaty or end every military activity. Fighting and negotiations continued afterward, but Yorktown made continued British prosecution of the war politically and militarily difficult. The Treaty of Paris, signed in 1783, formally ended the war and recognized American independence.
The battle is sometimes called the Siege of Yorktown because the operation included weeks of encirclement and bombardment. “Battle of Yorktown” is the standard short answer for the decisive 1781 victory associated with the Revolution’s conclusion.