The Siege of Yorktown forced the British surrender that effectively ended major fighting in the American Revolution.
American and French forces surrounded the British army at Yorktown, Virginia, in September and October 1781. General George Washington commanded the allied army, while French naval power helped prevent British relief by controlling the waters near the Chesapeake Bay.
British commander Charles Cornwallis surrendered on October 19, 1781. The defeat did not legally end the war; peace negotiations continued for nearly two years before the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783. However, the scale and political impact of the surrender made Yorktown the conflict’s decisive final campaign.
Yorktown is sometimes confused with Saratoga, an important American victory in 1777 that helped secure French support. Bunker Hill and Trenton were earlier engagements with different strategic consequences.