Which 1781 siege ended with the surrender of British General Charles Cornwallis?

The Siege of Yorktown ended with the surrender of British General Charles Cornwallis in 1781. American and French forces compelled the surrender at Yorktown, Virginia, on October 19, 1781.

George Washington commanded the allied army, while French General Rochambeau led important French troops. French naval forces under the Comte de Grasse blocked British relief by defeating the British fleet at the Battle of the Chesapeake. This prevented Cornwallis’s army from escaping or receiving effective reinforcement by sea.

The allied army surrounded Yorktown and used artillery and trenches to tighten the siege. Washington’s forces captured key British defensive positions, including Redoubts 9 and 10, during a nighttime assault on October 14. Cornwallis’s position then became untenable.

Yorktown was the last major land campaign of the American Revolutionary War, although fighting and diplomacy continued afterward. Cornwallis did not personally attend the surrender ceremony; his deputy, Charles O’Hara, presented his sword. The Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783, formally ending the war and recognizing American independence.