The Siege of Yorktown is commonly considered the last major land battle of the American Revolutionary War.
American and French forces surrounded the British army commanded by General Charles Cornwallis at Yorktown, Virginia, in September and October 1781. George Washington led the Continental Army, while French troops under the Comte de Rochambeau joined the operation.
French naval control of the Chesapeake Bay prevented a British evacuation or effective resupply. Allied troops then built siege lines and captured key positions, including Redoubts 9 and 10. Cornwallis surrendered on October 19, 1781.
The surrender did not immediately end every military operation. Fighting and negotiations continued, and the war formally ended with the Treaty of Paris in 1783. Yorktown nevertheless destroyed Britain's realistic hope of suppressing the rebellion and became the decisive military turning point remembered in the America250 story.