Which American officer led the assault on Redoubt No. 10 at Yorktown?

Alexander Hamilton led the American assault on Redoubt No. 10 at Yorktown.

On the night of October 14, 1781, Hamilton commanded an American column against Redoubt No. 10, one of the British defensive positions protecting Yorktown. The attack was conducted with bayonets and without a preliminary artillery bombardment, helping the Americans achieve surprise.

A separate French column under Vicomte de Deux-Ponts attacked Redoubt No. 9. Capturing both positions allowed the allied armies to move their second parallel closer to the British defenses. Their artillery could then bombard Yorktown more effectively, worsening Cornwallis’s already desperate position.

Hamilton was a lieutenant colonel in the Continental Army at the time, not yet the later Treasury secretary and political figure. Benjamin Lincoln was Washington’s second-in-command and accepted the British surrender, while Henry Knox served as the Continental Army’s chief of artillery. Those roles are often confused when recalling Yorktown’s final operations.