The Siege of Yorktown ended with a British surrender that effectively secured American victory in the Revolutionary War.
American and French forces trapped Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis’s army at Yorktown, Virginia, in the autumn of 1781. George Washington commanded the allied army, while French troops under the Comte de Rochambeau and French naval forces helped prevent Cornwallis from escaping or receiving reinforcements.
The siege began on September 28, 1781. Allied artillery and trenches steadily tightened the position, and Cornwallis surrendered on October 19. The surrender did not instantly end every military operation, but it made continued British efforts to reconquer the rebellious colonies politically and financially difficult.
Yorktown is sometimes called the last battle of the Revolution, although fighting continued in other places afterward. The war formally ended with the Treaty of Paris in 1783, which recognized American independence and set the new nation’s boundaries.