The Battle of Yorktown ended major fighting in the American Revolutionary War.
Fought in Virginia in 1781, Yorktown was the culminating military campaign of the American Revolution. American forces commanded by George Washington joined French troops led by the Comte de Rochambeau, while French naval forces helped prevent British relief.
British general Charles Cornwallis surrendered his army on October 19, 1781. The victory did not immediately create a peace treaty, and British troops still occupied some positions afterward, but it made continued large-scale war politically difficult for Britain.
Yorktown is sometimes described as the end of the Revolutionary War without qualification. More precisely, it ended the principal combat. The Treaty of Paris, signed in 1783, formally ended the war and recognized American independence.