The Siege of Yorktown ended with a British surrender on October 19, 1781, making it the last major campaign of the American Revolution.
American and French forces commanded by George Washington and the Comte de Rochambeau trapped British General Charles Cornwallis’s army at Yorktown, Virginia. French naval control of the Chesapeake Bay prevented British relief, while allied artillery and trenches tightened the siege. Cornwallis surrendered his army after weeks of bombardment.
Fighting continued in smaller actions after Yorktown, and the Treaty of Paris was not signed until 1783. Yorktown nevertheless became the decisive military victory that made continued British operations politically difficult. The surrender is frequently depicted as the moment the Revolution effectively ended, though peace negotiations still took time.