Which British commander surrendered at the Siege of Yorktown during the American Revolutionary War?

Charles Cornwallis was the British commander who surrendered at the Siege of Yorktown during the American Revolutionary War.

The allied American and French forces surrounded Cornwallis’s army at Yorktown, Virginia, in September and October 1781. George Washington commanded the Continental Army, while French troops under the Comte de Rochambeau joined the operation. A French naval victory in the Chesapeake helped prevent British relief or escape by sea.

Cornwallis requested capitulation terms on October 17, and the formal surrender took place on October 19, 1781. Cornwallis did not attend the ceremony, reportedly citing illness; Brigadier General Charles O’Hara represented him. The British surrender involved more than 7,000 soldiers and became the final major land engagement of the war.

Yorktown did not instantly end every military action. Fighting and naval operations continued elsewhere, but the defeat persuaded the British government to pursue peace negotiations. The Treaty of Paris, signed in 1783, formally ended the war and recognized the United States as independent.