British general Charles Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, effectively ending major fighting in the American Revolutionary War.
Cornwallis commanded the British army defending Yorktown, Virginia, in 1781. American forces led by George Washington joined French troops commanded by the Comte de Rochambeau, while French naval power helped prevent British relief from reaching the town.
After a siege lasting several weeks, Cornwallis’s position became untenable. He surrendered his army on October 19, 1781. Cornwallis himself did not attend the formal ceremony, reportedly citing illness; Brigadier General Charles O’Hara represented him and offered Cornwallis’s sword to Washington’s representative.
The surrender did not immediately create a peace treaty, and fighting continued elsewhere. However, it destroyed political support in Britain for continuing the war. The Treaty of Paris, signed in 1783, formally recognized American independence.