Charles Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown in 1781, marking a decisive American victory in the Revolutionary War.
Cornwallis commanded the British army at Yorktown, Virginia, where American forces under George Washington and French forces under the Comte de Rochambeau surrounded his position. The French fleet’s victory at the Battle of the Chesapeake prevented Cornwallis from receiving effective relief by sea.
After a siege lasting from September 28 to October 19, 1781, Cornwallis surrendered his army. He did not personally attend the formal surrender ceremony, sending Brigadier General Charles O’Hara to represent him. Cornwallis later claimed illness prevented his attendance.
Yorktown did not legally end the war; peace negotiations continued until the Treaty of Paris in 1783. However, the surrender made continued British offensive operations in North America politically difficult and is widely treated as the war’s decisive military conclusion.