Charles Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown in 1781, helping end major fighting in the American Revolution.
Cornwallis commanded the British forces defending Yorktown, Virginia. American troops under George Washington and French troops under Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau, surrounded the position with support from the French navy.
The siege began in September 1781 and ended on October 19, when Cornwallis's army surrendered. The defeat did not legally end the war, but it weakened British political support for continuing large-scale operations in North America.
Peace negotiations followed and produced the Treaty of Paris in 1783. Cornwallis did not personally attend the surrender ceremony; Brigadier General Charles O'Hara represented him. This detail is why accounts sometimes mention O'Hara even though Cornwallis was the British commander.