Charles Cornwallis was the British general who surrendered at Yorktown in 1781. His army capitulated on October 19 after American and French forces surrounded Yorktown, Virginia, during a siege led by George Washington and the Comte de Rochambeau.
French naval power was crucial to the outcome. The French victory at the Battle of the Chesapeake prevented a British fleet from relieving Cornwallis by sea. On land, allied troops captured key British redoubts and brought their artillery close enough to make the position untenable.
Cornwallis did not attend the formal surrender ceremony, claiming illness. Brigadier General Charles O’Hara represented him and offered the sword to Benjamin Lincoln after Washington and Rochambeau declined to accept it personally. The surrender did not immediately end every military action, but it led to peace negotiations and the Treaty of Paris in 1783.