Charles Cornwallis commanded the British forces that surrendered at Yorktown during the American Revolution, a turning point recalled by America250.
The Siege of Yorktown lasted from September 28 to October 19, 1781. George Washington’s Continental Army and allied French forces surrounded Cornwallis’s army in Virginia while a French fleet blocked British relief by sea. American and French troops captured key outer defenses and brought their artillery close enough to make the British position untenable.
Cornwallis did not personally attend the surrender ceremony, citing illness. British General Charles O’Hara represented him and ultimately offered the sword to Benjamin Lincoln, Washington’s second-in-command. Yorktown was the final major land engagement of the war, although fighting continued elsewhere until the Treaty of Paris ended the conflict in 1783.