This Week in History

October 19, 1781, British General Cornwallis surrendered his army of 8,000 to General Washington at Yorktown. Cornwallis had marched his army to the port of Yorktown, Virginia that summer expecting to meet British ships sent from New York. There were no ships.

About 17,000 American and French troops led by General Washington and French General Rochambeau, surrounded the British occupied Yorktown. Off the coast, French Admiral de Grasse naval fleet-controlled access to the Chesapeake Bay and the York River.

Cornwallis’s surrender effectively ended the Revolutionary War. The British government appealed to the Americans for peace. In 1783, The signing of the Treaty of Paris brought the war to an official end.

Source(s): Library of Congress

Compiled by Bob Valen