sep 28, 1781 - Surrender of
General Cornwallis
at Yorktown.
Description:
The siege of Yorktown, (September 28-October 19, 1781) essentially ended the fighting in the American Revolution. The siege was a land-and-sea campaign in which American and French troops together entrapped a major British army at Yorktown, Virginia. The British army surrendered, virtually assuring that the American colonies would win their independence from Great Britain. General Lord Cornwallis was the British commander in the southern colonies. Charles Cornwallis led several successful early campaigns during the American Revolution, in 1781, as second in command to Gen. Henry Clinton, he moved his forces to Virginia where he was defeated at the battle of yorktown. Pleading illness, he did not attend the surrender ceremony, but his second-in-command, General Charles O’Hara, carries Cornwallis’ sword to the American and French Commanders.
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American Revolution
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