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THE BATTLE OF YORKTOWN
THE BATTLE OF YORKTOWN
The Battle of Yorktown proved to be the decisive battle in the revolutionary defeat of Great Britain at the hands of American colonists.
After the failure of his Carolinas' campaign, British general Lord Charles Cornwallis withdrew his army into Virginia and positioned his forces behind fortifications at the town of Yorktown.
Cornwallis hoped to receive reinforcements from Gen. Henry Clinton's army, which was then stationed in New York.
Before that could occur, however, the Franco-American Army, commanded by Gen. George Washington and Gen. Jean Baptiste de Rochambeau, arrived outside Yorktown and laid siege to the city. British reinforcements were also cut off by the arrival of French admiral François de Grasse, who drove the British Navy out of Chesapeake Bay and ensured that it could not support Cornwallis.
Giving up any hope of assistance, Cornwallis surrendered his troops on October 19, 1781. The British Army was forced to march to Surrender Field between two lines of French and American soldiers, whose uniforms were tattered but whose faces were beaming. Yorktown proved to be the final engagement of the war.
MLA Citation
"Battle of Yorktown." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2015. Web. 16 Jan. 2015.
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