The Battle of Yorktown

Battle of Yorktown 

What is the Battle of Yorktown? 

The Battle of Yorktown was the last major battle of the American Revolutionary War, which took place between America, France, and Great Britain. America and France were allies in this battle against Great Britain. 

When Was the Battle of Yorktown? 

The Battle of Yorktown took place between September 28th, 1781, and October 19th, 1781. 

Who Were the Military Leaders at the Battle of Yorktown? 

The American troops were led by General George Washington and General Lafayette, the French troops were led by Comte de Rochambeau, and the English troops were led by General Cornwallis. 

What Happened at the Battle of Yorktown? 

In the summer of 1781, General Cornwallis who was the British commanding officer in the southern colonies was ordered by General Clinton, the commanding British officer in the northern colonies to provide a protected harbor for the British fleet in the lower Chesapeake Bay. Yorktown was chosen by Cornwallis due to its deep-water harbor on the York River. 

So, Cornwallis moved his army of roughly 7,500 men to Yorktown and began fortifying it. Cornwallis and Clinton both believed that Cornwallis’s army would be able to either be strengthened or evacuated by sea if it was under too much pressure. 

However, Washington recognized that Cornwallis’s fortification of Yorktown could actually become a trap for him if he could block off his escape routes by land and sea. So, Washington ordered Lafayette, who commanded roughly 4,500 troops to block Cornwallis’s escape by land. Meanwhile, a French fleet led by Comte de Grasse cut off Cornwallis’s escape route by sea. 

Eventually, Washington’s army and an army of 4,000 French troops led by Rochambeau also made it to Yorktown, essentially sealing Cornwallis’s fate and completing the trap. The French and American troops laid siege to Yorktown, firing cannons at it for days and cutting off all supply lines. Low on food, and failing to get any support from Clinton’s army or the Royal Navy, Cornwallis was forced to surrender on October 19th, 1781. 

Consequences of the Battle of Yorktown 

When Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, he surrendered 7,087 officers and soldiers, 900 seamen, 144 cannons, 15 galleys, a frigate, and 30 transport ships. This dramatically weakened the overall strength of the British armed forces in America. Cornwallis did not attend the surrender ceremony himself, but instead sent his second in command, General Charles O’Hara to surrender his sword. 

The biggest consequence of the Battle of Yorktown was that it effectively ended the American Revolutionary War. The Treaty of Paris, which formally ended the war, would not be signed for another two years. However, there were no major battles that took place after the Battle of Yorktown. Both sides knew that after losing Cornwallis’s army at Yorktown that the British would not be strong enough to fight against the combined strength of France and America. 

So, America succeeded in winning its independence. Against all odds, the American army which was largely made up of volunteers and soldiers with very little experience defeated what was considered to be the strongest army in the world at the time – the British army. Of course, the American army would most likely not have succeeded if they didn’t have assistance from the French.