Cornwallis Surrenders at Yorktown

On September 28, 1781, allied American and French armies arrived outside the Virginia tobacco port of Yorktown to encircle the British forces fortified under Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis. Earlier that summer, George Washington and French commander Comte de Rochambeau had contemplated an assault on British-occupied New York City. Rochambeau convinced Washington that an operation in Virginia was more practical after Admiral François Joseph Paul de Grasse pledged the assistance of the French West Indies fleet. Cornwallis had established himself at Yorktown to construct a deep-water naval post under orders from Henry Clinton, while Continental forces under the Marquis de Lafayette kept close watch on his movements.

The allied plan depended entirely on controlling the sea lanes. At the beginning of September, de Grasse achieved a crucial strategic victory over Sir Thomas Graves at the Battle of the Chesapeake, forcing the British relief fleet to withdraw to New York. This victory sealed the mouth of the bay, cutting off Cornwallis from seaborne evacuation or reinforcement, and permitted French transports to deliver the heavy artillery and siege tools required for an offensive. When allied land forces completely encircled Yorktown, Cornwallis pulled his troops back from most of his outer defensive lines into tighter fortifications around the town, awaiting promised British reinforcements.