The Siege of
Yorktown, also known as the Battle of Yorktown, the Surrender at
Yorktown, German Battle or the Siege of Little York, ending on October
19, 1781, at Yorktown, Virginia, was a decisive victory by a combined
force of American Continental Army troops led by General George
Washington and French Army troops led by the Comte de Rochambeau over a
British Army commanded by British lord and Lieutenant General Charles
Cornwallis. The culmination of the Yorktown campaign, the siege proved
to be the last major land battle of the American Revolutionary War in
the North American theater, as the surrender by Cornwallis, and the
capture of both him and his army, prompted the British government to
negotiate an end to the conflict. The battle boosted faltering American
morale and revived French enthusiasm for the war, as well as undermining
popular support for the conflict in Great Britain.
