Battle of Yorktown - Definition, Who Won & Importance | HISTORY (2025)

Timeline Leading Up to the Battle

American Victory at Yorktown

In the summer of 1780, 5,500 French troops, with Comte de Rochambeau at the helm, landed in Newport, Rhode Island to aid the Americans. At the time, British forces were fighting on two fronts, with General Henry Clinton occupying New York City, and Cornwallis, who had already captured Charleston and Savannah, in South Carolina.

“It was obvious that the Americans needed a big victory if they were to convince the peace conference in Europe that they had a right to demand independence for all thirteen colonies,” writes Thomas Fleming in his book,Yorktown.

With the Continental Army positioned in New York, Washington and Rochambeau teamed to plan a timed attack on Clinton with the arrival of more French forces. When they found the French fleet was instead sailing to the Chesapeake Bay, Washington concocted a new plan.

“He would fool Clinton into thinking the Continentals were planning to attack New York while instead sneaking away to the south to attack Cornwallis,” according to the Army Heritage Center Foundation. “Washington ordered the construction of large camps with huge brick bread ovens where Clinton could see them to create the illusion that the Continental Army was preparing for a long stay. Washington also prepared false papers discussing attack plans on Clinton, and let these papers fall into British hands.”

Washington arrives in Yorktown

By mid-September 1781, Washington and Rochambeau arrived in Williamsburg, Virginia, 13 miles from the tobacco port of Yorktown, where Cornwallis’s men had built a defense of 10 small forts (a.k.a. redoubts) with artillery batteries and connecting trenches. In response, Cornwallis asked Clinton for aid, and the general promised him a fleet of 5,000 British soldiers would set sail from New York to Yorktown.

With a small force left in New York, about 2,500 Americans and 4,000 French soldiers—facing some 8,000 British troops—began digging their own trenches 800 yards from the Brits and started a nearly week-long artillery assault on the enemy on October 9.

“The heavy cannons pounded the British mercilessly, and by October 11 had knocked out most of the British guns,” the Army Heritage Center Foundation states. “Cornwallis received the unfortunate (for him) news that Clinton's departure from New York had been delayed.”

A new parallel trench, 400 yards closer to the British lines, was ordered by Washington on October 11, but completing it would entail taking out the British redoubts No. 9 and No. 10.

The Role of Alexander Hamilton

Alexander Hamilton

The attack on redoubt No. 9 would be undertaken by French troops, while the No. 10 siege would be led by Colonel Alexander Hamilton. The Founding Father wasn’t the top pick of Major General Marquis de Lafayette for the job, but Hamilton, who wanted to improve his reputation by proving himself on the battlefield, talked Washington into it.

To speed up the siege of the two redoubts—French troops were to take redoubt No. 9, while Hamilton’s men were assigned No. 10—Washington ordered the use of bayonets, rather than “pounding them slowly into submission with cannon,” writes Ron Chernow in Alexander Hamilton.

“After nightfall on October 14, the allies fired several consecutive shells in the air that brilliantly illuminated the sky,” Chernow writes. At that point, Hamilton and his men rallied from their trenches and sprinted across a quarter-mile of field with fixed bayonets. “For the sake of silence, surprise, and soldierly pride, they had unloaded their guns to take the position with bayonets alone. Dodging heavy fire, they let out war whoops that startled their enemies. ... The whole operation had consumed fewer than ten minutes.”

General Cornwallis Surrenders

Of his 400 infantrymen, Hamilton lost just nine in the attack, with some 30 wounded, while the 400 French-led troops lost 27 men, with 109 wounded, according to Fleming. Surrounded by enemy fire, and blocked from receiving aid by the French fleet that had arrived in Chesapeake Bay, Cornwallis was trapped.

The successful siege allowed the allies to complete the second parallel trench and “snuffed out the last remains of resistance among the British.” In a final effort on October 16, Cornwallis attempted a nighttime sea evacuation, but he was stopped by a storm.

On the morning of October 19, the British sent forward a red-coated drummer boy, followed by an officer waving a white handkerchief to the parapet. All guns fell silent—Cornwallis had surrendered.

The End of the Revolutionary War

Revolution's Lasting Legacy

Following the Battle at Yorktown and Cornwallis’s surrender—and the British down one-third of its force—the British Parliament, in March 1782, passed a resolution calling for the nation to end the war. "Oh God, it is all over!" Prime Minister Frederick North exclaimed upon hearing of the Yorktown surrender, writes Alan Taylor in American Revolutions: A Continental History, 1750-1804.

The British still had 30,000 men in North America, occupying the seaports of New York, Charles Town and Savannah,” according to Taylor. But the demoralizing loss at Yorktown diminished the British will to continue to fight the rebels. On September 3, 1783, the Revolutionary War came to an official end with the signing of the Treaty of Paris.

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Battle of Yorktown - Definition, Who Won & Importance | HISTORY (2025)

FAQs

Battle of Yorktown - Definition, Who Won & Importance | HISTORY? ›

Supported by the French army and navy, Washington's forces defeated Lord Charles Cornwallis

Lord Charles Cornwallis
Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess and 2nd Earl Cornwallis (1738-1805), served as a general in the British Army during the American War for Independence. Cornwallis held commands in the colonies throughout the duration of the war and was frequently George Washington's battlefield counterpart.
https://www.mountvernon.org › digital-encyclopedia › article
' veteran army dug in at Yorktown, Virginia. Victory at Yorktown led directly to the peace negotiations that ended the war in 1783 and gave America its independence.

Who won the Battle of Yorktown and why was it important? ›

Outnumbered and outfought during a three-week siege in which they sustained great losses, British troops surrendered to the Continental Army and their French allies. This last major land battle of the American Revolution led to negotiations for peace with the British and the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783.

Who was an important person in the Battle of Yorktown? ›

It was a decisive victory by a combined force of the American Continental Army troops led by General George Washington with support from the Marquis de Lafayette and French Army troops led by the Comte de Rochambeau and a French naval force commanded by the Comte de Grasse over the British Army commanded by British ...

Why was the Battle of Yorktown so important for kids? ›

The siege was a land-and-sea campaign in which American and French troops together entrapped a major British army on a peninsula at Yorktown, Virginia. The British army surrendered, virtually assuring that the American colonies would win their independence from Great Britain.

What are 5 interesting facts about the Battle of Yorktown? ›

11 Facts About the Battle of Yorktown
  • INSTEAD OF GOING TO YORKTOWN, GEORGE WASHINGTON WANTED TO RETAKE NEW YORK CITY. ...
  • A NAVAL CLASH HELPED DETERMINE THE OUTCOME … ...
  • 3. … ...
  • IT WAS A BATTLE OF BARRICADES, TRENCHES, AND INTENTIONAL SHIPWRECKS. ...
  • ROTTING HORSES STUNK UP THE PLACE. ...
  • ALEXANDER HAMILTON LED A VITAL ATTACK.
Nov 28, 2018

What is the history of Yorktown? ›

Yorktown was established by Virginia's colonial government in 1691 to regulate trade and to collect taxes on both imports and exports for Great Britain. By the early 1700s, Yorktown had emerged as a major Virginia port and economic center. A well-developed waterfront boasted wharves, docks, storehouses and businesses.

Why was the Battle of Yorktown important to the Civil War? ›

While Yorktown is most significant for the Revolutionary War siege of 1781, which effectively ended the conflict, during the American Civil War was again the site of major siege operations during the Peninsula Campaign of 1862.

Who was the hero of the Battle of Yorktown? ›

The British surrender at Yorktown is remembered as a triumph for George Washington and the comte de Rochambeau.

What happened to Cornwallis after he surrendered? ›

After enduring a massive artillery bombardment, Cornwallis was forced to surrender his army to the American and French forces. Cornwallis was paroled immediately after Yorktown. He returned to England and was officially exchanged in March 1782.

How many people died in the Battle of Yorktown? ›

According to historic records that survive from the war, some 230-397 soldiers were killed over the course of the Battle of Yorktown. The Franco-American forces suffered only 88 deaths; the British, however, lost anywhere from 142 to 309 soldiers during the fighting.

Would the American victory at Yorktown would have been impossible without? ›

Without De Grasse's fleet gaining control of the Chesapeake Bay from the British, victory by the American and French armies at Yorktown would have been impossible. Without the French victory at the Battle of the Capes, American independence from Great Britain might never have been achieved.

What was the aftermath of the Battle of Yorktown? ›

The defeat at Yorktown caused a change in the British government. Prime Minister Lord North and the Tory party were ousted, and the Whigs, under Rockingham, assumed power. This new government opened negotiations with the American commissioners in Paris.

What country helped the American army? ›

France joins the Continental Army

They provided supplies, men, and naval support in the war, which was essential to winning the Battle of Yorktown in 1781.

What was the biggest outcome of the Battle of Yorktown? ›

Supported by the French army and navy, Washington's forces defeated Lord Charles Cornwallis' veteran army dug in at Yorktown, Virginia. Victory at Yorktown led directly to the peace negotiations that ended the war in 1783 and gave America its independence.

Who was most responsible for the victory at Yorktown? ›

With his knowledge of the surrounding rivers and ocean, Washington was able to work with the French Navy to defeat the British, allowing for the victory at Yorktown.

What country helped America defeat the British at Yorktown? ›

Surrender at Yorktown

The ships never arrived. In early October, approximately 17,000 American and French troops led by Generals George Washington and Jean-Baptiste Rochambeau, respectively, surrounded British-occupied Yorktown.

What did Alexander Hamilton do in the Battle of Yorktown? ›

Washington granted this request for the 1781 Battle of Yorktown. During the battle Hamilton led a bayonette charge and captured the fortification within 10 minutes. Winning this battle made it clear the United States would emerge the victor of the war.

What did Benedict Arnold do in the Battle of Yorktown? ›

Additionally, former Major General Benedict Arnold, a newly crowned British Brigadier after the attempted surrender of his command at West Point, prepared for Cornwallis' arrival by destroying precious Continental supplies in Virginia.

What happened to Cornwallis' sword? ›

There are various accounts of what became of the surrender sword after the battle: some claim General Washington kept it for a few years and then had it returned to Lord Cornwallis, while some believe the sword remains in America's possession, perhaps in the White House.

How did the French help America win the Battle of Yorktown? ›

The French navy transported reinforcements, fought off a British fleet, and protected Washington's forces in Virginia. French assistance was crucial in securing the British surrender at Yorktown in 1781.

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