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The American Revolution
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casualties exceeded 500, or about a quarter of Cornwallis’s force. The
army would never fully recover.
Victory at Yorktown
Cornwallis gave up on controlling the Carolinas. He moved his army into
Virginia and took command of other British forces operating there.
Cornwallis eventually established a base of operations at Yorktown. Its
location, on the York River near the Chesapeake Bay, would enable the
army to be resupplied or evacuated by ship.
In August 1781, George Washington received word that a French fleet
was headed for Virginia. Washington and the French general Jean-Baptiste
de Rochambeau saw a chance to trap Cornwallis at Yorktown.
On August 19, some 4,000 French and 3,000 Continental soldiers set
off fromDobbs Ferry, New York. They arrived in the vicinity of Yorktown
in late September. Joining thousands of American and French troops
already there, they surrounded Yorktown.
On September 5, a French fleet had defeated a British fleet near the
mouth of the Chesapeake. With the bay under the control of the French
navy, Cornwallis’s army couldn’t be reinforced or evacuated.
In early October, French and American soldiers dug a trench around
the perimeter of the redcoats’ lines. They built emplacements for the
artillery. On October 9, siege guns roared to life. The big guns pounded
the British positions relentlessly.
On the night of October 14, American and French troops stormed two
redoubts that formed the last significant part of the British outer defenses.
Cornwallis surrendered five days later. More than 7,000 redcoats and
Hessians were taken prisoner. Yorktown would be the last major battle
of the war.
Independence Secured
When news of Cornwallis’s surrender reached London, support for the