✦ History

Part of American Revolutionary War

Siege of Yorktown

September 28 – October 19, 1781 · Yorktown

Result Franco-American victory

September to October 1781: the final major land engagement of the American Revolutionary War. Washington's Continental Army, with French troops under Rochambeau and a navy under de Grasse, besieged Cornwallis's British army at Yorktown; Cornwallis surrendered 19 October with 7,000 soldiers captured. The victory led to the 1783 Treaty of Paris.

On the map Contemporaries

American

British

French

Other

United States Continental Army
Great Britain Cornwallis's army
Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel
France Rochambeau's army and de Grasse's fleet
George Washington military commander Alexander Hamilton Marquis de Lafayette major general, French officer in American service; trapped Cornwallis Henry Knox Brigadier General, chief of artillery of the allied siege Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben military commander Henry Dearborn military commander Benjamin Lincoln military commander Thomas Nelson Jr. military commander
Charles Cornwallis commander, British commander; surrendered Banastre Tarleton military commander Robert Abercromby of Airthrey military commander Charles O'Hara military commander
Comte de Rochambeau Lieutenant General, co-commander of the allied armies with Washington Comte de Grasse Lieutenant General of the Naval Armies, commanded the French fleet that blockaded Chesapeake Bay

Strength and losses

Strength
19,800
Casualties
389
Killed
88
Wounded
301
Strength
8,000–9,000c. 6,000
Casualties
7,884–8,589
Killed
142–309
Captured
7,416–7,685
Deaths
397
Wounded
896

Units

Continental Army Aaron Burr Lieutenant Colonel Aaron Ogden Abraham Buford Alexander Hamilton General Alexander McDougall Major General Anthony Wayne Artemas Ward Major General Arthur St. Clair Benjamin Lincoln Major General Casimir Pulaski General Christopher Greene Colonel Daniel Morgan General Edward Hand George Clinton George Mathews Green Clay Henry Dearborn General Henry Knox Major General Henry Lee III Horatio Gates Hugh Mercer Brigadier General Israel Putnam General James Clinton Major General James McHenry James Monroe Major James Wilkinson James Winchester James Wood Jean François Hamtramck Colonel Johann de Kalb Major General John Armstrong Jr. General John Brooks Colonel John Francis Mercer Colonel John Glover John Hardin Colonel John Hoskins Stone John Marshall John Stark Major General John Sullivan Major General John Thomas Major General Joseph Bloomfield Joseph Warren Major General Josiah Harmar Josiah Tattnall (politician) Lachlan McIntosh Brigadier General Levin Winder Marquis de Lafayette Morgan Lewis Nathan Hale Colonel Nathanael Greene Major General Peleg Wadsworth General Peter Gansevoort Major General Philip Schuyler General Pierse Long Colonel Richard Butler Robert Magaw Colonel Samuel Smith Seth Warner Colonel Tadeusz Kościuszko Lieutenant General Thomas Knowlton Timothy Pickering General William Barton William Bradford William Darke William Eaton General William Maxwell Brigadier General William Moultrie Major General William Prescott Colonel William Sanford Pennington Major William Whipple William Woodford Brigadier General George Washington 1775–1783 William Alexander 1775–present Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben 1778–1783 1st Rhode Island Regiment Lee's Legion
British southern army (Clinton and Cornwallis) British Legion (Tarleton) Royal Navy North American fleet
Expédition Particulière De Grasse's fleet French squadron at Newport

Related events 1 degree away • 2 degrees away

1782
1783
 
Battle of Guilford Courthouse
 
Siege of Yorktown
 
Treaty of Paris (1783)