The Battle of Yorktown
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The Battle of Yorktown 1781
General George Washington's resounding defeat of Lord Cornwallis's British army;
causing the British to surrender and effectively ending the American Revolutionary War.
Battle: YORKTOWN
War: American Revolutionary War
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Date: 28th September to 19th October 1781
Place: Virginia, United States of America
Combatants: Americans and French against the British
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American troops storming the redoubt
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Generals: General Washington commanded the Americans, Lieutenant General de Rochambeau commanded the
French and Major General Lord Cornwallis commanded the British.
Size of the armies: 8,800 Americans, 7,800 French and 6,000 British
Uniforms, arms and equipment: The British wore red coats and headgear of bearskin caps, leather caps or
tricorne hats depending on whether the troops were grenadiers, light infantry or battalion company men. The
German infantry wore blue coats and retained the Prussian style grenadier mitre with brass front plate.
The Americans dressed as best they could. Increasingly as the war progressed regular infantry regiments of the
Continental Army wore blue uniform coats but the militia continued in rough clothing.
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The French royal regiments of foot wore white coats.
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The Battle of Yorktown
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French troops advancing to attack the British lines during the Battle of Yorktown.
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The Battle of Yorktown
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The Americans storming the redoubts on 14th October 1781 during the Battle of Yorktown
Account:
Losing his grip on the Carolinas, Cornwallis marched his army into Virginia and seized Yorktown and Gloucester, towns on each side of the
York River.
With the arrival of the French fleet of Admiral De Grasse, General Washington was able to march south from New York with the joint
American and French army to attack Cornwallis.
The British Army marching out to surrender at the end of the Battle of Yorktown
The Americans and French marched out of Williamsburg and arrived before Yorktown on 28th September 1781, forming a semi-circle
around the entrenchments and putting the British under siege. Cornwallis expecting Major General Clinton to sail from New York with a
relieving force had decided to remain in Yorktown rather than march south to the Carolinas or attempt to reach New York. His first move
was the inexplicable one of abandoning a line of four redoubts that dominated the British positions. The Americans immediately occupied
the empty redoubts.
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The Battle of Yorktown
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View of Yorktown from the York River before it was destroyed during the Battle of Yorktown
The Americans began formal siege operations on the eastern side of Yorktown on 30th September and on 9th October were sufficiently
close to began an artillery bombardment.
On 14th October the Americans and French stormed two redoubts in front of their trenches and the position of the British in Yorktown
became untenable.
The British carried out a sortie on the 16th in which several guns in the two redoubts were spiked. On the same day Cornwallis attempted
to pass the Guards, the 23rd and the Light Infantry across the York River to Gloucester but was thwarted by a storm.
General George Washington
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With no sign of Clinton’s relief and with inadequate supplies of artillery ammunition and food, on 19th October 1781 Cornwallis’ army
marched out of Yorktown and surrendered.
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The Battle of Yorktown
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A contemporary French representation of the Battle of Yorktown
(Click here or image to buy a print)
Casualties:
6,000 British surrendered to the Americans and French with 10 stands of German and British colours, 240 pieces of artillery, small arms,
ammunition and equipment.
The casualties during the siege had been 500 British, 80 Americans and 200 French.
General George Washington reviews the captured British army at the Battle of Yorktown.
Follow-up:
The capitulation of the British to the Americans and French ended the fighting in the war and led to the Peace Treaty that acknowledged
the independence of the American states. Clinton’s relieving force arrived in the Chesapeake on 24th October.
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The Battle of Yorktown
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Cornwallis's British army surrenders to General Washington at Yorktown
Anecdotes and traditions:
• The British bands are reputed to have played “The world turned upside down” as the troops marched out to surrender.
• After the surrender the American and French officers entertained the British officers to dinner, other than Tarleton with whom the
Americans refused to eat, due to the atrocities committed by his troops in North and South Carolina.
The British army surrendering at Yorktown
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References:
• History of the British Army by Sir John Fortescue
• The War of the Revolution by Christopher Ward
General Washington at Yorktown
(Click here or image to buy a print)
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The Battle of Yorktown
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The British surrender at Yorktown by Jean Le Barbier
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Redcoats and Rebels: The American Revolution through British Eyes...
The War for Independence and the Transformation of American Society (Warfare and
History)
The British surrender at Yorktown by Eugene Hess
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