Page 73 - ASM Book 9/2020

67
October 19 - British Surrendered at Yorktown
Acombined force of 17,600 American and French troops began the siege of Yorktown on September 28. General Charles Cornwallis’ 8,300 troops were trapped at Yorktown with their backs against the York River. Following Washington’s orders, the Marquis de Lafayette blocked Cornwallis’ escape by land while the French fleet, under the command of Admiral de Grasse, blocked an escape by sea.
Over time, the American and French troops built two trenches that encircled the British army.
“Against so powerful an attack, we cannot hope to make a very long resistance.” - General Charles
Cornwallis
The allied forces bombarded
the Redcoats – day and night – with cannons, howitzers and mortars. The Americans and French were relentless in their efforts to defeat the British.
American General Benjamin Lincoln, mounted on a white horse in the center, extended his right hand to receive General Cornwallis’ sword from General Charles O’Hara. George Washington is pictured to the right
of Lincoln on a brown horse.
“We waited with anxiety the termination of the armistice and as the time drew nearer our anxiety increased. The time at length arrived
- it passed, and all remained quiet. And now we concluded that we had obtained what we had taken so much pains for, for which we had encountered so many dangers, and had so anxiously wished. Before night we were informed that the British had surrendered and that the siege was ended.”
- Diary of Joseph Plumb Martin Continental Soldier
General Cornwallis soon realized that surrender was their only option.
On October 17, a British officer and drummer were seen standing on one of the redoubts waving a white flag. The officer carried a note from General Cornwallis to General Washington requesting a cease fire. The next day an American and a French officer met with two British officers at Moore House to arrange surrender terms.
At 2 p.m. on October 19, approximately 7,000 British soldiers marched in single file between the American and French armies – a distance of more than a mile – and surrendered their weapons.
General Cornwallis claimed to be sick and did
not attend the surrender ceremony. His second
in command, General Charles O’Hara, presented
Cornwallis’ sword, according to military custom, to the American and French commanders.
The Siege of Yorktown was the last major battle of the American War for Independence.