Day of Decision: The Battle of Yorktown
By the 1781, the American Revolutionary War had entered it’s seventh year. British forces under General Lord Charles Cornwallis had been campaigning in the southern colonies, where pro British loyalist sentiment was still strong and thus there was hope of securing the region under British authority. But reverses at the Cowpens and Guilford Courthouse, as well as relentless partisan warfare being conducted by American guerillas had exhausted and weakened the British Army. Under instructions by the British theatre commander, Sir Henry Clinton, Cornwallis withdrew to the town of Yorktown, on the banks of the York River, in Virginia, to supply and regroup. It was expected that the Royal Navy would facilitate the revival of Cornwallis’s Army, permitting further operations in the American south later in the year.
Meanwhile, General George Washington, in command of the Continental Army, and General Conte de Rochambeau, in command of the French Army in America, were making plans to move on the British Army of 10,000 men in New York City, commanded by Sir Henry Clinton. However, having received intelligence of Cornwallis’s movements, both Generals realized that they had an opportunity to trap and defeat a major British Army in detail. The opportunity became even more apparent when French Admiral de Grasse, in command of the French fleet in the West Indies, agreed to move his ships to the Chesapeake Bay, thus blocking Cornwallis by sea.
The Yorktown Campaign
Washington and Rochambeau, leaving a small force to cover New York, moved on Yorktown on August 21st. At the same time, De Grasse sailed into the Chesapeake and defeated a British fleet under Thomas Graves on September 5th. Thus, De Grasse took control of the bay and bottled up Cornwallis by sea.
Washington and Rochambeau, linking up with troops under the Marquis de Lafayette, arrived at Yorktown in the evening of September 28th and invested it. Increadably, though Cornwallis knew that the Americans and the French were coming, he declined to try to escape the trap he found himself in, perhaps moving to Richmond and hence back to the Carolinas. All he did was skirmish against Lafayette’s men before being forced back by the arrival of Washington and Rochambeau. Shortly, Cornwallis and his seven and a half thousand men found themselves facing a Franco American force of seventeen thousand men, well armed with siege artillery. Even so, Cornwallis was confident that a relief force from New York was on its way to rescue him.
The Battle
The Americans and the French spent about a week digging siege works around Yorktown. By October 6th, formal siege operations commenced with a bombardment. By October 10th, forty six siege guns were in place and were pouring fire into the British positions.
Two British redoubts guarded the town, Redoubt 9 and Redoubt 10, that needed to be taken in order to tighten the siege hard enough to compel Cornwallis’s surrender. At 7 PM on October 14th, Alexander Hamilton, the future Secretary of the Treasury, led four hundred Americans against Redoubt 10, while French Colonel William Deux Ponts led four hundred French troops against Redoubt 9. Both redoubts were taken and shortly fortified with siege artillery.
By October 16th, a hundred guns were pouring fire into Cornwallis’s positions at Yorktown. Cornwallis realized that his army could not survive until Clinton’s relief army arrived. On October 17th, a parley was asked for and accepted. On October 18th, the terms of surrender had been negotiated.
The terms of surrender were fair and honorable. The British were to march out with colors cased and drums playing a British or German march. The principal officers could return to Europe or go to a British-occupied American port city on parole. Officers were allowed to retain their side arms and all personnel kept their personal effects. All troops would be marched to prison camps in Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania.
The Surrender
At 2 PM on October 20th, the defeated British marched out of Yorktown down the Hampton Road, which was lined by troops of the victorious army. The band was said to have played a tune called The World Turned Upside Down, which accurately defined the sentiments of the defeated British troops. Cornwallis himself stayed in Yorktown, feigning illness, and assigned his second in command, General Charles O’Hara to conduct the surrender. General O’Hara tried to offer his sword to Rochambeau. Rochambeau replied, “Vous vous trompez le gÃ?©nÃ?©ral en chef de notre armÃ?©e est Ã? la droite; puis il le conduisit” (you are mistaken, sir, the general of our army is to the right, pointing to George Washington). Washington also refused O’Hara’s sword, indicating that he should give it to his own second in command, General Benjamin Lincoln. The British troops laid down their arms and marched into captivity.
Aftermath
Even though a quarter of the British forces in American had been placed in the bag at Yorktown, it was uncertain that the battle had decisively won the war. The British were still in possession of American ports at New York and Charleston, South Carolina. But British Prime Minister Lord North, upon hearing of Yorktown, tendered his resignation. Two years later, the British signed the Treaty of Paris, formally ending the American Revolutionary War and recognizing American independence.
