The siege of Yorktown (September-October 1781) ... and the effective end of the war
Then Cornwallis turned his eyes north to Virginia, reasoning that if he
did not succeed in breaking Virginia's resistance, he would not be able
to solidify his hold over the South. In the meantime, turncoat Benedict
Arnold was leading British and Tory troops on destructive raids on the
northern Virginia countryside, targeting particularly the plantations
and farms of the Patriots (or rebels, depending on how you looked at
matters) which Arnold's Tory troops were pleased to burn to the ground.
In May (1781) Arnold and Cornwallis joined forces
in central Virginia. Then in June, Cornwallis began to head eastward
toward the Virginia coast, to Yorktown, located along the wide and deep
York River. His plans were to dig in there with his army while awaiting
reinforcements and supplies to be brought in by ship by way of the
Chesapeake Bay.
In early August Washington abandoned his plan to
attempt to seize New York City with his combined French (led by General
Rochambeau) and Patriot forces – and instead decided to head south to
Virginia to link up with French General Lafayette (who had been
shadowing Arnold and Cornwallis) and even more importantly, to link up
also with a huge French naval fleet under Admiral de Grasse heading
north from the Caribbean to the Chesapeake Bay. Washington and
Rochambeau's move South was miraculously kept hidden from Clinton, who
kept his army in New York, believing that this was where Washington was
planning to attack.
De Grasse's fleet arrived at the Chesapeake and in
early September defeated not only the British fleet stationed there but
also another fleet subsequently sent from New York by Clinton to break
the French position. British failure left Cornwallis stranded at
Yorktown, now surrounded on land by American and French forces and on
sea by the French fleet.
The bombardment of Cornwallis's position became
relentless and Cornwallis was now running out of food and supplies.
Finally, in mid-October, with the Americans1 and French able to break
through his last line of defense, Cornwallis surrendered himself and
his army of 8,000 men. Several days later a relief fleet of 7,000
British troops arrived at the Chesapeake. But hearing of Cornwallis's
surrender, and realizing the hopelessness of trying to send an army
ashore to a position strongly held by American and French troops, the
fleet turned back to New York City.
No more major actions were to take place after
Yorktown. As British Prime Minister Frederick Lord North exclaimed upon
hearing the news back in England of Cornwallis's surrender, "Oh God, it's
all over." The war was indeed all over.
1The final American assault on the last of the British redoubts (forts) was
led by Washington's young staff officer, Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton
and Washington had already grown very close as political associates and
personal friends.
