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.