The Battle of Yorktown - September 28 - October 17. 1781
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In July 1781, British General Cornwallis took his army to the Yorktown Peninsula in Chesapeake Bay. There they built a fort and waited for British ships to take them to Charleston or New York. Washington saw an opportunity to trap Cornwallis. He sent a message to Admiral de Grasse, who commanded France’s Caribbean fleet. Washington asked him to establish a blockade in Chesapeake Bay. The blockade would prevent British ships from rescuing Cornwallis’s men.
Washington instructed French General Lafayette to keep Cornwallis’s army trapped on the peninsula so they could not escape by land. Meanwhile, Washington and General Rochambeau traveled south with a huge French and American army. |
Cornwallis, with 7,000 troops, now faced a combined French and American army of more than 17,000. The Battle of Yorktown lasted about three weeks. With his army bombarded by land and sea, Cornwallis had little choice but to surrender on October 19, 1781, ending the fighting. In effect, the war for independence was over, although the British still occupied several American cities. It took several years to agree on the terms of a peace treaty.
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The Treaty of Paris (1783)
Some royal officials still hoped that America would remain part of the British Empire But the American diplomats, who included Benjamin Franklin and John Adams, insisted on independence. The Americans negotiated a peace treaty with Britain. The Treaty of Paris was signed on September 3, 1783. In it, Britain formally recognized the United States as an independent nation. The treaty also declared the Mississippi River the western boundary of the United States. Britain agreed to leave its forts in the West. France and Spain also made peace with Britain in the Treaty. In return for its help during the war, Spain regained control of Florida. After all the trouble caused by taxes, in the Treaty of Paris, the United States now promised to pay what Americans owed the British merchants. The treaty also allowed Loyalists to claim property losses. |