Charles Cornwallis had abandoned the Southern colonies when he left North Carolina. His men needed rest and time to refit after a campaign where little had gone right. Sensing his vulnerability the British commander, Henry Clinton, in New York City dispatched reinforcements to him. Of course the Colonials also saw an opportunity and George Washington decided to take it with the help of his new French allies.
Cornwallis arrived near Petersburg, Virginia on May 20, 1781. He believed he did not have the strength to hold the Southern colonies and that he would find more support in Virginia. British forces already in the area, under William Phelps and including Benedict Arnold, were threatening Richmond and Petersburg. Petersburg was captured by Phelps but the timely arrival of troops under Lafayette saved Richmond temporarily.
Cornwallis’ numbers swelled from the 1,500 he led out of North Carolina to over 7,000. He pushed Lafayette out of Richmond, but he did not pursue which allowed Lafayette to link up with further Colonial forces. Cornwallis instead decided to forage for supplies and began heading for for the colonial capitol Williamsburg. Henry Clinton ordered Cornwallis first to Portsmouth and then to Yorktown, where he was to fortify and build a deep water port. Clinton was losing faith in Cornwallis. Lafayette followed with 4,500 men.
Further help came for the Colonials. On July 6 French soldiers under Rochambeau arrived in New York. Washington wanted to attack New York since Clinton was sending men south about as fast as he could. Rochambeau disagreed. The French fleet under Compte de Grasse was coming and attacking New York would not be easy. Washington remained in the area until August 14, continually probing the British defenses until he received a letter from de Grasse saying he was on his way to Virginia. Sensing an opportunity, Washington began marching south.
4,000 French soldiers and 3,000 Colonials set out on August 19, using the mountains of the Hudson Valley to screen their movements. They arrived in Philadelphia on September 2. Many Colonial soldiers refused to go any further until they were paid, and in coin rather than Continental dollars which were worthless. Rochambeau offered Washington half of the Spanish gold he had and the army continued on.
De Grasse arrived off of Virginia about the same time and disembarked more French troops. The fleet had been attacked by the Royal Navy en route but were too strong for it. Washington arrived in Williamsburg on September 14 and by September 26 Washington had under his command about 20,000 men and began to invest Yorktown. By then Cornwallis had constructed seven redoubts to defend his base. Washington decided to try to bombard Cornwallis out but Cornwallis abandoned his outer defenses and moved closer to the town. He was informed that 5,000 reinforcements were coming from Clinton and he just needed to hang on. Washington moved in and occupied the outer defenses and placed heavy artillery in them.
Ground assaults began on September 30. The French were the first to try but were repulsed after two hours. Parallel construction began the next day and by October 5 the first was ready to be opened. British deserters told of the army shooting horses to save food so the situation for Cornwallis was getting desperate. On October 9 the bombardment opened up. French artillery hit a Royal Navy frigate which was scuttled to prevent its capture. George Washington fired the first round for the Colonials and legend has it his shot smashed a table where British officers were eating. Washington ordered the guns to fire all night and it did not take long for all of the British guns to be silenced.
British soldiers began to desert in droves. The situation was getting desperate. On October 12 Cornwallis received a message that the fleet and reinforcements would depart that day but he did not think he could hold. Another parallel was being dug getting the new Allies closer but Cornwallis was oblivious to all of this. This parallel was 400 yards closer but could not extend to the river as the British Redoubts 9 and 10 were in the way.
On October 14 Washington ordered all of the guns to concentrate on those redoubts. The infantry would then assault them using a moonless night for cover using only their bayonets. An assault was feigned elsewhere at about 6:30 PM and then the infantry went forward. Axemen chopped through the wooden abatis and both redoubts were captured in close, hand-to-hand fighting. Cornwallis responded with a counterattack that managed to capture several cannon, which were spiked but not beyond repair. Allied fire now intensified. Cornwallis knew he could not hold. He tried to evacuate his men across the river to Gloucester but a squall hit and he stopped the movement. He talked it over with his officers and they agreed that the situation was hopeless.
On October 17 a lone drummer boy appeared with a white handkerchief. All firing ceased. The nearby Moore House was used to negotiate the surrender and to make sure there was no breakdown of the new alliance the French were to receive an equal share of the process. The Articles of Capitulation were signed on October 19 and the British soldiers were marched to a nearby field at 2 PM where they laid down their arms. Cornwallis refused to attend the ceremony and sent his aide Charles O’Hara instead. O’Hara tried to surrender his sword to Rochambeau, who pointed to Washington, who motioned to Benjamin Lincoln, who had commanded the garrison at Charleston who had been refused all military honors when he had surrendered.
8,000 British soldiers and sailors surrendered with 214 cannon. The army had just been issued new uniforms to boot. The siege cost the British army about 600 men in battle, the French 250 and the now Americans about 140. The relief fleet arrived on October 24 but word reached it that Cornwallis had surrendered. They refused to engage the superior French fleet and contented themselves with evacuating some Loyalists. Washington turned around and returned to New York where he stayed until the Treaty of Paris ended the war. Interestingly the Siege of Yorktown is sometimes known as the German Battle since Germans were present in all three armies engaged.
Much of the battlefield is preserved as a part of Colonial National Historic Park with the Yorktown Battlefield Unit.