The British controlled much of the south by the summer of 1780. General Washington sent troops to win back southern areas. The patriots slowly began to defeat the British. The British retreated to Yorktown, Virginia.
American and French troops closed in on Yorktown. Together the troops numbered about 17,600 men. The British had 8,300. French ships arrived to help the Americans. British troops were trapped. Supplies and more troops could not reach the trapped soldiers. The British soldiers tried to escape across the river. A bad storm stopped them.
The British surrendered on October 17, 1781. The redcoat, General Cornwallis, was ashamed. He had his aide attend the ceremony. As British soldiers marched off the battlefield, their band played The World Turned Upside Down.
Americans rejoiced. The British were in shock. They would never regain the colonies.
Yorktown was the last major battle of the American Revolution. The formal peace treaty was signed two years later.
Bobrick, B. (2004). Fight for freedom: The American Revolutionary War. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers.
History of the Siege - Yorktown Battlefield Part of Colonial National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service). (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.nps.gov/york/historyculture/history-of-the-siege.htm
Kent, Z. (1989). The story of the surrender at Yorktown. Chicago: Childrens Press.
Osborne, M. P., & Boyce, N. P. (2013). Magic tree house fact tracker #11: American revolution. New York: Random House Books for Young Readers.
APA Style: Battle of Yorktown. (2015, April). Retrieved from Facts4Me at https://www.facts4me.com
MLA Style: "Battle of Yorktown" Facts4Me.com. Apr. 2015. https://www.facts4me.com