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Battle Of Yorktown Essay

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The Battle of Yorktown was an event in history that turned the world upside down. The start of the battle, the siege of Yorktown, Cornwallis’s surrender, and the results of American victory were all points that played a large role in developing America as we know it today. Beginning with the start of the battle, we will discover the reasons why the Battle of Yorktown was such a pivotal point in history. At the start of the American Revolution, the British mainly fought in the northern colonies until they suffered a crippling defeat in the Carolinas. During this point of the war, there was fighting going on in New York, and General Cornwallis, who commanded the British at this time, ordered his troops to retreat to Yorktown, Virginia in order …show more content…

Two days later, General Cornwallis surrendered 7,000 soldiers to the American and French armies (Victory). The terms of surrender decreed that the British soldiers would be taken as prisoners (Vierow 21). Cornwallis did not attend the surrender ceremony because he claimed he did not feel well. He instead sent his second-in-command, General Charles O’Hara, to deliver his sword to the American and French commanders at the surrender ceremony (Victory). It is believed that the British band played the song “The World Turned Upside Down” as the troops marched to surrender. There is no historical evidence to support this event, but the song highlights the fact that the strongest country in Europe at the time had just been defeated (Brady). During the Battle of Yorktown, there had been about 309 British soldiers killed and 326 wounded, but only about 72 French and American soldiers killed and 180 wounded. In 1783, American and British representatives met together in Paris, France to discuss the terms of the end of the war. On September 3rd, the representatives signed the Treaty of Paris. This document marked the end of the Revolutionary War and recognized the thirteen American colonies as free from British rule. This treaty also established United States boundaries and allowed the colonization of western territories

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Cornwallis and his officers convened and on the morning of the 17th, the British sent an officer and drummer bearing a white handkerchief to surrender (Eccleston,

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On the 19 of October, the majority of Cornwallis’ army marched right out of Yorktown between the lines of the American and French troops. This line stretched on for miles, leading to a field where the British were to lay down their arms and return back to Yorktown where they were later led to prison camps. Although the British still had 26 thousand troops stationed in North America, the British moral was low due to the loss of Yorktown. Replacing the lost army was questionable, seeing that England was also engaged in struggles in India, Gibraltar, the West Indies and Ireland. A year later in the March of 1782, Parliament passed a resolution stating that the war against the US would cease.

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