Battle of Yorktown Dates and Conflict In the fall of 1781, on September 26th, General George Washington and his army of 7,800 Frenchmen, 3,100 militiamen and 8,000 Continentals amassed on the northern end of the Chesapeake Bay along with a large supply of artillery and siege weaponry. Two days later on the 28th, Washington and his army descended out of Williamsburg and began to surround Yorktown. The bulk of the American troops positioned themselves along the right hand side of the battle with the majority of the French troops emplacing themselves on the left. General Cornwallis commanded his troops emplaced in a networks of redoubts and batteries that were linked by earthworks by Gloucester Point (The Battle of Yorktown). After surveying the defenses of the British, George Washington decided that the best course of action would be to attempt to bombard them into submission. On the 29th, the American and French forces crept …show more content…
On the night of the 11th, George washington ordered the construction of a second parallel to begin. The new parallel was 400 yards closer to the british lines and extended from the head of York Town to the british 9th and 10th redoubts. Cornwallis continued aiming what little fire they could muster at the old parallel and lines and did not suspect the new construction. On the morning of the 12th, allied forces were all emplaced upon the new parallel and within 140 yards of the 9th redoubt (Battle of Yorktown Facts). Allied forces turned their artillery toward the 9th and 10th redoubts with the intention to assault them that night under the cover of a moonless sky. The plan was for the french to attack the Fusiliers redoubt and then half an hour later attack the 9th while the american attacked the 10th. Redoubt 9 would be assaulted by 400 French regular soldiers under the command of the German Lieutenant Colonel Wilhelm von Zweibrücken and redoubt 10 would be assaulted by 400 light infantry troops under the command of Alexander