the battle of yorktown - davis school district / overvie battle of yorktown 06/19/2007 05:27 pm page...

06/19/2007 05:27 PMThe Battle of Yorktown

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The Battle of Yorktown 1781General George Washington's resounding defeat of Lord Cornwallis's British army;

causing the British to surrender and effectively ending the American Revolutionary War.

Battle: YORKTOWN

War: American Revolutionary War

Date: 28th September to 19th October 1781

Place: Virginia, United States of America

Combatants: Americans and French against the British

American troops storming the redoubt

Generals: General Washington commanded the Americans, Lieutenant General de Rochambeau commanded theFrench and Major General Lord Cornwallis commanded the British.

Size of the armies: 8,800 Americans, 7,800 French and 6,000 British

Uniforms, arms and equipment: The British wore red coats and headgear of bearskin caps, leather caps ortricorne hats depending on whether the troops were grenadiers, light infantry or battalion company men. TheGerman infantry wore blue coats and retained the Prussian style grenadier mitre with brass front plate.

The Americans dressed as best they could. Increasingly as the war progressed regular infantry regiments of theContinental Army wore blue uniform coats but the militia continued in rough clothing.

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French troops advancing to attack the British lines during the Battle of Yorktown.

Both sides were armed with muskets and guns. The back country riflemen carried long, small calibre rifles, weapons of considerablygreater accuracy than the ordinary musket and which their owners used with proficiency.

Map of the Battle of Yorktown

Winner: The Americans and French

British Regiments: 1 troop of 17th Light Dragoons (in Tarleton’s Legion)Royal ArtilleryA composite brigade of Foot Guards (comprising 1st, 2nd and 3rd Foot Guards)17th Foot later the Royal Leicestershire Regiment and now the Royal Anglian Regiment

23rd Royal Welch Fusiliers33rd Foot now the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment43rd later the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry and now the Royal Green Jackets



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British Infantry Officer

The British 23rd Regiment of Foot, the Royal Welch Fusiliers (from Tim Reese’s CD Rom of 116 illustrations of British andAmerican Regiments from the Revolutionary War. For details on how to buy the CD click on the illustration).

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The Americans storming the redoubts on 14th October 1781 during the Battle of Yorktown

Account:Losing his grip on the Carolinas, Cornwallis marched his army into Virginia and seized Yorktown and Gloucester, towns on each side of theYork River.With the arrival of the French fleet of Admiral De Grasse, General Washington was able to march south from New York with the jointAmerican and French army to attack Cornwallis.

The British Army marching out to surrender at the end of the Battle of Yorktown

The Americans and French marched out of Williamsburg and arrived before Yorktown on 28th September 1781, forming a semi-circlearound the entrenchments and putting the British under siege. Cornwallis expecting Major General Clinton to sail from New York with arelieving force had decided to remain in Yorktown rather than march south to the Carolinas or attempt to reach New York. His first movewas the inexplicable one of abandoning a line of four redoubts that dominated the British positions. The Americans immediately occupiedthe empty redoubts.



View of Yorktown from the York River before it was destroyed during the Battle of Yorktown

The Americans began formal siege operations on the eastern side of Yorktown on 30th September and on 9th October were sufficientlyclose to began an artillery bombardment.

On 14th October the Americans and French stormed two redoubts in front of their trenches and the position of the British in Yorktownbecame untenable.

The British carried out a sortie on the 16th in which several guns in the two redoubts were spiked. On the same day Cornwallis attemptedto pass the Guards, the 23rd and the Light Infantry across the York River to Gloucester but was thwarted by a storm.

General George WashingtonClick here or image to buy a print

With no sign of Clinton’s relief and with inadequate supplies of artillery ammunition and food, on 19th October 1781 Cornwallis’ armymarched out of Yorktown and surrendered.



A contemporary French representation of the Battle of Yorktown(Click here or image to buy a print)

Casualties:6,000 British surrendered to the Americans and French with 10 stands of German and British colours, 240 pieces of artillery, small arms,ammunition and equipment.The casualties during the siege had been 500 British, 80 Americans and 200 French.

General George Washington reviews the captured British army at the Battle of Yorktown.

Follow-up: The capitulation of the British to the Americans and French ended the fighting in the war and led to the Peace Treaty that acknowledgedthe independence of the American states. Clinton’s relieving force arrived in the Chesapeake on 24th October.



Cornwallis's British army surrenders to General Washington at Yorktown

Anecdotes and traditions:• The British bands are reputed to have played “The world turned upside down” as the troops marched out to surrender.• After the surrender the American and French officers entertained the British officers to dinner, other than Tarleton with whom theAmericans refused to eat, due to the atrocities committed by his troops in North and South Carolina.

The British army surrendering at Yorktown Click here or image to buy a print

References:• History of the British Army by Sir John Fortescue• The War of the Revolution by Christopher Ward

General Washington at Yorktown(Click here or image to buy a print)



The British surrender at Yorktown by Jean Le Barbier Click here or image to buy a print

Redcoats and Rebels: The American Revolution through British Eyes...

The War for Independence and the Transformation of American Society (Warfare andHistory)

The British surrender at Yorktown by Eugene HessClick here or image to buy a print

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