Why Was The Battle Of Yorktown A Turning Point

The Revolutionary War took place between April 17th, 1775 and October 19th, 1781. It was a time for America to prove its independence from Great Britain. The colonists had spent many years before this struggling against Britain’s strict orders and unfair laws. There were fourteen major battles that decided America’s freedom. The last battle that was fought before America’s independence was the Battle of Yorktown.
The Battle of Yorktown took place in Yorktown, Virginia. It started on September 28, 1781 and ended on October 19, 1781. American troops automatically had an advantage with their 8,800 troops plus the 7,800 French troops compared to the 7,000 – 9,000 British troops. France had been sending supplies to the American troops throughout

the entire Revolutionary War so it was not surprising that they would ally together against the British. In the Spring of 1781 George Washington went to Rhode Island to meet with Comte de Rochambeau and plan an attack against General Henry Clinton. Clinton was in New York during this time. Washington expected a French fleet to arrive later that summer and wanted to match the attack with the fleet’s arrival. Rochambeau and his army joined with Washington’s troops in July outside New York City. Almost as soon as they arrived, they found out that the French fleet was going down to the Chesapeake Bay. Due to this change of plans, Washington had to change his strategy. He decided to trick Clinton into thinking that he was going to attack him while sneaking away to attack Cornwallis. In order to mislead Clinton, Washington made his men construct large army camps and giant brick bread ovens that were visible from New York to give the appearance of settling. Washington also wrote mock documents with his signature discussing plans for an attack on Clinton. He purposefully let the fake documents fall into British hands. Rochambeau and Washington left a small force behind and started to travel to Yorktown in mid-August. They arrived around thirteen miles outside Yorktown in Williamsburg by mid-September.
Cornwallis was in Yorktown at this time because Clinton had ordered him to protect the harbor for the British fleet arriving in the Chesapeake Bay. Cornwallis chose to stay in Yorktown because it had a deep-water harbor. The French fleet had already entered the lower Chesapeake Bay and had disembarked around 3,000 troops to wait for Washington and Rochambeau. After the Battle of Capes, the British fleets returned to New York. Comte de Grasse commanded the French to stay in the lower Chesapeake Bay and form a blockade to keep the British from leaving. By the end of September, the American and French were gathered in Williamsburg while the British were in Yorktown.
Cornwallis realized that he was largely outnumbered and contacted Clinton for help. Clinton sent a note back saying that he would send a British fleet of 5,000 to Yorktown from New York on October 5th. Cornwallis had his men construct a line of defense around Yorktown including ten redoubts, small enclosed forts, trenches and artillery. The American and French allies arrived at Williamsburg around September 28th and had a trench and artillery set up by October 9th. The Americans and French had run the British low on ammo and guns that worked by October 11th because they continuously shooting at them. Cornwallis also had the unfortunate pleasure of finding out that Clinton’s fleet’s departure was delayed. On that same night, the American and French started a new trench 400 yards from the British trench but could not finish it without capturing redoubts nine and ten. Three days later on October 14th, 400 French attacked redoubt nine while 400 Americans attacked redoubt ten. Both redoubts were captured in under thirty minutes and only fifteen French and nine Americans died.
The turning point in the Battle of Yorktown was when the British then tried to attack the center of the French and American trench on October 16th.

The French were already prepared with canons which delayed the British attack. The British tried to evacuate later that day but a huge windstorm threw them off course and forced them to stay in Yorktown. The next day on October 17th, Cornwallis sent an officer with a white flag and a note asking to cease fire. The day after, four officers, one American, one French, and two British, met at the Moore House to settle surrender terms. Cornwallis’ army marched out of Yorktown between two lines of American and French soldiers and laid down their weaponry in a field and walked back to Yorktown on October 19th. Eventually Clinton, Cornwallis, and their troops returned to England.
The outcome of the Battle of Yorktown was America’s independence. After the Battle of Yorktown, the British tried to continue to fight but the loss at Yorktown turned the British public against the war. The March after the war, a pro-American parliament was elected. Once this was established, peace negotiations with Great Britain began. Two years later, the 1783 Treaty of Paris was signed. This made the British recognize America’s independence and Americans to stop persecuting British

Loyalists.
The battle would not have had this outcome if it hadn’t been for the generals that led the troops. The major generals for the American and French troops were George Washington, Comte de Grasse, Comte de Rochambeau, and Marquis de Lafayette. The only American general, George Washington, was in British General Edward Braddock’s army in Virginia in 1755 and in March he was selected as a delegate to the First Continental Congress. That August he was made commander of all Virginia troops. Over the next twenty years he slowly begins to side with the colonists. On June 15th, 1775 Washington was appointed Commander-in-Chief and Major General of the colonial forces against Great Britain. He was determined to be the best choice because of his past military experience and he had been advising Congress on what to do for the past few months. While he was the best choice he also had difficulties including the fact that he was not accustomed to having a larger army and the needs he had to meet. The three generals that helped George Washington were all French generals.
Comte de Rochambeau’s role in the military started mainly in the Revolutionary War. He was the Commander of the French forces sent to America. After the Revolutionary War, Rochambeau commanded the Army of the North during the revolutionary period in France and was made a marshal of France in 1791. The second French general was Marquis de Lafayette. During 1777 Lafayette was named a major general in the Continental Army. During the Battle of Brandywine in September of 1777 Lafayette was the first major combat. In May of 1778 Lafayette outsmarted the British that were sent to capture him at Bunker Hill. Bunker Hill was later named Lafayette Hill. The last general that helped the French fight against the British was Comte de Grasse. At age eleven, Grasse entered the French navy in 1733. Ten years later Grasse was promoted to Ensign and by this time had already served in a few major naval conflicts against British fleets in the War of Austrian Succession. Grasse was promoted to Lieutenant in 1754 and in 1762 he was promoted to Captain. Later on, in 1781 he became the Rear Admiral and got command of a fleet of twenty ships and three frigates. While he had command of the fleets he was told to capture the British sugar islands. In July of 1781 Grasse received orders to help Rochambeau’s movement against Cornwallis in the Chesapeake Bay and helped seal Cornwallis’ loss.
The two generals that were commanding the British forces were Charles Cornwallis and Sir Henry Clinton. Charles Cornwallis was educated at Eton, a military school and received his ensign’s commission in Grenadier Guards in 1756. After this he attended a military academy at Turin for a brief amount of time. Later, he participated in the Seven Years War. In 1760, he went to the House of Commons and a year later he became Lieutenant Colonel of the 12th Regiment. He joined the Lords as the second Earl Cornwallis in 1762 and in1770 Cornwallis was made constable of the Tower of London. Five years later General Cornwallis was promoted to major general and then in 1776 he commanded the reinforcements that were sent to General William Howe. During the Battle of Brandywine, he commanded one of Howe’s divisions and then during the Battle of Monmouth he also commanded one of those forces. In 1780 Charles Cornwallis became a semi-independent commander in the southern states and a year later commanded the British army in Yorktown.
The second British general that helped in the Battle of Yorktown was Sir Henry Clinton.

In 1751 Clinton was an Army Lieutenant in the Cold Stream Guards and before that he served in the New York Militia. Sir Henry Clinton became Colonel of the 12th Regiment in 1763 which put him above Charles Cornwallis. Nine years later in the May of 1772 he became Major General and then was given a seat in British Parliament and retained that position for twelve years. Clinton helped fight at the Battle of Bunker Hill and screwed up his reputation when he was given a command to capture Charleston, South Carolina in 1776. When tension arose with General William Howe, Sir Henry Clinton thought about resigning. He decided not to resign and then in 1777 returned to England and was made Knight of the Bath. Clinton was put in command at New York in 1777 and for the next two years he concentrated his forces around New York. While he was in New York, he captured Charleston and 6,000 American soldiers. Cornwallis and Clinton had the same tension that Clinton and Howe had and the May after Cornwallis’ defeat he left his

command.
The Revolutionary War was a tough time for Americans and the British. It was a long seven years but in the end the Americans prevailed. The Battle of Yorktown was the last battle before the America’s freedom and independence. Had the British gotten their reinforcements from New York, the Revolutionary War might have had a different outcome. The outcome of the Battle of Yorktown was crucial to the future of America.