The siege that ended a war on 19 October 1781

Yorktown is where the last major battle of the Revolutionary War was fought,
and where independence stopped being a claim and became a fact.

In the autumn of 1781, General George Washington, with **allied
American and French forces**, besieged General Charles Lord Cornwallis's
British army here. On 19 October, Cornwallis surrendered, effectively
ending the war.

The word doing the most work in that paragraph is allied. A siege requires
the besieged force to be cut off, and cutting Cornwallis off from resupply and
escape by sea was done by the French fleet. Yorktown is the clearest case in
the war of a victory that was not available to the Continental Army alone.

Getting there

For a map search or GPS: **Yorktown Battlefield Visitor Center, 1000 Colonial
Parkway, Yorktown, Virginia 23690**.

Eastbound from Richmond via I-64: exit 242B for Yorktown onto the Colonial
Parkway, and follow it to its end.

Westbound from Virginia Beach, Norfolk or Hampton: Route 105 East (Fort
Eustis Boulevard east), exit 250B to Route 17, turn left onto Route 17, and
follow the signs to Yorktown Battlefield.

The weather, and the closure line

Yorktown is warm in summer — temperatures in the 80s — and cold in winter, in
the 30s.

For closures due to inclement weather at Colonial National Historical Park,
there is a 24-hour line: (757) 856-1240. Worth having before you set off
in winter.

*Location: Part of Colonial National Historical Park, Virginia. Source: U.S.
National Park Service.*