19 Oct 1781: Victory at Yorktown

By Lt Col P

Two hundred twenty-five years ago today, General George Washington accepted the surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, effectively ending the American Revolution.

The siege, while not without its tactically interesting moments, is more of a lesson in the operational art. It was the culmination of quick thinking and movment by Washington and his French allies, and the product of other campaigns widely separated by time and space. First of those was the victory at Saratoga, which not only brought the French into the war but secured New York and New England to the patriot cause. The second was Nathanael Greene's deftly waged campaign in which, while he never really beat Cornwallis in the field, he forced the British commander out of the Carolinas and compelled him to withdraw to Virginia. In subsidiary actions a wing of his army did decisively defeat the British at Cowpens, while patriot militia crushed their loyalist foes at Kings Mountain.

Also of great interest is Washington's grasp of the strategic position and the opportunity afforded him by Cornwallis's move to Yorktown. It is often said that although Washington was a mediocre tactical commander at best, he was a superb operational and strategic commander; the Yorktown campaign bears that out. Using no communications but messages delivered by horse, foot and ship, he and Comte de Rochambeau planned and executed a bold overland march with a coordinated move by the French fleet in the Caribbean. This capability is stunning, given the complete absence of the instantaneous communications we enjoy today.

Once the French fleet arrived and defeated the British fleet at the Battle of the Chesapeake, the result on land was almost a foregone conclusion. The siege, handled in professional fashion by the French Army, reached its end in a matter of weeks, the point being driven home when French and American infantry stormed two key British positions. Cornwallis offered his surrender on 17 October, and completed the act on 19 October.

October 19, 2006 05:22 AM History