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What happened to British Gen. Cornwallis after his Yorktown surrender — the final battle of the Revolutionary War? 22%
By Dave Urbanski32%
7/4/2026, 11:00:00 AM
BS Summary: This article contains 15 faulty reasoning types, including Biased Writer Voice, Halo Effect, and Negativity Bias, with Appeal to Authority as the most egregious example at 54.6% saturation with 263 hits. Analysis detected 762 faulty-reasoning hits from 482 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 35.4% and a BS Rank of 22% (17,230 of 21,887 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 78.70% of the article peer group.
It's common knowledge that Cornwallis' surrender at Yorktown, Virginia, effectively ended the Revolutionary War — but what happened to the British general after that humiliating defeat?
According to the Library of Virginia, the Siege of Yorktown — which turned out to be the final major military engagement of the Revolutionary War — took place in the autumn of 1781.
The British Army and its commanding general, Charles Cornwallis, were headquartered in the coastal Virginia town.
However, a French fleet under the command of Admiral François-Joseph-Paul de Grasse drove a British fleet from the Capes of Virginia, which made it impossible for Cornwallis to receive supplies and reinforcements, the Library of Virginia said.
American Gen.
George Washington led his army from New York to Virginia, and — along with a large French and American army under Comte de Rochambeau — Washington laid siege to the British at Yorktown, the Library of Virginia said, adding that those forces joined the Marquis de Lafayette, who was commanding an American army that had been fighting the British in Virginia for six months.
The siege began on October 6, 1781, as the Americans and French formed a semicircle outside of the town and began an artillery bombardment.
A successful storming of two British redoubts, or small temporary defensive enclosures, convinced Cornwallis that his position was untenable, and he surrendered his army to the combined American and French forces on October 19.
He refused, however, to surrender in person and delegated the humiliating duty to his second in command.
Washington consequently directed his second in command to receive the surrender.
Below is one of several famed clips from Mel Gibson's starring Hollywood turn in "The Patriot" depicting Cornwallis' disbelief that an army of "peasants" actually had defeated him:
RELATED: BREAKING: Cornwallis surrenders in Yorktown; end of war may be in sight
Nine days after his surrender, Cornwallis signed a parole document, the Library of Virginia said; under its terms, Cornwallis was allowed to leave Virginia and return to Great Britain on the condition that he would engage in no further military action against the United States.
However, Cornwallis' army remained in the U.S. as prisoners of war until they were exchanged or paroled, the Library of Virginia said, adding that Cornwallis — "an able military commander" — was "received warmly in England and served as governor-general of India from 1786 until his death in 1805."
The Library of Virginia noted that a formal peace treaty ended the Revolutionary War nearly two years after Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, and King George III recognized the independence of the United States of America.
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