Cornwallis Pretended To Be Ill To Avoid The Surrender
Three thousand American forces led by George Washington and four thousand French soldiers led by General Comte de Rochambeau marched from Newport, Rhode Island, to Yorktown, Virginia, on August 19, 1781. During the march, Washington sends out bogus letters to make Henry Clinton, the British Commander-in-Chief, believe his army was about to invade New York. This persuaded Clinton that Lord Cornwallis's position in Yorktown was secure. The siege of Yorktown began on September 28 when the city was totally besieged. On October 17, after being bombarded nonstop by Franco-American forces, with no chance of reinforcements and insufficient supplies, Cornwallis raised the white flag and surrendered his whole remaining force of almost 7,000 soldiers.
The Siege of Yorktown was the American Revolutionary War's final significant engagement. It compelled the British to negotiate a cease-fire. The British were refused conventional war honors, much as the Americans had been rejected after conquering Charleston. Furthermore, Lord Cornwallis declined to meet George Washington in person and skipped the surrender ceremony, claiming to be ill. Instead, he dispatched Brigadier General Charles O'Hara to deliver Rochambeau with the surrender sword. Rochambeau pointed to Washington, but when O'Hara presented it to him, he declined and urged his second-in-command, Benjamin Lincoln, to receive it instead. This interesting fact about the American Revolution also ends our list.
