Yorktown Battlefield

Yorktown Battlefield, administered by the National Park Service as part of Colonial National Historical Park, preserves the ground where the decisive engagement of the American Revolutionary War concluded in October 1781. The Siege of Yorktown began on October 6, 1781, when a combined American and French force of approximately 16,000 troops under General George Washington and French General Rochambeau invested the British position defended by General Charles Cornwallis and roughly 8,000 soldiers. After 20 days of siege, with his escape route across the York River blocked by the French fleet following the Battle of the Chesapeake, Cornwallis surrendered on October 19, 1781. The battlefield preserves extensive earthworks from the siege across 4,000 acres of rolling Virginia terrain, including British and American redoubts, siege parallels, and artillery positions. Redoubts 9 and 10, stormed by French and American troops respectively on the night of October 14, 1781, in one of the few bayonet charges of the war, are among the best-preserved assault objectives of the 18th century. Driving and walking tours interpret the siege lines, artillery positions, and the Moore House where surrender terms were negotiated. The Yorktown Battlefield Visitor Center houses a collection of 18th-century military artifacts, including a tent used by Washington during the siege, and provides orientation exhibits explaining the preceding campaign, the role of the French alliance, and the naval Battle of the Chesapeake. The surrender field, where British and Hessian troops laid down their arms before French and American forces on October 19, is accessible from the driving tour. Yorktown village, adjacent to the battlefield, preserves colonial-era structures and the Victory Monument, authorized by Congress in 1781 and completed in 1884, commemorating the French-American alliance that secured independence. The Colonial Parkway links Yorktown to Jamestown and Colonial Williamsburg, forming the Colonial Triangle.