YorkTown

The Battle of Yorktown was the climax of the

Revolutionary War. The combined forces of George Washington,

Admiral de Grasse, General Rochambeau, and

General Lafayette were enough to converge on the largest

concentration of British forces, overtake them and force a surrender.

With planning, skill, and courage, the army was able to defeat the

Generals Rochambeau and Washington met in 1781 to determine the next move. Washington was firmly for going to New York and attacking the British there, but due to the pleading and persuasiveness of Rochambeau it was decided that they would attack the South, where there was one of the largest concentrations of British troops in North America. A message from Lafayette arrived to General Washington stating that Cornwallis had taken up a defensive position at Yorktown, in Virginia. Cornwallis was stationed next to the York River, a

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They immediately drafted and proposed the Treaty of Paris, which the Americans accepted. Now they could prevent a British retreat from Yorktown. Cornwallis’s options were starting to run out. Soon the British were surrounded by heavy fire. Just over 8 years after the drafting of the Declaration of Independence America was a fully independent nation.

French Admiral de Grasse, who was at the time stationed in the West Indies, would take his fleet to the Chesapeake Bay and secure the water so reinforcements and escapes could not arrive or occur. He told smallpox-infected soldiers to run across lines to infect the Americans, although most were shot before any harm could be done to the. As they were marching South, Admiral de Grasse and his fleet arrived at the Chesapeake Bay. His successors decided that it was no longer in Britain’s best interest to continue the war. nd it was decided that if they could trap Cornwallis by land and block his escapes by water, the Americans could inflict serious damage to the British forces in America. The combined army of French and Americans raced towards Virginia. Soon even more fire came from the Americans as they took out British Soldier after soldier.

Immediately following the Battle of Yorktown, Lord North, the British P.

Approximate Word count = 618
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)

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