Highlands Ranch High School - Mr. Sedivy
Highlands Ranch, Colorado

- World History -
Colonial America and
The American Revolution

The End of the American Revolution

Yorktown, Virginia
The British were surrounded by the Americans on land, and by the French in the ocean.

This French battle plan illustrates the siege of Yorktown and the naval blockade
that defeated the British in 1781. Click the plan for an enlargement.

France's Admiral de Grasse arrived in time to block a British fleet that was coming to rescue Lord Cornwallis from French and American land forces. On September 5, 1781, de Grasses's fleet moved out of Chesapeake Bay to face the attacking British ships. Realizing that the French blockade could not be broken, the British fleet sailed back to New York leaving Cornwallis' army with no choice but to surrender.

The siege at Chesapeake Bay

After the British surrendered, Cornwallis was so embarrassed that he sent his second in command, so Washington had to also send his second in command.

Cornwallis surrenders at Yorktown

French soldiers join Americans at the British base at Yorktown in October 1781.
Click to view the entire painting.

During the 20-day seige, 16,000 French and American soldiers closed in on the 8000-man British force. The redcoats surrendered on October 19, 1781.

The Treaty of Paris
The Treaty of Paris in 1783 formally ended the Revolutionary War and recognized the United States as an independent country. Great Britain granted the new nation all of its land from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River, and from Canada to Florida.

Marquis de Lafayette

Marquis de Lafayette told the Americans to come help France some time. During the French Revolution, when he was going to be guillotined, the Americans went over and tried to persuade the French to not kill him. He had already been killed, but the French spared his wife.

Also, when the Americans arrived in France in WW I, General Pershing said,
"Lafayette, we are here."

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