Yorktown Battlefield - Winning America’s Independence
Discover what it took for the United States to be independent as you explore the site of the last major battle of the Revolutionary War. Here at Yorktown, in the fall of 1781, General George Washington, with allied American and French forces, besieged General Charles Lord Cornwallis’s British army. On October 19, Cornwallis surrendered, effectively ending the war and ensuring independence.
Features
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The Siege
Site of a combined American and French siege, this victory secured independence for the United States
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Yorktown
Founded as an important port for exporting tobacco and importing slaves, Yorktown was site of the siege and today is a national resource.
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Yorktown National Cemetery
The Yorktown National Cemetery was officially established in 1866, however interment of Civil War soldiers began during Federal occupation in 1862.
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Did You Know?
During the Civil War, 632 Union dead were buried in the heart of the 1781 battlefield. In 1866 this cemetery became a national cemetery. Within a 50 mile radius, the remains of over 1500 Union soldiers were disinterred from their war burials and honorably placed in the Yorktown National Cemetery.