Overview and Summary of the Battle of Yorktown
In 1780 the French government had sent over a strong army under Rochambeau. It was landed at Newport. It remained there a year to protect the vessels in which it had come from France from capture by a stronger British fleet that had at once appeared off the mouth of the harbor. Another French fleet and another French army were in the West Indies. Following the Battle of Guilford Courthouse and the Battle of Eutaw Springs Cornwallis marched northward from Wilmington and added the troops in Virginia to his own force. Cornwallis then set out to capture Marquis de Lafayette and his men. Cornwallis fortified Yorktown, and Lafayette was encamped at Williamsburg. And there they still were in September, 1781. In the summer of 1781 it became possible to unite all the French forces with the Americans to strike an attack of the British. The Americans and their French allies decided to besiege Cornwallis at Yorktown. The Siege of Yorktown took place between September and October, 1781. Rochambeau led his men to New York and joined the main American army. Washington now took command of the allied forces. He pretended that he was about to attack New York and deceived Henry Clinton so completely that he ordered General Cornwallis to send some of his soldiers to New York. The French and American allies were marching southward through Philadelphia before General Clinton realized what they were doing. The French West India fleet under De Grasse reached one end of the Chesapeake Bay at the same time the allies reached the other end. The British fleet attacked it and were defeated. There was no hope for Cornwallis. No help could reach him by sea and the allies outnumbered his forces two to one. On October 19, 1781, the British laid down their arms and surrendered. The British army was decimated and the Revolutionary war was virtually over.

The Importance and Significance of the Battle of Yorktown
Significance of the Battle of Yorktown: The significance of the conflict was that Cornwallis surrendered to George Washington as French and American forces trapped the British at Yorktown. The British surrender at the Battle of Yorktown ended the American Revolutionary War.