On October 19, 1781, a long line of British soldiers in red coats marched out of the small town of Yorktown, Virginia, between two long rows of American and French troops. Their drums played a tune called 'The World Turned Upside Down.' One by one, the British soldiers stacked their muskets in a field and walked away unarmed. After six and a half years of fighting, the American Revolution was effectively over.
The battle that ended it had been a carefully laid trap. British General Lord Cornwallis and 8,000 troops had dug in at Yorktown to wait for ships to evacuate them. Instead, a French fleet sealed off the harbor, while George Washington marched a combined American and French army of 17,000 soldiers down from New York with such secrecy that the British didn't realize what was happening until it was too late. For three weeks, Washington's cannons pounded Yorktown. When Cornwallis tried to escape across the river, a storm blew his boats back. He had no choice but to surrender. He claimed to be sick that day and sent another officer to deliver his sword.
Back in London, when news arrived, Prime Minister Lord North reportedly threw open his arms and cried, 'Oh God, it is all over!' Two years later, the Treaty of Paris officially recognized the United States as an independent country. Yorktown is now a national park, with cannon still set in their old positions and the surrender field marked with a tall stone monument - pointing to the spot where thirteen colonies became a nation.
