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American Revolution: Yorktown campaign (January - October 1781)

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    Reverend William Mauzy, Patriot, was born in Stafford county, Virginia, December 27, 1755, and died in Indiana in 1837. He married URSULA ARNOLD on July 22, 1772. She was born February 22, 1753 in En...
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    Hunt (1754—1808) was an American military officer who served in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War and later served in the United States Army where he rose to the rank of colone...

American Revolution: Yorktown campaign (January - October 1781)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yorktown_campaign

Result

Decisive Franco-American victory

The Yorktown or Virginia campaign was a series of military maneuvers and battles during the American Revolutionary War that culminated in the decisive Siege of Yorktown in October 1781. The result of the campaign was the surrender of the British Army force of General Charles, Earl Cornwallis, an event that led directly to the beginning of serious peace negotiations and the eventual end of the war. The campaign was marked by disagreements, indecision, and miscommunication on the part of British leaders, and by a remarkable set of cooperative decisions, at times in violation of orders, by the French and Americans.

The campaign involved land and naval forces of Great Britain and France, and land forces of the United States. British forces sent to Virginia between January and April 1781 joined with Cornwallis's army in May, which came north from an extended campaign through the southern states. These forces were first opposed weakly by Virginia militia, but General George Washington sent first the Marquis de Lafayette and then Anthony Wayne with Continental Army troops to oppose the raiding and economic havoc the British were wreaking. The combined American forces, however, were insufficient in number to oppose the combined British forces, and it was only after a series of controversially confusing orders by General Sir Henry Clinton, the British commander-in-chief, that Cornwallis moved to Yorktown in July and built a defensive position that was strong against the land forces he then faced, but was vulnerable to naval blockade and siege.

British naval forces in North America and the West Indies were weaker than the combined fleets of France and Spain, and, after some critical decisions and tactical missteps by British naval commanders, the French fleet of Paul de Grasse gained control over Chesapeake Bay, blockading Cornwallis from naval support and delivering additional land forces to blockade him on land. The Royal Navy attempted to dispute this control, but Admiral Thomas Graves was defeated in the key Battle of the Chesapeake on September 5. American and French armies that had massed outside New York City began moving south late in August, and arrived near Yorktown in mid-September; deceptions about their movement successfully delayed attempts by Clinton to send more troops to Cornwallis.

The Siege of Yorktown began on September 28. In a step that probably shortened the siege, Cornwallis decided to abandon parts of his outer defenses, and the besiegers successfully stormed two of his redoubts. When it became clear that his position was untenable, Cornwallis opened negotiations on October 17 and surrendered two days later. When the news reached London, the government of Lord North fell, and the following Rockingham ministry entered into peace negotiations. These culminated in the Treaty of Paris in 1783, in which King George III recognized the independent United States of America. Clinton and Cornwallis engaged in a public war of words defending their roles in the campaign, and British naval command also discussed the navy's shortcomings that led to the defeat.

Campaign Battles

Skirmish at Waters Creek

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skirmish_at_Waters_Creek

Battle of Cape Henry

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cape_Henry

Battle of Blandford

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Blandford

Battle of Spencer's Ordinary

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Spencer%27s_Ordinary

Battle of Green Spring

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Green_Spring

Francisco's Fight

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco%27s_Fight

Battle of the Chesapeake

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Chesapeake

Siege of Yorktown

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Yorktown

Yorktown order of battle

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yorktown_order_of_battle