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The siege of Yorktown was the last major land battle of the American Revolutionary War in North America, and led to the surrender of General Cornwallis and the capture of both him and his army. The Continental Army 's victory at Yorktown prompted the British government to negotiate an end to the conflict.
The siege involved land forces from the United States, including the Continental Army and state militias, as well as land forces under French and British command. The British forces included a large number of troops from various German principalities of the Holy Roman Empire that were collectively known as Hessians.
By December 1780, the American Revolutionary War's North American theatres had reached a critical point. The Continental Army had suffered major defeats earlier in the year, with its southern armies either captured or dispersed in the loss of Charleston and the Battle of Camden in the south, while the armies of George Washington and the British commander-in-chief for North America, Sir Henry ...
Charles, Earl Cornwallis (1738–1805) was a military officer who served in the British Army during the American War of Independence. He is best known for surrendering his army after the 1781 siege of Yorktown, an act that ended major hostilities in North America and led directly to peace negotiations and the eventual end of the war.
With the surrender at Yorktown, the full participation of French forces in that battle, and the resulting loss of Cornwallis's army, the British war effort ground to a halt. The sole remaining British army of any size remaining in America was that under Sir Henry Clinton in New York.
The regiment was captured in the Siege of Yorktown three months later in October. It was split up and the troops were interned at various locations throughout Virginia . Following the end of the war, in 1783, it returned to Scotland and was commanded by Sir Robert Stuart.
Its two brigades were made up of three battalions each, though the second brigade was later reorganized into four. The light infantry were regarded as the elite troops of the army. As such they participated in an important assault during the Siege of Yorktown in October 1781.
The Battle of Yorktown or siege of Yorktown was fought from April 5 to May 4, 1862, as part of the Peninsula Campaign of the American Civil War.Marching from Fort Monroe, Union Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan's Army of the Potomac encountered Maj. Gen. John B. Magruder's small Confederate force at Yorktown behind the Warwick Line.