Cornwallis Surrenders at Yorktown

October 19, 1781

Trapped on a Virginia peninsula by Washington's army and Rochambeau's French regulars, with de Grasse's fleet blocking the bay, Cornwallis stacked his arms as his band supposedly played 'The World Turned Upside Down.' It was, effectively, the last major battle of the American Revolutionary War. Lord North, receiving the news in London, paced the room crying 'Oh God, it is all over,' and resigned within months.