When Did the Revolutionary War End?

When did the Revolutionary War end? America’s was a hard-fought independence.  It battled against the best navy and strongest army in the world, and won. By 1781, the colonies formed their own government as the United States of America, defined by the Articles of Confederation. They won battle after battle, regaining cities that had fallen to the British. By September, the French fleet removed the British fleet from the Chesapeake Bay. One month later, on October 19, General Charles Cornwallis surrendered to General George Washington at Yorktown, the end of the fighting of the Revolutionary War.  Cornwallis was hemmed in both by land and by sea, so his surrender was unavoidable.

George Washington originally wanted to attack New York, where the colonial army outnumbered the British army by three to one. However, a French commander, Comte de Rochambeau, suggested Yorktown. French and American forces could converge on Yorktown, Virginia, and overtake Cornwallis’s army. Washington agreed, but needed the movement of troops from New York to Virginia to be secret.

Washington sent misinformation, knowing that it would land in the hands of British General Clinton. He led Clinton to believe that an attack on New York was imminent, but that Yorktown was safe. His deception helped to move 3,000 American troops and 4,000 French troops south.

Over the summer months of 1781, Cornwallis arrived in Yorktown and built up a force of 7,200 troops. He had recently been defeated at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse. He needed to regroup, and he thought that Virginia would be easier to overtake than the Carolinas. Cornwallis wanted to route Lafayette, who commanded 4,500 men. However, Lafayette knew that the showdown at Yorktown was coming, so he engaged Cornwallis only in small skirmishes. Cornwallis headed for Yorktown and dug in there.

Washington and Lafayette’s troops met and converged on Yorktown, and the French fleet blocked any British retreat by sea. Cornwallis ordered that many ships be scuttled rather than captured, and British soldiers, under heavy fire from both the Americans and French, deserted in large numbers. The bombardment continued for days and continued to strengthen. Cornwallis and his officers knew that they could not win this battle.  

British Surrender

On October 17, the British signaled surrender and the bombardment was stopped. On October 18, the surrender negotiations were finalized. On October 19, at 2:00 p.m., Cornwallis’s troops were made prisoners of war. In all, the Americans and French seized 8,000 troops, 24 transport ships, 214 artillery pieces, and numerous wagons and horses.

Cornwallis would not meet with Washington and refused to attend the surrender ceremony. He sent his subordinate, Brigadier General Charles O’Hara, to turn over the sword of surrender. In November of 1781, the Americans and British worked out the Preliminary Articles of Peace. It took several months before the Preliminary Articles of Peace was signed by all necessary parties. Communication was only as fast as the fastest vehicles of the day.

It was January 20, 1783, by the time all parties had certified the Preliminary Articles of Peace. By the time the American people found out that the Preliminary Articles had been signed, it was March.  

When Did the Revolutionary War End?

The formal end of the war, the Treaty of Paris, was signed in 1783. Negotiations had been conducted for two years and was based on the Preliminary Articles of Peace. United States and British officials signed the treaty on September 3, 1783. The treaty recognized the United States as a country independent of British control. It also granted the United States the territory to its west. The Congress of the Confederation ratified the treat on January 14, 1784, and King George ratified the document on April 9, 1784.  Separate treaties, also written in Paris, detailed peace among France, Spain, and the Dutch Republic. The Revolution was officially over.

When did the Revolutionary War end? The fighting ended with Cornwallis’s surrender on October 19, 1781. The initial peace treaty was signed on January 20, 1783, and the formal peace treaty was ratified in 1784.