The Siege of Yorktown: American and France Corner Britain

Published: Dec. 24, 2019, 7:50 a.m.

b'The Battle of Yorktown sealed the fate of the Revolutionary War. In late 1781, American and French troops laid siege to the British Army at Yorktown, Virginia. First, a bit of backgroun. The partisan warfare that kept occurring in the upcountry of the Carolinas made it impossible for the British to obtain supplies from there. This in turn made it necessary for Cornwallis to keep his army relatively close to the coast. Greene kept his army far enough from Cornwallis to avoid a major pitched battle while constantly trying to lure Cornwallis away from the coast. Greene\\u2019s strategy was (in Allen Guelzo\\u2019s words) \\u201cdance like a butterfly, sting like a bee.\\u201d In this, he was assisted by a cavalry commander named Col. Henry (\\u201cLight Horse Harry\\u201d) Lee, as well as Francis Marion and Daniel Morgan. Skirmishers of the two armies occasionally fought each other, but the main armies never met.'