Plan of the Siege of York Town in Virginia

This engraved map was published in London in March 1787. It details the siege of Yorktown in 1781, the last great battle of the American Revolution. It clearly shows the American and French forces as they surround the British forces under the command of General Charles Cornwallis (1738-1805). The map also details the no. 9 and no. 10 redoubts taken by the American and French forces, which destroyed the British perimeter, allowing the Americans and French to intensify their bombardment and secure passage of the French navy, which cut off any possible water escape by the British. Cornwallis’s surrender on October 19, 1781, forced the British to negotiate for peace.