Yorktown

Historic town in York County, southeast Virginia. It is situated on the York River, near its mouth on Chesapeake Bay, 19 km/12 mi north of Newport News. Once a bustling port, it was at the centre of the final major battle of the Revolution (September-October 1781). When George Washington trapped Charles Cornwallis's British troops on the Peninsula, and escape by sea was cut off by the French, the British commander surrendered.

The battlefield is today part of the Colonial National Historical Park; associated sites include the Moore House, where the articles of surrender were drawn up. Yorktown played a role in the Civil War, as well; George McClellan began his ill-fated 1862 Peninsular Campaign by setting siege to the town. Confederate troops abandoned their lines, which were established on the old Revolutionary earthworks, just before his attack, and McClellan occupied the town before moving up the Peninsula toward Richmond.