The Colonial National Historical Park is located in the the Colonial historic triangle near Williamsburg, Virginia operated by the National Park Service. The key sites of the park includes the first English settlement at Jamestown, the battlefields of Yorktown where the British Army was defeated in the American Revolutionary War, the Colonial Parkway, and the Colonial Naval History Museum located in the Visitor center. Over 3 million people visit the park each year.
In August of 1781, Admiral Sir Thomas Graves led a British fleet from the Province of New York to attack Admiral de Grasse’s fleet. Graves did not realize how large the French fleet was, and neither did Cornwallis. The British fleet was defeated by de Grasse’s fleet in the Battle of the Chesapeake on September 5, and forced to fall back to New York. On September 14, Washington arrived in Williamsburg, Virginia and eventually laid siege to Yorktown.
The siege of Yorktown, also known as the Battle of Yorktown and the surrender at Yorktown, was the final battle of American Revolutionary War. It was won decisively by the Continental Army, led by George Washington, with support from the Marquis de Lafayette and French Army troops, led by the Comte de Rochambeau, and a French Navy force commanded by the Comte de Grasse over the British Army commanded by British Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis. The siege began on September 28, 1781, and ended on October 19, 1781, at exactly 10:30 am in Yorktown, Virginia.
The victory of Washington and the Continental Army at Yorktown led to the capture of both Cornwallis and the British Army, who subsequently surrendered, leading the British to negotiate an end to the conflict. The British defeat at Yorktown led to the Treaty of Paris in 1783, in which the British acknowledged the independence and sovereignty of the Thirteen Colonies and subsequently to the establishment of the United States as the first constitutional republic in world history.
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