Siege of Yorktown | Summary, Combatants, Casualties, & Facts (2024)

FAQs

Siege of Yorktown | Summary, Combatants, Casualties, & Facts? ›

The memorial was to include the names of the some 600 Frenchmen* who lost their lives in this campaign, including the Yorktown siege and the naval battle of Chesapeake Bay, or the Battle of the Capes, as it is sometimes called.

The memorial was to include the names of the some 600 Frenchmen* who lost their lives in this campaign, including the Yorktown siege and the naval battle of Chesapeake Bay, or the Battle of the Capes, as it is sometimes called.

In all, Yorktown's sinking on 7 June 1942 claimed the lives of 141 of her officers and crewmen.

By the end of September, approximately 17,600 American and French soldiers were gathered in Williamsburg, while 8,300 British soldiers were occupying Yorktown.

Supported by the French army and navy, Washington's forces defeated Lord Charles Cornwallis' veteran army dug in at Yorktown, Virginia. Victory at Yorktown led directly to the peace negotiations that ended the war in 1783 and gave America its independence.

According to historic records that survive from the war, some 230-397 soldiers were killed over the course of the Battle of Yorktown. The Franco-American forces suffered only 88 deaths; the British, however, lost anywhere from 142 to 309 soldiers during the fighting.

There are various accounts of what became of the surrender sword after the battle: some claim General Washington kept it for a few years and then had it returned to Lord Cornwallis, while some believe the sword remains in America's possession, perhaps in the White House.

With his knowledge of the surrounding rivers and ocean, Washington was able to work with the French Navy to defeat the British, allowing for the victory at Yorktown.

Although efforts to save Yorktown were ongoing, the Japanese submarine I-158 managed to move into firing range undetected and fired torpedoes scoring two hits on Yorktown. On 7 June at 0701, the valiant flattop turned over on her port side and sank in 3,000 fathoms of water.

How deep is the Yorktown wreck? ›

After 56 years on the bottom of the ocean, the wreck of the USS Yorktown (CV-5) was finally located. “CV-5” indicates that the ship was only the fifth aircraft carrier in the US Navy.

Defying estimates that predicted Yorktown required at least three months of repairs at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, 1,400 Pearl Harbor workers labored around the clock according to their motto, "we keep them fit to fight." In 72 hours they restored the ship to a battle-ready state.

The port of Yorktown, which remains the seat of government, was the site of the final battle of the American Revolution where on October 19, 1781, Lord Cornwallis surrendered his British Army to the combined American-French forces under Washington and Rochambeau.

Because McClellan's army held the field after forcing the Confederate defenders to abandon the Warwick Line, the Siege of Yorktown was tactically a federal victory. In addition, the Union suffered only 182 casualties compared to 300 for the Confederacy.

The Siege of Yorktown, from September 28 to October 19, 1781, essentially ended the fighting in the American Revolution. The siege was a land-and-sea campaign in which American and French troops together entrapped a major British army on a peninsula at Yorktown, Virginia.

Historians believe that at least an additional 17,000 deaths were the result of disease, including about 8,000–12,000 who died while prisoners of war. Unreliable imperial data places the total casualties for British regulars fighting in the Revolutionary War around 24,000 men.