Today we stood in the center of one of the most important battlefields of the Revolutionary War, Yorktown. It was here that Washington, with the help of Rochambeau, defeated Cornwallis in a siege and forced him to surrender. The outcome is somewhat surprising when one considers the track record of Washington- after all he had won a total of one important battle thus far in the war, Saratoga. So how did this victory occur? Much like in the case of Jamestown, they succeeded through a combination of luck, talent, and English failure. Had certain events not unfolded in the pattern that they did, then it is very doubtful the same outcome would have occurred.

The first step in this siege started in New York, not Yorktown. Here Washington was in conflict with General Clinton and was working on a plan with Rochambeau. Both Washington and Rochambeau knew that the French Navy was on its way, and when word came that they were sailing for Yorktown the two men decided to switch their efforts to Cornwallis. Washington wanted to make sure that his men would be able to match out of the area undetected by Clinton, they did not have the time nor the efforts to face him in battle. Washington set up an entire campsite to make it look as though the troops were still there- the plan. The men the marched out to Virginia under the cover of night- the luck. Clinton was unaware of their departure until they were too far away to be stopped-the English failure.

Once Washington and Rochambeau reached Yorktown they were again met with a combination of skill and luck. Cornwallis never expected to face a battle, never expected the French Navy to show up in the York River, and certainly never expected to surrender. Because of this he made some dyer mistakes throughout the battle. Both Cornwallis and Clinton had thought that the French Navy would go to New York, and so Cornwallis sent half of his troops north to help Clinton. Then, once they realized that the Navy was in Yorktown it took time to repair the ships before the troops could go back south though all along Clinton said that he had given the troops the order to leave. Also, since they were under siege, Cornwallis slaughtered his own horses so that he would not have to feed them and also in an attempt to block up the river. He also went as far as sinking his own ships to keep the Americans and the French from advancing. After all, he never expected to need either; he thought that the English Navy was on its way and that they would simply get on the boat and leave. When he realized that there was no hope left he called for a retreat. 1000 men made it across the river to safety but foul weather damaged their boats and the rest of the men were stuck. Each of these assumptions and actions put America in a better and better place for victory.

We know that Cornwallis was not a bad general, so why did he make so many mistakes? The answer is simple; he had no reason to assume that the English and the French would work well together to present a united front, that the French Navy, and that his troops would fail to reach him in time. Never before had the English and French worked so well together, and it would never happen again. Never before had the French Navy come to the aid of the Americans, and it would never happen again. Clinton told him that his own Navy was on its way, he had no reason to doubt him. But these odd turns of fate all collided into one gigantic failure. Cornwallis did the only thing he could. He surrendered. The next day, his ships did show up but it was too late. The English had lost the South.