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Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis, KG, PC (31 December 1738 – 5 October 1805) was a British Army officer, Whig politician and colonial administrator. In the United States and the United Kingdom, he is best known as one of the leading British general officers in the American War of Independence .
The siege of Yorktown was the last major land battle of the American Revolutionary War in North America, and led to the surrender of General Cornwallis and the capture of both him and his army. The Continental Army 's victory at Yorktown prompted the British government to negotiate an end to the conflict.
Cornwallis returned to Britain with General Arnold, and they were cheered when they landed in England on January 21, 1782. [130] In 1782 Henry Laurens, a representative to the Continental Congress, was released from the Tower of London in exchange for a promise to effect the release of Cornwallis from his parole. [131]
To counter the British threat in the Carolinas, Washington had sent Major General Nathanael Greene, one of his best strategists, to rebuild the American army in North Carolina after the defeat at Camden. [44] General Cornwallis, leading the British troops in the south, wanted to deal with him and gain control over the state. [45]
A size of twelve by eighteen feet (370 cm × 550 cm) was agreed, as was the subject matter for the four paintings: the Declaration of Independence, the Surrender of General Burgoyne, the Surrender of Lord Cornwallis, and General George Washington Resigning His Commission. Trumbull spent the next eight years executing the commission, completing ...
After assaulting the American positions three times and being repulsed each time, Cornwallis decided to wait and finish the battle the next day. Washington moved his army around Cornwallis's camp that night and attacked Mawhood at Princeton the next day. That defeat prompted the British to withdraw from most of New Jersey for the winter.
The third detachment to arrive was that of General Cornwallis, who had been active in the Carolinas and, following the Battle of Guilford Court House on March 15, decided to join forces with Arnold and Phillips. This was contrary to instructions from his superior, Lieutenant General Sir Henry Clinton, British Commander-in-Chief in North America.
The news of the defeat was also not received well in London. King George III wrote (well before learning of Cornwallis's surrender) that "after the knowledge of the defeat of our fleet [...] I nearly think the empire ruined." [46] The French success left them firmly in control of the Chesapeake Bay, completing the encirclement of Cornwallis. [47]