News of Victory
Colonial National Historical Park
News of the Allies’ victory at Yorktown spread rapidly. On October 20, 1781, Washington sent his aide, Lieutenant Tench Tilghman, to Philadelphia to notify the Continental Congress. Tilghman departed Yorktown by boat, landing near Annapolis on the 22nd. He rode day and night, reaching Philadelphia during the early morning hours of October 24, sick with chills and fever. The bell of the Pennsylvania State House rang loudly, sounding forth the joy of the news of Cornwallis’s defeat.
On November 3, Washington’s aide, Colonel David Humphreys (right), arrived in Philadelphia and presented to members of Congress 27 regimental flags and colors surrendered at Yorktown.
Although the war lasted another two years, the victory at Yorktown brought forth peace negotiations. With the signing of the Treaty of Paris on September 3, 1783, Great Britain formally recognized the independence of the United States.
Victor and Defeated
More than 7,000 British and German prisoners fell into the hands of the Allied forces following the surrender. On October 21, 1781, all able-bodied prisoners marched from Yorktown toward internment camps located in Virginia and Maryland and ultimately Pennsylvania. Though some prisoners escaped and others died, most remained in the camps until the end of the war. Cornwallis was granteed parole, as were many of his officers. He returned to England expecting disgrace but instead received overwhelming support. King George III said he did not “lay anything at the charge of Lord Cornwallis.”
Marker can be reached from Historical Tour Drive, on the right when traveling south.
Courtesy hmdb.org
