yorktown
The most important battle of the Revolutionary War, Yorktown was vital to victory on both sides, but the British lost the position to the combined force of the French and American armies commanded by George Washington on October 19, 1781. When the Americans won, the British general, Cornwallis, was absent at the surrender claiming to be ill. Many British soldiers threw down their weapons when told to lower their arms as if to administer as much possible damage to the weapons to render them useless.