Surrender at Yorktown

In the autumn of 1781 the entire Revolution came down to a spit of Virginia tobacco country. Lord Cornwallis had marched his army to Yorktown expecting rescue by sea — but a French fleet under Admiral de Grasse turned back the British navy at the Battle of the Chesapeake and slammed the door behind him.

Washington and his French ally Rochambeau raced south and ringed the town with siege guns. For three weeks the bombardment never stopped, the lines creeping closer every night, until Cornwallis had nowhere left to stand. On October 19, some 7,000 British soldiers marched out and laid down their arms — tradition holds their band played “The World Turned Upside Down.”

It was the last major battle of the War of Independence. Within two years Britain signed the peace and recognized the United States. This is the moment thirteen colonies became a nation.

Printed on 200 gsm matte poster stock and mounted behind shatter-resistant acrylic in a 22 mm deep pine frame, available in black, natural wood or dark wood. The print is fitted into the frame before it ships, so it arrives assembled with hanging hardware in place, ready for a portrait or landscape wall.