These are the terms offered by the British army for its surrender in 1781 and thus the American Revolution was effectively won. It would take a further two years for the Treaty of Paris to be settled and independence granted to the colonists but this moment is often seen as the end of the revolution. Fighting happened sporadically and the British still controlled New York but after this surrender, their hopes of victory were mortally wounded.

The Battle or Siege of Yorktown took place late in 1781 and involved Cornwallis’s British army and a combined French and American force under Rochambeau and Washington with the addition of a French fleet under de Grasse. In spring of 1780, Cornwallis had taken his army south in an attempt to rally Southern Loyalists. He had captured Charleston in May and won various local victories but Loyalists had not rallied as hoped. Washington, abandoning an attempt to capture New York, moved his and a French army south and the British force became trapped on the York peninsular. The crucial factor was a French fleet that prevented the British resupply by sea. The combined American and French forces arrived at Yorktown in late September and began to invest the British positions for a siege. With the capture on 14 October of two redoubts key to their defences, it was clear that the British situation, surrounded, outnumbered and with no chance of reinforcement, was hopeless and so on 17 October Cornwallis began to negotiate the surrender.

This document, in 14 Articles, sets out the process of that surrender. Who should surrender to whom, where the weapons should be given in, private property to be respected, provision rights of the captives, provisioning hospitals and so forth. Then there are other notable terms and conditions: the General Staff Officers have the right to be paroled and can return to Europe or any other British held location, somewhat galling for those soldiers and officers who were to languish in a prison camp one would imagine. The Articles also aim to protect certain sections of the British force: “Natives or inhabitants of different parts of this Country at present in York and Gloucester are not to be punished on account of having joined the British army” although an American note against this states “This article cannot be assented to – being altogether of civil resort.” Loyalists marched into captivity alongside the regular soldiers.

The military capacity of the British was greatly reduced by this surrender and, alongside Burgoyne’s surrender at Saratoga in 1777, was the decisive moment in the fight for independence. Conflicts rumbled on, often between the French, Spanish and British navies but the Continental War was largely done after this. It took almost two more years for peace and independence to be agreed on the back of this victory.

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