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19 October 1781– The World Turn'd Upside Down. MajGen Lord Charles Cornwallis, surrounded at Yorktown, Va., by American and French regiments numbering 17,600 men, surrendered to George Washington and Count de Rochambeau. After conducting an indecisive foray into Virginia, Lt. Gen. Charles Lord Cornwallis retired to Yorktown on 2 August 1781. On 16 August General Washington and Maj. Gen. Jean Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau, began marching their Continental and French armies from New York to Virginia. The arrival of a French fleet, and its victory over a British fleet in the Chesapeake Bay, sealed the trap. The British had asked for the traditional honors of war, which would allow the army to march out with flags flying, bayonets fixed, and the band playing an American or French tune as a tribute to the victors. However, Washington firmly refused to grant the British the honors that they had denied the defeated American army the year before at the siege of Charleston. Cornwallis refused to attend the surrender ceremony, citing illness. Instead, BG General Charles O'Hara led the British army onto the field. O'Hara first attempted to surrender to Rochambeau, who shook his head and pointed to Washington. O'Hara then offered his sword to Washington, who also refused and motioned to Benjamin Lincoln, his Second. The surrender finally took place when Washington's second-in-command accepted the sword of Cornwallis' deputy. The British soldiers then marched out and laid down their arms in between the French and American armies. 8,000 troops, 214 artillery pieces, thousands of muskets, 24 transport ships, wagons, and horses were captured. it was more than just a military win. The outcome in Yorktown, Virginia marked the conclusion of the last major battle of the American Revolution. Although the Treaty of Paris signed in 1783 officially ended the war, it was effectively the start of a new nation's independence. It also cemented Washington’s reputation as a great leader and eventual election as the first president of the United States.