American Revolution

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Historical map showing the eastern United States during the American Revolutionary War, with states labeled and troop positions marked for Washington and Clinton near New York.

Historical illustration of the Boston Tea Party, showing colonists dumping tea chests from a ship into Boston Harbor while a crowd gathers on the shore in the background.

portrait of Thomas Gage by John Singleton Copley

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Map depicting the routes and key events of the Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 18-19, 1775, near Boston, Massachusetts. The map uses colored arrows to show Paul Revere's ride, William Dawes's ride, Samuel Prescott's ride, the movement of British forces, and the paths of militias and minutemen. Key locations such as Boston, Lexington, and Concord are marked, with symbols indicating where Revere was captured and where the British retreat began. An inset provides regional context.

At a Glance

American Revolution Timeline

Emanuel Leutze: Washington Crossing the Delaware

Key Facts of the American Revolution

Causes and Effects of the American Revolution

Final campaigns in the South and the surrender of Cornwallis

American Revolution

Also known as: American Revolutionary War, United States War of Independence, War of Independence(Show More)

Written by

Willard M. Wallace

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

Last updated

Oct. 28, 2026 •History

Historical map showing the final campaigns in the southern United States during the American Revolution, focusing on the Siege of Yorktown in 1781. The map traces the movements of French and American forces in brown and British forces in green through Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, with key battle sites such as Yorktown, Guilford Court House, Kings Mountain, Cowpens, and Eutaw Springs marked by crossed swords. Major rivers and cities are labeled for geographic context. — Final Southern campaigns of the American RevolutionThis map shows the major battles and troop movements during the final campaigns of the American Revolution in the South during 1780−81, culminating in the Siege of Yorktown and British surrender in October 1781.

British strategy since 1778 had called for offensives that were designed to take advantage of the flexibility of sea power and the loyalist sentiment of many of the people. British forces from New York and St. Augustine, Florida, occupied Georgia by the end of January 1779. Gen. Augustine Prevost, who had commanded in Florida, made Savannah his headquarters and defended that city in the fall against d’Estaing and a Franco-American army. Hrabia (count) Kazimierz Pułaski, a Polish officer who was serving on the American side, was mortally wounded in an unsuccessful assault on Savannah on October 9, 1779.

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Having failed to achieve any decisive advantage in the North in 1779, Clinton headed a combined military and naval expedition southward. He evacuated Newport on October 25, left New York under the command of German Gen. Wilhelm, Freiherr von Knyphausen, and in December sailed with some 8,500 soldiers to join Prevost in Savannah. Cornwallis accompanied him, and later Lord Rawdon joined him with an additional force.

Marching on Charleston, Clinton cut off the city from relief and, after a brief siege, compelled Gen. Benjamin Lincoln to surrender on May 12, 1780. The loss of Charleston and the 5,000 troops of its garrison—virtually the entire Continental Army in the South—was a serious blow to the American cause. Learning that Newport was threatened by a French expeditionary force under the comte de Rochambeau, Clinton returned to New York in June, leaving Cornwallis at Charleston.

Engraving of Nathanael Greene in military uniform with epaulets, facing slightly to the right, set against a dark background. — Nathanael GreeneMajor General Nathanael Greene, engraving by J.B. Forrest, 19th century. Greene played an important role as a general in the Continental Army during the American Revolution.

Cornwallis, however, took the offensive. On August 16 he shattered General Gates’s army at Camden, South Carolina, and German Continental Army officer Johann Kalb was mortally wounded in the fighting. The destruction of a force of loyalists at Kings Mountain on October 7 led Cornwallis to move against the new American commander, Gen. Nathanael Greene. When Greene put part of his force under Gen. Daniel Morgan, Cornwallis sent his cavalry leader, Col. Banastre Tarleton, after Morgan.

At Cowpens on January 17, 1781, Morgan destroyed practically all of Tarleton’s column. Subsequently, on March 15, Greene and Cornwallis fought at Guilford Courthouse, North Carolina. Cornwallis won but suffered heavy casualties. After withdrawing to Wilmington, he marched into Virginia to join British forces sent there by Clinton.

Engraved portrait of General Francis Marion in military uniform with epaulettes and a tricorn hat, facing slightly to the left. — Francis MarionFrancis Marion was a solider who led bands of guerrillas against British forces during the American Revolution. The British called him “the Swamp Fox” because of his bold raids and elusive movements in the swamps of South Carolina.

Greene then moved back to South Carolina, where he was defeated by Rawdon at Hobkirk’s Hill on April 25 and at Ninety Six in June and by Lieut. Col. Alexander Stewart at Eutaw Springs on September 8. In spite of that, the British—harassed by partisan leaders such as Francis Marion (whose guerrilla tactics earned him the nickname “the Swamp Fox”), Thomas Sumter, and Andrew Pickens—soon retired to the coast and remained locked up in Charleston and Savannah.

Meanwhile, Cornwallis entered Virginia, reaching Petersburg on May 20, 1781. Sending Tarleton on raids across the colony, the British asserted a sphere of control as far north as Fredericksburg and west to Charlottesville. There Thomas Jefferson, then the governor of Virginia, barely escaped capture by Tarleton’s troops. Cornwallis started to build a base at Yorktown, at the same time fending off American forces under Wayne, Steuben, and the marquis de Lafayette.

Siege of YorktownPainting depicting the assault on Redoubt 10, during the Siege of Yorktown, October 14, 1781.

Four colonial American soldiers at the Siege of Yorktown in 1781A watercolor sketch of four soldiers fighting against the British at the Siege of Yorktown in 1781, from a diary kept by Jean Baptiste Antoine de Verger, a French soldier who fought in the American Revolution. It shows, from left, a soldier in a predominantly Black regiment from Rhode Island, an infantryman likely also from New England, a frontier rifleman, and an artillery soldier. Verger's sketch underscores the wide variety of people and dress in the colonial forces during the war.

Learning that the comte de Grasse had arrived in the Chesapeake with a large fleet and 3,000 French troops, Washington and Rochambeau moved south to Virginia. By mid-September the Franco-American forces had placed Yorktown under siege, and British rescue efforts proved fruitless. Cornwallis surrendered his army of more than 7,000 soldiers on October 19, 1781. For the second time during the war, the British had lost an entire army.

Thereafter, land action in America died out, though the war persisted in other theaters and on the high seas. Eventually Clinton was replaced by Sir Guy Carleton. While the peace treaties were under consideration and afterward, Carleton evacuated thousands of loyalists from America, including many from Savannah on July 11, 1782, and others from Charleston on December 14.

The last British forces finally left New York on November 25, 1783. Washington then reentered the city in triumph.