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Yorktown was on the water on one side, so the British army could not escape the large American/French army that was bombarding them. Rather than let his soldiers die, their commander, Cornwallis, elect to surrender. Cornwallis had pleaded for help from General Clinton's ships up in New York, but Clinton would not hurry for anybody, and so the ships made it to Yorktown a couple of days after Cornwallis had surrendered.

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14y ago

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