Existing comment:
Virginia Capes -- September 1781:
News of the American victory at Saratoga prompted France to join the revolutionary cause in early 1778. Now the Americans had access to naval resources comparable to the British Royal Navy. But the Battle of the Virginia Capes was strictly an old-world affair -- no American forces were involved.
On September 5, 1781, a British fleet, trying to relieve the army besieged at Yorktown, met a French fleet outside the Virginia Capes. Fighting that day resulted in slightly heavier British losses. Over the next three days, the two navies drifted in becalmed waters. On September 9, seven additional French ships arrived from Newport, allowing de Grasse to establish dominance over the Chesapeake.
The Battle of the Capes was a tactical draw, but a strategic victory of the greatest importance for the Americans and their French allies. Six weeks after the battle, General Cornwallis was forced to surrender his army.
War's End:
Although the war would drag on for two years after Cornwallis' surrender, the war party in England had lost its support. By 1780, the Dutch and Spanish had joined France in formally supporting the American cause, increasing pressure on British resources. Fighting the colonists had become too costly. The British House of Commons voted to end the war February 27, 1782.
The formal end to the Revolution came on September 3, 1783 with the Treaty of Paris. The treaty's terms included recognition of independence for the United States. The US Congress ratified the treaty on January 14, 1784. |