Existing comment:
"The World Turned Upside Down"
The humiliating defeat at Yorktown sapped Britain's will to fight.
The British surrender more than 8,000 troops at Yorktown. They remained in control of New York and Charleston, and continued limited fighting in the colonies and abroad for another year. But once news of the surrender reached London, popular support for the war vanished. This disaster, together with other setbacks at home and abroad, led to the downfall of Prime Minister Lord North. Britain opened peace talks with American diplomats in Paris. |