As the Revolution moves to the Southern colonies, the war becomes a civil war. Eventually, thanks to some luck and the French fleet, Washington and Lafayette force a surrender.
2. To the south Through 1779, the focus of the war shifted from the Middle Atlantic colonies into the Southern colonies.
3. To the south This would be especially difficult for the Continental Army because they would be fighting primarily other colonists who had remained loyal to King George III.
4. To the south Many southerners saw themselves as transplanted Englishmen and did not want to give up the life that they had become accustomed to exchange “one tyrant 3,000 miles away for 3,000 tyrants one mile away.”
5. To the south The English had a number of early victories in the south at places such as Savannah, Georgia, Camden, South Carolina, and Charleston, South Carolina.
6. To the south Victories by the Continental Army at Kings Mountain on the border of the Carolinas and at Cowpens in the same area set the stage for the final campaign.
7. success At this point, Lord Cornwallis, leader of the English troops, took his army north into Virginia, and set up camp at Yorktown, a city on the peninsula between the York and James Rivers.
8. success The Marquis de Lafayette, whose numbers were much smaller than those of Cornwallis, positioned his troops so that Cornwallis could not escape by land.
9. success Washington saw this as an opportunity to pin the English in and raced down from the Middle Atlantic regionto join Lafayette.
10. success The French navy arrived from New York and set up a blockade of Yorktown in the Atlantic Ocean, thereby cutting off Cornwallis’ retreat by sea.
11. success When the English navy arrived to try and help Cornwallis, the French succeeded in turning the tables and instead sent the English away.
12. success In October, 1781, Washington started to use both American and French artillery on Yorktown and the English position.
13. success On October 19, 1781, Cornwallis realized that his position was hopeless and decided it was best to surrender to Washington.
14. success The War for American Independence had come to a close militarily, but true independence would not become reality until 1783 and the Treaty of Paris.
15. success The treaty formally recognized the independence of the United States and gave them control of the land from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River
