Editing Siege of Yorktown (section)

==Aftermath==
[[File:Libertas Americana silver medallion 1783.jpg|thumb|The victory at Yorktown and the [[American Revolution]] were honored in [[Libertas Americana]], a 1783 medallion minted in Paris, designed there by US Ambassador [[Benjamin Franklin]].]]
Following the British surrender, Continental Army and French officers entertained the British officers to dinner. The British officers were "overwhelmed" by the civility their erstwhile foes extended to them, with some French officers offering "profuse" sympathies for the defeat, as one British officer, Captain Samuel Graham, commented. Equally, the French aide to Rochambeau, Cromot du Bourg, noted the coolness of the British officers, particularly O'Hara, considering the defeat they had endured.<ref>Fleming, Beat the Last Drum: The Siege of Yorktown</ref>

Five days after the battle ended, on October 24, 1781, the British fleet sent by Clinton to rescue the British army arrived. The fleet picked up several provincials who had escaped on October 18, and they informed Admiral Thomas Graves that they believed Cornwallis had surrendered.<ref>Fleming p. 34</ref> Graves picked up several more provincials along the coast, and they confirmed this fact. Graves sighted the French Fleet, but chose to leave because he was outnumbered by nine ships, and thus he sent the fleet back to New York.<ref>Fleming p. 35</ref>

On October 25, Washington issued an order which stipulated that all [[Fugitive slaves in the United States|fugitive slaves]] who had joined the British were to be rounded up by the Continental Army and placed under the supervision of armed guards in fortified positions on both sides of the York River until arrangements could be made to return them to their enslavers. Historian Gregory J. W. Urwin describes Washington's action as "[converting] his faithful Continentals—the men credited with winning American independence—into an army of [[slave catcher]]s."<ref>{{cite news |last=Urwin |first=Gregory J. W. |url=https://allthingsliberty.com/2021/10/the-yorktown-tragedy-washingtons-slave-roundup/ |title=The Yorktown Tragedy: Washington's Slave Roundup |work=Journal of the American Revolution |date=19 October 2021 |access-date=10 June 2022 |archive-date=20 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220320201354/https://allthingsliberty.com/2021/10/the-yorktown-tragedy-washingtons-slave-roundup/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

After the British surrender, Washington sent [[Tench Tilghman]] to report the victory to Congress.<ref>Fleming p. 21</ref> After a difficult journey, he arrived in Philadelphia, which celebrated for several days.  The British Prime Minister, [[Frederick North, Lord North|Lord North]], is reported to have exclaimed "Oh God, it's all over" when told of the defeat.<ref>{{cite web |title=Chronology of Events After The Siege |url=https://www.nps.gov/york/learn/historyculture/afterthesiege.htm |website=Yorktown Battlefield |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=19 October 2022}}</ref> Three months after the battle, a motion to end "further prosecution of offensive warfare on the continent of North America"—effectively a [[Motions of no confidence in the United Kingdom|no confidence motion]]—passed in the [[British House of Commons]]. Lord North and his government resigned.

Washington moved the Continental Army to [[New Windsor, New York]],<ref>Fleming p. 194</ref> where they remained until the [[Treaty of Paris (1783)|Treaty of Paris]] was signed on September 3, 1783, bringing the eight-year war to an end and establishing the independence of the colonies.<ref>Fleming p. 312</ref> Although the peace treaty did not happen for two years following the end of the battle, the Yorktown campaign proved to be decisive; there was no significant battle or campaign on the North American mainland after the Battle of Yorktown and in March 1782, "the British Parliament had agreed to cease hostilities."<ref>Idzerda p. 176</ref>