Freedom is Won

During the siege of Yorktown, a French force supported by 3,000 colonial militia encircled the British forces of Colonel Tarleton at Gloucester Point. A significant engagement took place on October 3, 1781, when British forces on a food gathering mission into Gloucester County were overtaken by an Allied force in the Battle of the Hook, and Colonel Tarleton was nearly captured when his horse was killed. The bottling up of British forces at the Point and the siege at Yorktown cut off Cornwallis's supplies of food for men and horses. General Cornwallis hoped to evacuate his troops through the Point during the night of October 17th, but a strong storm forced him to cancel the plan. Two days later, he surrendered his forces as prisoners of war to the combined forces of America and France.

Gloucester Point, Virginia · United States