Military
4
After the capitulation of Yorktown on October 19, 1781, more than seven thousand troops surrendered their arms, yielding twelve thousand muskets, more than two hundred iron and brass cannon, and a vast quantity of military stores to the Allied forces. The mounted trophies inscribed “SURRENDERED BY THE CAPITULATION OF YORKTOWN OCTr 19:1781” represent part of these captured spoils, including British brass guns, howitzers, and mortars. George Washington’s official report to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia counted 244 artillery pieces in all, along with thousands of military supplies and other implements of war. A portrait of Washington at Yorktown by James Peale, painted not long after the surrender, shows the commander standing among British and German spoils; Peale visited Yorktown soon after Cornwallis’s defeat and recorded the background scene for the painting.
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