opelessness of his
position and on the 17th signalled Washington for terms of surrender.
Washington replied that only complete surrender was acceptable.
Cornwallis agreed. There was no choice. At 2 p.m. on October 19, 1781,
Cornwallis' army of 7,247 stacked arms and surrendered to the Americans
while a British regimental band played the now famous military march,
"The World Turned Upside Down." Cornwallis, pleading illness was not
present. He was later to go on to a distinguished career as
governor-general of India.

Fighting went on spasmodically in the Carolinas and in the West for some
time. But everyone knew the war was over. The British people no longer
wanted to fight what had become a world war involving the Dutch, French,
and Spanish, as well as the Americans. When he heard the news from
Yorktown, Lord North supposedly cried out, "Oh God! It is all over."

And it was. On March 4, 1782, the House of Commons voted for peace.
Commissioners for both sides meeting in Paris agreed on terms on November
30, 1782. The formal treaty was ratified on September 3, 1783. The United
States of America existed in law as well as in fact.

What had begun as an attempt by Britain to balance her budget after the
victorious French and Indian War ended with an independent United States.
She also gave Florida back to the Spanish who returned Louisiana to the
French. Perhaps wiser men than George Grenville and George III might have
prevented the separation. Probably not. Thomas Paine put it so simply and
so persuasively, "An Island was not meant to rule a continent."

Bibliography

Abbot, William W. A VIRGINIA CHRONOLOGY 1585-1783, "To pass away the
time". Williamsburg, Virginia, 1957.

Alden, John R. A HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. Knopf, New York, New
York, 1969.

Alden, John R. THE SOUTH IN THE REVOLUTION, 1763-1789. Louisiana State
University Press, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 1957.

Allen, Gardner W. A NAVAL HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 2 Volumes,
Boston, Massachusetts, 1913.

Bailyn, Bernard. IDEOLOGICAL ORIGINS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. Harvard
University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1967.

Bakeless, John. BACKGROUND TO GLORY, THE LIFE OF GEORGE ROGERS CLARK.
Lippincott, New York, New York, 1957.

Becker, Carl L. THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, A STUDY IN THE HISTORY
OF POLITICAL IDEAS. Vintage Books, Inc., New York, New York 1942.

Boatner, Mark M. ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. Mc