Aftermath
Out of 11,133 American and 8,800 French allied forces at Yorktown, there were no more than 125 American casualties and 253 French casualties. The British force had numbered about 9,750, including roughly 1,500 seamen about British ships. 600 of these were casualties and 8,081 were surrendered, which was nearly one-fourth of all their forces in America. More importantly, Yorktown was the last major engagement of the American Revolutionary War.
The victory cemented General George Washington's legend as the father of the country in America, while the defeat sorely damaged Lt. General Charles Cornwallis more so than Lt. General Henry Clinton, who was the British Commander-in-Chief in America. General Clinton had finally arrived at Chesapeake on October 27, 1781, but discovered that the battle was over. It is improbable that Admiral William Graves would have been able to fight through the French fleet to even land Clinton's 7,000 strong relief force. Clinton returned to New York City and remained there until he was recalled to England in 1782.
