The Secret Weapon in America’s Revolution

By Chuck Norris

09/29/2009

On Sept. 28, 1781, Gen. George Washington led a combined force of 17,000 French and Continental troops upon Yorktown, Va., and encircled British Gen. Charles Cornwallis and his regiment of 9,000 British troops. Washington bombarded Cornwallis and crew day and night for three weeks with artillery and cannon fire, until Cornwallis surrendered Oct. 17, 1781. Negotiations for peace began in 1782, and the Treaty of Paris eventually was signed Sept. 3, 1783, formally ending the seven years of war and securing America’s independence.