Charles Cornwallis 1st Marquess Cornwallis: Encyclopedia II - Charles Cornwallis 1st Marquess Cornwallis - American Revolution

Charles Cornwallis 1st Marquess Cornwallis - American Revolution

In 1776 Cornwallis moved to North America after volunteering his services to help maintain order in the rebellious thirteen colonies.

Between January 2 and January 4, 1777 Cornwallis fought the American Continental Army at Princeton, New Jersey, led by General George Washington. The Americans surprised a detachment of Cornwallis' troops and pressed the attack until encountering the main body of Cornwallis' force. After this first engagement, the American army slipped away in the night before Cornwallis could counter-attack. The Battle of Princeton was seen as an American victory, although it was composed of a confused series of skirmishes without a decisive defeat for either force.

In 1780, Cornwallis led British forces in the Carolinas against Nathanael Greene. In 1781, Cornwallis' army won the Battle of Guilford Courthouse but suffered heavy losses and abandoned plans to control the Carolinas. He retreated to wait for reinforcements.

After a textbook siege by American and French forces, Cornwallis surrendered to the allied forces, bringing to a close the Battle of Yorktown, on October 19, 1781, thus ending the war. Despite Cornwallis' personal responsibility for the surrender and the subsequent and inevitable loss of the war, Henry Clinton, Cornwallis' superior commander in America, received from the British public most of the blame for the defeat.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "American Revolution", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki