Yorktown

Alexander Hamilton's Report on the Assault on Redoubt No. 10, October 1781 — Library of Congress, Alexander Hamilton Papers

Hamilton's after-action report on his battalion's bayonet assault on British Redoubt No. 10, the climactic infantry action of the siege. Provides officer-level tactical detail absent from broader accounts.

Articles of Capitulation, Yorktown, October 19, 1781 — National Archives and Records Administration

The formal surrender document signed at Yorktown ending the siege. Establishes the terms under which Cornwallis surrendered his army of approximately 8,000 men to Washington and Rochambeau.

Colonial National Historical Park: Yorktown Battlefield — National Park Service

Official NPS interpretive resource for the Yorktown battlefield. Includes battlefield maps, siege line archaeology reports, and accounts of the October 1781 assault on Redoubts 9 and 10.

George Washington's Diary, August-October 1781 — Library of Congress, Manuscript Division

Washington's personal diary entries covering the march from New York through Virginia to Yorktown. Records daily tactical decisions and his account of the final siege operations.

Log of HMS London: Vice-Admiral Graves at the Battle of the Chesapeake, September 1781 — Public Record Office (National Archives, United Kingdom)

British naval log documenting the Battle of the Chesapeake (Capes), the decisive naval engagement that sealed Cornwallis's fate by cutting off British relief. Cross-references with de Grasse's French dispatches.

Mémoires militaires, historiques et politiques de Rochambeau — Fain (Jean-Baptiste-Donatien de Vimeur, Comte de Rochambeau)

The French commander's own account of the Yorktown campaign. Essential primary source for the Franco-American cooperation and the pivotal role of French land and naval forces in the siege.

The Revolutionary Journal of Baron Ludwig von Closen, 1780-1783 — University of North Carolina Press (Evelyn Acomb, trans.)

Diary of a French aide-de-camp to Rochambeau. Provides detailed daily observations of the siege operations, camp conditions, and the surrender ceremony with an outsider's perspective on American and British behavior.

Virginia Executive Papers: Governor Thomas Nelson, 1781 — Library of Virginia

Governor Nelson's correspondence during the siege, including his orders for militia mobilization and his authorization of the use of his own Yorktown house as an artillery target. Rare example of a governor directing operations on his own property.

Beat the Last Drum: The Siege of Yorktown, 1781 — St. Martin's Press (Thomas J. Fleming)

Detailed narrative history of the Yorktown campaign from the march south through the surrender ceremony. Strong on military operations and individual character portraits of Washington, Rochambeau, and Cornwallis.

Cornwallis: The American Adventure — Houghton Mifflin (Franklin and Mary Wickwire)

Biography drawing on British and American archives to reconstruct Cornwallis's decision-making in the Virginia campaign. Essential counterweight to American-centric accounts of why Yorktown was lost.

The French Forces in America, 1780-1783 — Greenwood Press (Lee Kennett)

Scholarly analysis of French military contributions in the American Revolution, with substantial coverage of the Chesapeake campaign and the logistics of moving French troops from Newport to Virginia.

The Yorktown Campaign: Chronology and Sources — Virginia Magazine of History and Biography

Scholarly article in the flagship journal of the Virginia Historical Society establishing a day-by-day chronology of the siege with source citations. Standard reference for researchers.

Victory at Yorktown: The Campaign That Won the Revolution — Henry Holt (Richard M. Ketchum)

Modern narrative synthesis covering the full Yorktown campaign. Accessible and well-sourced, integrating French, British, and American perspectives. Particularly strong on the naval dimension at the Chesapeake Capes.

Virginia Historical Society: Revolutionary War Collections — Virginia Museum of History and Culture

Holds a major collection of Virginia-related Revolutionary manuscripts including militia records, plantation correspondence, and material related to the 1781 Tidewater campaign.

Yorktown Victory Center / American Revolution Museum at Yorktown — Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation

State-operated museum adjacent to the battlefield with artifact collections and interpretive programming on the Yorktown campaign. Maintains research library and archival access for scholars.

Siege of Yorktown -- Wikipedia — Wikipedia

General encyclopedia overview of the siege. Useful for initial orientation and for tracing the secondary literature cited in footnotes, but requires verification against primary sources.

Yorktown Battlefield Visitor Map and Guide — National Park Service

Visitor-oriented map of the battlefield tour route including the first and second siege lines, the Moore House, and the surrender field. Useful for georeferencing site descriptions.