THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 1775 1783
THE BATTLE OF YORKTOWN
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Question
[CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
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The British were expecting Washington to surrender
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Cornwallis was not supposed to be in Virginia
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They did not know the French had agreed to help the Patriots
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It seemed like the Patriots were going to try and liberate New York City
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Detailed explanation-1: -Yorktown would be the last major battle of the war. Why were the British confused? ? The British were expecting Washington to surrender.
Detailed explanation-2: -A major British mistake was failing to take sufficient advantage of Loyalists. Before the Revolutionary War began, some 50, 000 Loyalists formed nearly 70 regiments to help the British maintain control the colonies. But British commanders did not trust the loyalists or respect their fighting ability.
Detailed explanation-3: -At the beginning of the war, British forces outnumbered Continental forces; for example, British general William Howe’s expeditionary force in 1776 numbered 32, 000, compared to American general George Washington’s force of less than 20, 000. Britain’s navy was the biggest and strongest in the world.
Detailed explanation-4: -The Americans and French marched to Yorktown on September 28 and began digging a trench 800 yards from the British defense line. Washington’s strategy was to dig trenches through which he could move his heavy guns close enough to Yorktown to pound Cornwallis into surrender. “Yorktown, 14 October 1781” by H.