The Campaign that Won America

Things looked bleak for the Continental Army during August 1781. For over six years, the American Revolutionary War wreaked havoc across the United States, and now troops were short on food, clothing, armaments, pay, and morale. Simultaneously, British General Charles Cornwallis entered Virginia and began fortifying Yorktown to secure the Chesapeake Bay for the British fleet.

Unshaken by these reports, General George Washington led the Continental Army southward from New York, rendezvousing with French allies along the way. Meanwhile, a French fleet entered the contested bay, swiftly blockaded the British navy, and dashed Cornwallis’s hopes of escaping by sea. Now trapped inland, the British scrambled to strengthen their defenses at Yorktown. The ensuing siege, spurred on by coordinated Franco-American efforts of digging trenches and bombarding key British redoubts during the night, lasted for weeks. On October 19, 1781, Cornwallis finally surrendered—and American independence was won.

Author Burke Davis masterfully documents the war’s final months in The Campaign that Won America: The Story of Yorktown with diaries, letters, official records, maps, and paintings. More than just a story of the battle, Davis's rich narrative illustrates the determination of a people driven by “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

• Historical nonfiction
• 320 pages, approx. 5.25” x 8.5”, soft cover, color images
• Written by Burke Davis, updated in 2026 for America’s 250th anniversary
• Printed in USA, published by Eastern National with permission from author’s estate