General George Washington accepting the flag of truce after the British surrender by Charles Cornwallis following the Siege of Yorktown, aka Battle of Yorktown, the Surrender at Yorktown or the German Battle, Virginia, United States of America, October 17, 1781, last major land battle of the American Revolutionary War. George Washington, 1732 -1799. First President of the United States of America, Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis, 1738  1805, aka Viscount Brome and The Earl Cornwallis. British Army officer and colonial administrator. From Cassell's Illustrated History of England, published 1861.