Directions: Read the text and answer the questions that follow:
“Revolutionary War, Part III”
Victory at Yorktown and Peace
Starting in 1778, the British focused their efforts on the southern colonies. In the Carolinas and Virginia, British General Charles Cornwallis defeated the Americans in one battle after another. The situation there seemed hopeless.
Then the French came to the rescue. General Rochambeau and some 5,000 French troops arrived in 1780. And a French fleet arrived in 1781.
At that time, General Cornwallis had an army of more than 6,000 British troops at Yorktown, Virginia. Washington led his American and French troops there. For the first time in the war, Washington had a larger military force than the British.
Yorktown was the last major battle of the war. Peace talks began in Paris, France, in 1782. The Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783. The new nation had been tested on the battlefield. Now the war was over. For the first time, Britain recognized the United States of America as an independent country.
Excerpt from: “Revolutionary War.” The New Book of Knowledge. Grolier Online, 2013. Web. 3 Dec. 2013. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission of Scholastic Library Publishing Inc.