General Cornwallis

  Charles Cornwallis was born at Grosvenor Square, London on December 31, 1738. He was the eldest son of Charles Cornwallis, 5th Baron Cornwallis. Cornwallis was educated at Eton College and Clare College, Cambridge. He fought in the Seven Years' War and served as a member of Parliament. Cornwallis served under Gen. William Howe at the battle of Long Island. After those wars they had he then became second in command to Sir Henry Clinton, the British commander in America, in 1778.  

          He took charge of the Southern campaign and won a costly victory against American General Nathanael Greene. He moved his troops into Virginia and then was surrounded by the French and American troops at Yorktown. He didn't  receive much needed  supplies, and he was forced to surrender by Generals Lafayette and Washington. He surrendered at Yorktown on October 19, 1781, which virtually won the War of Independence for the Americans.

         In 1798, he was made viceroy and commander-in-chief of Ireland. There he quenched an Irish rebellion and defeated an invading French force while gaining the respect of both Catholics and Protestants in that divided country. In 1805, he was restored to his post as Governor General of India, but he died there of fever shortly after arriving. In his own country and others, Lord General Charles Cornwallis is known as a hero, but to Americans he is remembered only for his surrender of Yorktown, the final battle of the American Revolutionary War.