VA, USA
Charles O'Hara
1740–1802 · British Brigadier General · Surrender Representative
1740–1802
British Brigadier General · Surrender Representative
Charles O'Hara was an experienced British officer who had spent his career in various theaters of imperial warfare before the American Revolution. He was the son of a prominent Irish soldier and had himself risen through the ranks of the British army by the time he arrived in North America. O'Hara served under Cornwallis during the Southern campaign of 1780 and 1781, a grueling series of engagements that took British forces through the Carolinas and eventually into Virginia. He proved himself a capable and aggressive commander in engagements including the Battle of Guilford Courthouse in March 1781, where he was wounded leading his men in a difficult fight.
At Yorktown, O'Hara's role in the surrender ceremony of October 19, 1781, became the episode for which he is most remembered by history. Cornwallis, who cited illness as his reason for absence but whose reluctance to participate in the humiliation of defeat was widely understood, sent O'Hara in his place as his second-in-command. O'Hara initially approached Rochambeau, the French commander, apparently hoping to surrender to an allied officer rather than to the Americans, who were the senior partners in the siege. Rochambeau directed him to Washington. Washington, in a carefully considered act of military protocol, directed him to Major General Benjamin Lincoln, his own second-in-command — a deliberate symmetry that made the exchange of the sword a statement about the equality of the American command.
O'Hara was taken as a prisoner but was exchanged relatively quickly and returned to British service. He went on to serve in other campaigns and eventually rose to the rank of general, serving as governor of Gibraltar. His long subsequent career stood in contrast to the moment at Yorktown that history remembered most clearly, when he walked across the field carrying a sword on behalf of a general who would not come.
In Yorktown
- Oct 1781Cornwallis Surrenders(British Brigadier General)
On October 19, 1781, the British army marched out of its fortifications at Yorktown and laid down its arms in a formal surrender ceremony. Cornwallis himself did not attend, claiming illness, and sent Brigadier General Charles O'Hara in his place. O'Hara offered the sword of surrender to Rochambeau, who directed him to Washington. Washington, observing the protocol of rank, directed O'Hara to his own second-in-command, General Benjamin Lincoln. Over 7,000 British and Hessian troops became prisoners of war. The surrender effectively ended major military operations in the Revolution, though the formal Treaty of Paris was not signed until September 1783. When news reached London, Prime Minister Lord North reportedly exclaimed, "Oh God, it is all over."
- Oct 1781British Army Surrenders: The October 19 Ceremony(British Brigadier General)
On October 19, 1781, the British army marched out of Yorktown through a corridor of French and American troops to lay down their arms in a field south of town. Cornwallis, claiming illness, sent Brigadier General Charles O'Hara in his place. O'Hara first approached Rochambeau to surrender — either a mistake or a deliberate slight to Washington — and Rochambeau directed him to Washington, who directed him in turn to General Benjamin Lincoln to receive the sword. The British band played "The World Turned Upside Down," though the evidence for this specific tune is disputed. The ceremony lasted several hours. Some 8,000 British and German soldiers laid down their arms. It was the largest British surrender of the entire war and effectively ended British military capacity to continue fighting in America.