Teacher Resources
Yorktown
Inquiry Question
Why was Yorktown a siege rather than a battle? What did siege warfare require that conventional battle did not?
Primary Sources
What Teachers and Students Use
Articles of Capitulation, Yorktown, October 19, 1781
PRIMARY · National Archives and Records Administration
5 analysis prompts
George Washington's Diary, August-October 1781
PRIMARY · Library of Congress, Manuscript Division
5 analysis prompts
Mémoires militaires, historiques et politiques de Rochambeau
PRIMARY · Fain (Jean-Baptiste-Donatien de Vimeur, Comte de Rochambeau)
5 analysis prompts
Log of HMS London: Vice-Admiral Graves at the Battle of the Chesapeake, September 1781
PRIMARY · Public Record Office (National Archives, United Kingdom)
5 analysis prompts
Colonial National Historical Park: Yorktown Battlefield
INSTITUTIONAL · National Park Service
5 analysis prompts
Downloads
Ready to Print
Student packet, teacher guide with answer key, and quiz — each formatted for classroom printing.
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Lesson Plan
In the Classroom
Learning Objectives
- 1Explain how 18th-century siege warfare worked: parallels, redoubts, artillery reduction
- 2Identify the sequence of events at Yorktown from October 6 through October 19, 1781
- 3Analyze the essential roles of the French navy (de Grasse) and French army (Rochambeau) in the American victory
- 4Evaluate the significance of the redoubt assaults on October 14 in changing the siege's trajectory
Explore Further
Yorktown in the Knowledge Graph
The lesson packet draws from these pages. Use them to extend the lesson or give students primary source context.
Comparative Study
Connected Towns
The corroborate prompts in the student packet point to these towns. Teachers can assign cross-town comparisons.
Williamsburg
SHARED EVENT
Williamsburg was the immediate staging ground for the allied army that besieged Yorktown in October 1781. Washington and Rochambeau established headquarters there in September 1781; French and American troops encamped around the former capital before marching the twelve miles east to begin siege operations. The two towns are inseparable in the Yorktown campaign's operational history.
Williamsburg
GEOGRAPHIC PROXIMITY
Adjacent Peninsula towns; the army staged at Williamsburg before the siege.
Newport
SHARED PERSON
Rochambeau's French army marched from Newport to help win at Yorktown.
Assessment
Yorktown in the American Revolution
Answer the following questions based on our study of Revolutionary history. · 5 questions · Answer key in Teacher Guide PDF
What makes Yorktown significant in Revolutionary history?
multiple choice
Primary sources are documents or objects created during the time period being studied.
true false
Name one event that occurred in Yorktown during the Revolutionary period and explain its significance.
short answer
+ 2 more in the full quiz PDF
Ready to Print?
All three documents below — student packet, teacher guide, and quiz — are formatted for letter-size classroom printing.