The Surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown

Smoke from the battlefield at Yorktown rises behind Major General Benjamin Lincoln as he leads a column of surrendering British soldiers between a row of French officers on the left and Continental Army officers on the right. The remainder of the British army marches in the background. John Trumbull, an artist and soldier who had served under Washington in the Revolutionary War (1775–1783), painted the Surrender of Lord Cornwallis as the final part of an eight-painting series commemorating significant moments of the war. Trumbull traveled to Paris in 1787 to consult portraits of the French officers to ensure accuracy in his work. He completed the painting on site at Yorktown in 1788.