On October 19, 1781, British troops, commanded by Lieutenant General Lord Cornwallis, marched from heavily damaged Yorktown and surrendered on this field to the allied French and American armies under the command of General George Washington. Cornwallis, pleading illness, did not accompany his men. The pavilion ahead overlooks the scene of the laying down of weapons. The short, wheelchair-accessible trail leads past exhibits that describe the spectacle, mood, and pagentry of that momentous event. The British defeat at Yorktown was the culmination of the Revolutionary War.