The painting was completed in 1820, and hangs in the rotunda of the United States Capitol in Washington, D. "The Surrender of Lord Cornwallis" is an oil painting by John Trumbull. On one side were the Americans on the other side stood the French. When British General Charles Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown on October 19, 1781, his vanquished troops marched through a corridor formed by the victorious forces.
Franklin’s popularity and persuasive powers, and a key American battlefield victory, were crucial factors that led France to join the war in 1778.įrance provided the money, troops, armament, military leadership and naval support that tipped the balance of military power in favor of the United States and paved the way for the Continental army’s ultimate victory. He would use his intellect, charm, wit and experience to convince France to join the war on the side of the fledgling United States of America. The hope and excitement spawned by the Declaration of Independence, announced just four months earlier, with Franklin among the signers, had been replaced by the dread of impending defeat in the face of the overwhelming military power of the British Army.įranklin knew his mission was straightforward, if not simple. When 70-year-old Benjamin Franklin boarded the Continental sloop-of-war Reprisal in Philadelphia on October 26, 1776, for a month-long voyage to France, General George Washington's Continental army was losing the American Revolutionary War.
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