This Day in History: September 5

On September 5, 1781, a French fleet of twenty-four ships of the line engaged a British fleet of nineteen ships of the line in the Battle off the Virginia Capes. The French fleet prevented the British fleet from relieving the besieged army of Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis, 2d Earl Cornwallis, at Yorktown, Virginia, leading to the eventual surrender of some 7,000 British troops to the combined American and French arms. [More]