Hopelessly trapped at Yorktown, Virginia, British General Lord Cornwallis surrenders 8,000 British soldiers and seamen to a larger Franco-American
force, effectively bringing an end to the American Revolution on this day
in 1781.

Lord Cornwallis was one of the most capable British generals of the
American Revolution.

Storming of Redoubt #9.

The storming of Redoubt No. 10.

The victory at Yorktown was honored in a 1783 medallion minted in
Paris and designed there by US Ambassador Benjamin Franklin.

  
Under federal troop escort, the Little Rock Nine were escorted back
into Central High School for their first full day of classes. 
 

Under escort from the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division, nine black
students entered an all-white High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Three
weeks earlier, Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus had surrounded the
school with National Guard troops to prevent its federal court-ordered
racial integration. After a tense standoff, President Dwight Eisenhower
federalized the Arkansas National Guard and sent 1,000 army troops
to Little Rock to enforce the court order.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivering a special broadcast on
the Little Rock situation.

 
Painting of Francis Scott Key standing on boat, with
right arm stretched out toward the United States flag
flying over Fort McHenry, Baltimore, Maryland.

Francis Scott Key penned a poem which is later set to music
and in 1931 becomes America’s national anthem, “The Star-
Spangled Banner.” The poem, originally titled “The Defense
of Fort McHenry,” was written after Key witnessed the
Maryland fort being bombarded by the British during the
War of 1812. Key was inspired by the sight of a lone U.S.
flag still flying over Fort McHenry at daybreak, as reflected
in the now-famous words of the “Star-Spangled Banner”:
“And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.”

Francis Scott Key (August 1, 1779 – January 11, 1843)

Francis S. Key was an American lawyer, author, and amateur poet
from Frederick, Maryland. It has been speculated that the U.S. motto
"In God We Trust" was adapted from a line in the fourth stanza of
the "Star-Spangled Banner".

(FoxNews) – Two Civil War cannonballs have been discovered on a South 
Carolina beach in the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian.

A spokesman for the city of Folly Beach told Fox News that some seashell
hunters spotted a suspicious item in the area of the old Coast Guard Base
at the east end of the beach. “It was reported to us as potentially older
unexplored ordnance,” he explained via email. “As per our policy, we
notified the Charleston County EOD [Explosive Ordnance Disposal] team
who also responded and assisted with notifying the military EOD team.”

The spokesman added,“It was determined to be a cannonball (one larger
8” shell and one 3” shell)… “We were advised the military EOD team will
handle disposing of the ordnance.”

Geronimo (Mescalero-Chiricahua) “the one who yawns”
(June 1829 – February 17, 1909)

 Apache chief Geronimo and the Indians he led, surrendered in Skeleton
Canyon in Arizona to U.S. Gen. Nelson Miles. For 30 years, the mighty
Native American warrior had battled to protect his tribe’s homeland;
however, by 1886 the Apaches were exhausted and outnumbered. Gen.
Miles accepted Geronimo’s surrender, making him the last Indian warrior
to formally give in to U.S. forces and signaling the end of the Indian Wars
in the Southwest. Geronimo died of pneumonia on February 17, 1909, as
a prisoner of the United States at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

Geronimo’s grave at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.