Correction: Revolutionary War History

Transcript

KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:

Now a correction.

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

And it comes with a history lesson.

MCEVERS: On Friday's show, the eve of July 4, we explored the question of what happened to the American colonists who were loyal to the crown after the British defeat at Yorktown.

SIEGEL: We identified the year of that defeat correctly - 1781.

MCEVERS: But we also described 1781 as the year the Revolutionary War ended.

SIEGEL: And we were wrong.

MCEVERS: While the surrender at Yorktown in 1781 did effectively end fighting in the American colonies...

SIEGEL: The Revolutionary War did not formally end until nearly two years later.

MCEVERS: Peace negotiations began six months after Cornwallis surrendered.

SIEGEL: And there was drama. The British had trouble settling on a negotiator.

MCEVERS: The American negotiators - John Jay, John Adams and Benjamin Franklin - didn't trust the British, but they also didn't really trust or even like each other.

SIEGEL: But they did get the job done. The Revolutionary War finally and officially ended on September 3, 1783, with the Treaty of Paris. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.