On this date...

...in 1781 The World Turned Upside Down.

1781: Surrender of Lord Cornwallis
On this day in 1781, Britain's Lord Cornwallis surrendered to General George Washington, commander of the American army, at Yorktown, Virginia, effectively ending the American Revolution and assuring America's independence.

Or not. there are actually no period reports that that song was played.

Anyway. Cornwallis was too mortified sick--yeah, that's the ticket, he was sick--to show up himself, so his second in command filled in for him.

Wikipedia:  Cornwallis refused to meet formally with Washington, and also refused to come to the ceremony of surrender, claiming illness.^[64] Instead, Brigadier General Charles O'Hara presented the sword of surrender to Rochambeau. Rochambeau shook his head and pointed to Washington.^[65] O'Hara offered it to Washington, but he refused to accept it, and motioned to his second in command, Benjamin Lincoln, who had been humiliated by the British at Charleston, to accept it.^[64]