James Thomas Flexner
p. 459
In his grotto, Cornwallis received a letter from Washington outlining surrender terms. One sentence filled his heart with dismay. To forseeable propositions, Washington had added: "The same honors will be granted to the surrendering army as were granted to the garrison of Charleston."
When General Lincoln had been forced to surrender at Charleston, Clinton had expressed his disdain for the rebels by refusing to grant the "honors of war" traditionally accorded a defeated army which had fought well. If Washington were to insist on retaliation, the British could not march out of Yorktown with their colors flying -the colors would have to be "cased" as Lincoln's had been. And the garrison, as they advanced to the surrender ceremony, would be further disgraced by being forbidden to pay the victors the compliment of playing a French or an American march. They would be shamefully restricted to march natural to their own army, either English or German. Thus to apply to the professionals in Yorktown what Clinton had thought suitable for American amateurs and barbarians, would disgrace Cornwallis and his officers before all civilized Europe. The British command could only hope that their French opponents would not permit this to happen. Surely, as true soldiers and European gentlemen, the French would realize that equating Cornwallis's sophisticated force with Lincoln's rabble was bizarre.
[...]
The surrender ceremony was set for two in the afternoon of September 19, 1781. It was a clear autumn day with an exhilarating nip of chill; the trees had hardly started to turn brown. On both sides of a main road out of Yorktown, the allies drew up their armies, each two ranks deep: the Americans on the right side, the French on the left. The narrow passage between the files was a half-mile long. A the far end, the general officers waited on horseback: Washington and Rochambeau, Chastellux and Lincoln, and many other. [...]
For a while, the bands played: the French "magnificently", the Americans "moderately well". Then a nervous silence sank over the conquering armies. Finally, from a distance, approaching music could be heard. The tune was slow, melancholy: Washington recognized "The World Turned Upside Down."
[...]
As the Britons and Hessians moved between the contrasting lines, the band still playing its melancholy air, the officers ordered their men to turn their heads to the right, acknowledging their French conquerors, ignoring the American. Lafayette, who had stationed himself proudly beside the tattered division, shouted an order. A fife and drum corps broke into the puckish irreverence of the tune the French called "Janckey-Dudle." The British were startled into looking at the men who were to reap the true advantage from victory.
As the head of the surrendering column approached closer, Washington stared with puzzlement at the enemy commander. The American could have little idea of what Cornwallis looked like, but surely the Earl was not young and Irish of feature, did not look so much like a buck from the gambling halls. The man, indeed, bore the insignia of only a brigadier general. Coming to the end of the long troop-lined passage, the British leader turned his horse toward the French general officers, rode up, and asked which one was Rochambeau.
Divining the brigadier's intention of offering his sword to the French commander, Dumas, interposed. "You are mistaken. The Commander in Chief of our army is on the right."
The British officer was forced to turn and ride over to Washington. He explained that Earl Cornwallis was indisposed: he was Brigadier General Charles O'Hara. He offered Washington his sword.
Washington refused it. Since the British had chosen to send a subordinate, one of Washington's subordinates would accept the surrender and give orders to the surrendered army. Washington indicated General Lincoln (whose capture at Charleston was being avenged). With the nonchalance of an aristocratic gambler whose chips have been gathered up from the board, O'Hara went through the ceremony with Lincoln.
Surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, by John Trumbull
From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrender_of_Lord_Cornwallis):
In the center of the scene, American General Benjamin Lincoln appears mounted on a white horse. He extends his right hand toward the sword carried by the surrendering British officer, General Charles O'Hara, who heads the long line of troops that extends into the background. To the left, French officers appear standing and mounted beneath the white banner of the royal Bourbon family. On the right are American officers beneath the Stars and Stripes; among them are the Marquis de Lafayette and Colonel Jonathan Trumbull, the brother of the painter. General George Washington, riding a brown horse, stayed in the background because Cornwallis himself was not present for the surrender. The Comte de Rochambeau is on the left center on a brown horse.
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