It is recognised now that the defeat at Yorktown was the event which marked the beginning of the end of the War of American Independence; indeed, there are accounts which stop at the victory. It was not so clear at the time, and in fact the war went on for two more years. The disposition of the allied armies and navies made it quite clear that the war was going to go on: the French army of Rochambeau remained in Virginia, guarding that central territory, stationed at Williamsburg and Yorktown in the main (and incidentally this does tend to confirm the judgement of Clinton and Cornwallis as to the strategic importance of the area). Some regiments, including those brought by St-Simon, went back to the West Indies with Grasse when he sailed on 4 November, but six of the French regiments remained in Virginia, a substantial force of something less than 5,000 men. Some remained in the area until the next summer. One of their tasks, ironically, was to refortify Yorktown. They actually did no more fighting. Washington's Continental Army marched back to blockade New York, though some were sent south to assist General Greene in South Carolina.

The fleets sailed off. Grasse returned to the Islands, taking a substantial part of the French army with him; Graves was already back at New York, where he finally handed over command to Digby; Hood sailed off to the Islands, with his fleet augmented by three more ships of the line; and Graves sailed to take up his new appointment as second-in-command in Jamaica. By mid-November only the French army remained in Virginia; in the rest of North America the situation had in effect reverted to what it had been before Yorktown: the British holding New York, Charleston and Savannah; the American army blockading those places; the French army occupying Virginia instead of Rhode Island.

Even after the loss of Cornwallis's army the British still had about 30,000 soldiers in America, with the major concentration in New York – perhaps 10,000 – and others spread from Canada to Florida. This was a considerably greater number than could be mustered by the allies: the French were back to about 5,000 or less, the Continental Army rather more, but widely spread. Even in the south the forces under General Leslie in Charleston outnumbered those under General Greene in the hinterland.