After returning to France, Lafayette was a key figure in the French Revolution of 1789 and the July Revolution of 1830. He has been considered a national hero in both countries.

One of the most controversial figures of the American Revolution, Mohawk military leader Joseph Brant (also known as Thayendanegea) was closely associated with Great Britain. He led Mohawk and colonial Loyalists known as "Brant's Volunteers" against the rebel colonists in a bitter partisan war on the New York frontier. Although he was accused of committing atrocities and given the name "Monster Brant", later historians say this reputation was undeserved.

On October 19, 1781, British General Charles Cornwallis surrendered his army of 8,000 men to General George Washington at Yorktown, effectively ending significant hostilities in North America. Cornwallis had marched his army into the Virginia port town earlier that summer expecting to meet British ships sent from New York, but the ships never arrived.

Throughout the course of the war, an estimated 6,800 Americans were killed in action. But diseases such as dysentery, malaria, and smallpox were a much deadlier enemy than the British troops, killing another 17,000 Americans, including about 8,000-12,000 who died while prisoners of war.

Peace negotiations began in Paris in April 1782 and continued through the summer. Representing the United States were Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, Henry Laurens, and John Adams. David Hartley and Richard Oswald represented Great Britain. The Treaty of Paris was drafted on November 30, 1782, and signed at the Hôtel d'York in Paris on September 3, 1783.