Atlas Obscura - Latest • Jan. 23, 2026, 7:09 p.m.
For most Americans, the name Charles Cornwallis immediately calls to mind his humiliating defeat at the hands of American and French armies at the Battle of Yorktown in 1781 . However, after the defeat at Yorktown, Cornwallis went on to have a long and illustrious career.
After returning to Great Britain, Cornwallis still had the confidence of King George III, who sent him as ambassador to the court of King Frederick II (the Great) of Prussia in 1785. The following year, he was knighted and was appointed Governor-General of India, where he became responsible for setting up British administrative services across the subcontinent that laid the groundwork for the British Raj, including the Cornwallis Code, a civil and criminal code enacted in India in 1793.