Yorktown
2 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Yorktown. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a town and county-seat of York co., Va., on the York river; 7 miles W. of Chesapeake bay. Here is the oldest custom house in the United States. The city has several public schools, and a monument commemorating the surrender of the British army under Lord Cornwallis. It is historically famous for its two sieges in 1781 and 1862. In the first the British, numbering 8,000, made a stand and threw up earthworks, in August, 1781, and were supported by several vessels in the York river. Washington with an army of 16,000, ineluding 7,000 Frenchmen, and aided by a French fleet, under Count de Grasse, forced the surrender of the place, Oct. 16, 1781. The total loss of the allied troops was about 300, and that of the British about 550. This was the last important action in the Revolutionary War. In the spring of 1862 the city was occupied by 50,000 Confederates under Generals Johnston and Magruder. On April 5, General McClellan laid siege to it with 90,000 men. The Confederates withdrew from the city on May 3, and were pursued till the 5th, when the battle of Williamsburg was fought, resulting in a victory for the Union army. Pop. about 150.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
the capital of York County, Virginia, situated on the York River fifty miles southeast of Richmond. The present population does not exceed 250 persons. Interest in Yorktown is entirely historical. In 1781 the British under Cornwallis were penned up here by the allied forces of the Americans and French, commanded by Washington and Lafayette respectively. A French fleet under the command of De Grasse prevented the escape of the British by sea. October 19th the British army of 8,000 men surrendered to Washington, an event which virtually closed the Revolutionary War. During the Civil War Yorktown was a scene of struggles between the Confederates, who were defending the approach to Richmond most gallantly, and the Union forces led by George B. McClellan.