As the eight years of the American Revolution progressed in what had become a stalemate, average, middle-class Americans were much less inclined to serve in the ranks, especially for long periods of time. Their notable absence in the ranks of American Revolutionary Armies, including General George Washington's Continental Army, called for men of the lower-class to fill the sizeable gap. In consequence, the importance of the forgotten roles of America's lower-classes in fighting and helping to win the war by their steadfast determination year after year: the Irish and blacks who served America with distinction all the way to the final clash of arms at Yorktown, Virginia, in 1781.