![]() His French troops departed and joined Lafayette, and de Grasse sent his empty transports to pick up the American troops. On September 5, Washington learned of the arrival of de Grasse’s fleet off the Virginia Capes. The French and American armies paraded through Philadelphia from September 2 to 4, where the soldiers proclaimed that they would not leave Maryland until they received one month’s pay, and the Continental Congress complied, giving them the money. ![]() Washington sent out fake dispatches that reached Clinton, and convinced him that the Franco-American army was going to launch an attack on New York, and that Cornwallis was not in any danger. Washington wanted to keep absolute secrecy as to where they were headed. ![]() The march to Yorktown led by General George Washington and the Comte de Rochambeau began on August 19, and has become known as the celebrated march, 4,000 French and 3,000 American soldiers began the march in Newport, Rhode Island, while the rest remained behind to protect the Hudson Valley. With the capture of over 8,000 British soldiers, negotiations between the United States and Great Britain began, resulting in the Treaty of Paris in 1783. After two days of negotiation, the surrender ceremony took place on the 19th, with Cornwallis being absent since he claimed to be ill. With the Americans’ artillery closer and more intense than ever, the British situation began to deteriorate rapidly and Cornwallis asked for capitulation terms on the 17th. With these defenses gone, the allies were able to finish their 2nd parallel. A French column took #9 and an American column #10. With the British defense weakened, Washington, on October 14, 1781, sent two columns to attack the last major remaining British outer defenses redoubts #9 and #10. By late September the army and naval forces had surrounded Cornwallis by land and by sea.Īfter initial preparations, the Americans and French built their first parallel and began the bombardment. ![]() Washington had dispatched the French general Marquis de Lafayette to contain Cornwallis in Yorktown until he arrived, and Lafayette did so. As a result of this victory, de Grasse blocked any escape by sea for Cornwallis. In the beginning of September, de Grasse defeated a British Fleet that had come to relieve Cornwallis at the Battle of the Chesapeake. Thus, they agreed to attack Lord Cornwallis and his smaller army of 9,000 men which was stationed in the port town of Yorktown, Virginia. The French Commander, the Comte de Rochambeau, convinced the American Commander, George Washington, that an attack on New York City would be hard pressed to succeed and it would be easier for the French Fleet under the command of the Comte de Grasse to assist in the attack further south, because he was to bring the French Fleet into the Caribbean in October. The two armies met North of New York City in 1781. In 1780, 5,500 French soldiers landed in Rhode Island to try to help their American allies in assaulting British-occupied New York City. ![]() It proved to be the last major land battle of the American Revolutionary War, as the surrender of Cornwallis’s army prompted the British government eventually to negotiate an end to the conflict. The Sie ge of Yorktown or Battle of Yorktown in 1781 was a decisive victory by combined assault of American forces led by General George Washington and French forces led by General Comte de Rochambeau over a British Army commanded by General Lord Cornwallis. ![]()
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