Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau

But Washington was really the head.

And so what he, in conjunction with General Rochambeau, the head of the French army that had landed in America to support the revolution, came up with this plan of disinformation to mislead the British in New York, that the Americans, jointly with the French, now reinforced by a French army, were going to assault and attack New York City.

to try to defeat the British army there.

And so they launched a host of disinformation operations.

They moved soldiers and they moved boats and so on, all to prepare an attack against New York.

And General Clinton and his intelligence service was fooled by this.

In the meantime, the American army under General Washington and the French army under General Rochambeau, who were stationed in Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey, surrounding New York City, had to march by land because the British controlled the sea and the Americans had no Navy to speak of.

They had to march from New York city to Yorktown, Virginia, which is about 400 miles, 600 kilometers secretly.

On reading the note, he comprehended that the hour to draw the sword for France had come, and that there was no receding.

Who was to bear the flag of the revolution? Lafayette, who had lost his fame by massacring the populace on the Paris parade ground? Lacnay, who was known only by the mischief he wrought in the Seven Years' War? And old Rochambeau, the French naval hero in the American Revolution, who was for defensive war and was vexed to see Dumouriez promote young blood over his head without benefiting by his experience? It was expected that Lafayette would be victorious in the north.

When he would be commander-in-chief, Dumouriez would be the minister of war.

They would cast down the red cap and crush Jacobins and Girondists with the two hands.

In our last episode, Audrey and I discussed Lord Cornwallis' decision to carry the war into Virginia, which set in motion the chain of events that would decide the American Revolution.

As George Washington, the Comte de Rochambeau, Admiral de Grasse, and the Comte de Barras coordinated one of the war's most daring and complex campaigns, the Franco-American allies trapped Cornwallis' army at Yorktown.

After a relentless siege, Cornwallis surrendered more than 7,000 troops in one of history's most decisive military victories and one that effectively ended the American Revolutionary War.

This week, as promised, Audrey and I will kick off a series of topical episodes on various aspects of the war that we didn't discuss much, or perhaps not at all, in the regular series.

happy monday everyone welcome to yesterday's news i'm monty mater yesterday's news is where i cover the news in about 15 to 20 minutes hopefully narrow down the stories that are really important and get rid of some of the noise give you some of your time back hopefully you can take a break from social media from your phone but also stay really informed as we head into the midterms if you are listening on flipping tables this is a new feature for you your regularly scheduled podcast will still come out i just thought people might also like to have this as a little daily morning tidbit Again, to stay informed and hopefully get some of your life back.

On this day, September 28th, 1781, 245 years ago, George Washington and the Comte de Rochambeau arrived outside Yorktown, Virginia with roughly 20,000 American and French troops and began digging siege lines around the British army under Lord Cornwallis.

A French fleet under Admiral de Grassy had already closed the Chesapeake behind him.

Cornwallis surrendered on October 19th.

Between the water and the swamp at Chalmé, there's only one river road, and the earthworks cut across it.

At the end of November, at Cap Francais, on the north coast of Saint-Domingue, General Rochambeau surrenders the last French army in the Caribbean to a British blockade.

He's the son of the general who fought beside George Washington at Yorktown.

The commander of the British squadron at Jamaica, Sir John Duckworth, takes his surrender.

Because when Saavedra and some of the Spanish troops get back to Havana from Pensacola, he gets the next order, which is to go and meet Admiral de Grasse, who's been sent from Western France, from the Harbour of Brest, out to the Caribbean with a huge fleet of 20 ships of the line.

And he has orders to help General Rochambeau, who was campaigning with George Washington in North America, but hadn't actually initiated any active attack on the British.

They were basically sitting together outside of New York.

They had joined up in the summer of 1781, and not much had happened.

He's come up with a huge amount of hardware.

but he doesn't have the money to feed, repair, or run a long campaign in North America.

So he desperately needs money, not only for his fleet, but when he arrives in Saint-Domingue, he also gets a letter from North America, from General Rochambeau, who was with George Washington.

And he requests, Rochambeau requests of de Grasse, a huge amount of silver because the French army was not allowed to requisition or issue notes, treasury notes, as George Washington did, of supplies whenever they were on the marsh.

It was the British military headquarters in North America and the largest British stronghold on the continent.

In July 1780, 5,000 troops under the command of the Comte de Rochambeau landed in Newport, R- Rhode Island.

So we've introduced Comte de Rochambeau, so let's do a little mini bio of him because he is going to play a very significant role moving forward.

Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, Comte de Rochambeau, sep- was alive from 1725 to 1807.

Again, I apologize, French listeners.

I'm doing my best.

And, uh, the, the soldiers are going back to their farm, and he's, he got victory so close, but his army's ...

Well, the French general, uh, finally comes over, uh, the Admiral de Grasse, and he's riding to Rochambeau.

And he says, "Saint Dominique," which is Haiti, was a French colony, and so he stops there and says, "There's no money, but I'll send a frigate to Havana." And so they're looking for money for Washington.

And General Lafayette is with him, and he goes and stops at the Port of Havana.

They gave their jewelry, their silverware, their candelabras, all of this.

And, uh, they, women from M- Matanzas to Pinar del Río, and uh, they send a note with their gift, "So American mothers' sons are not born as slaves." And so when they finally give this to Washington, he reportedly threw his hat in the air.

And the French General Rochambeau writes, "The joy was enormous when it was received.

The money from Havana, the contribution of 800,000 silver pounds, which helped stop the financial bankruptcy of the American army, raised the morale and spirit of the army that had begun to dissolve." And so finally, the British surrender at Yorktown.