The Comte de Grasse commanded the French fleet that helped trap Cornwallis during the Siege of Yorktown.
François Joseph Paul de Grasse, commonly known as the Comte de Grasse, led the French naval forces in the Chesapeake Bay in 1781. His fleet's arrival created a crucial maritime advantage for the American and French armies besieging British Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis at Yorktown.
On September 5, 1781, de Grasse's fleet fought the Battle of the Chesapeake against a British fleet commanded by Thomas Graves. The French victory prevented the British from controlling the bay and from easily reinforcing or evacuating Cornwallis's army.
De Grasse's naval role complemented the land campaign led by George Washington and the Comte de Rochambeau. After Cornwallis surrendered on October 19, 1781, the combined operation became the decisive campaign of the Revolutionary War, although peace was not formally established until 1783. De Grasse later returned to the Caribbean, where he was defeated and captured at the Battle of the Saintes in 1782.