Which French commander led French troops alongside Washington during the 1781 Yorktown campaign?

Comte de Rochambeau led French troops alongside George Washington during the 1781 Yorktown campaign.

Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau, commanded the French expeditionary force sent to support the United States after France entered the war. His army landed in Rhode Island in 1780 and coordinated operations with Washington’s Continental Army.

In 1781, Washington and Rochambeau marched their combined forces south from the Hudson Valley toward Virginia. French naval operations under Admiral de Grasse also helped prevent British relief of Yorktown. The allied army surrounded the British position commanded by Lord Cornwallis.

Cornwallis surrendered on October 19, 1781. The victory effectively ended major fighting in North America, though the formal peace settlement came later. Rochambeau is sometimes confused with Lafayette, a French-born American general, or de Grasse, the French admiral who commanded the fleet in the Chesapeake.