Which French general commanded allied troops alongside George Washington at Yorktown in 1781?

Comte de Rochambeau commanded French land forces alongside George Washington during the Yorktown campaign in 1781. His French expeditionary army joined Washington’s Continental Army in the decisive operation against the British.

Rochambeau arrived in North America in 1780 with thousands of French troops sent to support the American cause. In 1781, he and Washington coordinated a rapid march from the Hudson Valley toward Virginia after deciding that Yorktown offered a promising target. French and American forces then besieged the British army commanded by Charles Cornwallis.

French naval forces under Admiral de Grasse helped prevent British relief by controlling the Chesapeake Bay after the Battle of the Chesapeake. Cornwallis surrendered on October 19, 1781. Rochambeau is sometimes confused with the Marquis de Lafayette, another prominent French ally who commanded American troops in Virginia, or with de Grasse, whose role was naval rather than land command.