Which French military commander led troops alongside Washington at Yorktown in 1781?

Comte de Rochambeau led French troops alongside George Washington at Yorktown in 1781.

Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau, commanded the French expeditionary force sent to support the United States. French troops landed at Newport, Rhode Island, in 1780. In 1781, Rochambeau and Washington coordinated a rapid march south from the Hudson Valley toward Virginia.

Their combined army joined the siege of Yorktown, where British General Charles Cornwallis was trapped. French soldiers made up a substantial part of the allied force, and French naval control of the Chesapeake, achieved under Admiral de Grasse, blocked effective British relief. Cornwallis surrendered on October 19, 1781.

Rochambeau is often confused with Lafayette, another French officer who served the American cause, and with de Grasse, whose fleet was decisive at sea. Rochambeau’s role was as the senior commander of the French army contingent cooperating directly with Washington on land.