Which French military officer commanded the French forces allied with Washington at Yorktown?

The Comte de Rochambeau commanded the French land forces allied with Washington at Yorktown.

Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau, arrived in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1780 with thousands of French soldiers sent to support the American Revolution. He worked closely with George Washington as the allied commanders planned operations against British forces. Their armies marched from the northeastern colonies toward Virginia in 1781.

At Yorktown, Rochambeau led the French contingent in the allied siege of Cornwallis’s army. The cooperation of the French army and navy was essential: French warships under the Comte de Grasse prevented British naval relief, while American and French troops surrounded Yorktown by land.

Rochambeau is sometimes confused with Lafayette, a celebrated French volunteer who served as an American general, or with de Grasse, the naval commander. Rochambeau’s specific role was command of the French expeditionary army. The victory helped produce the negotiations that ended the war in the Treaty of Paris.