The Marquis de Lafayette commanded American troops at the Battle of Yorktown during the final campaign of the Revolution.
Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, was a French aristocrat who volunteered for the American cause in 1777. He became a major general in the Continental Army and developed a close relationship with George Washington.
At Yorktown in 1781, Lafayette commanded American forces that blocked British General Charles Cornwallis from escaping north along the Virginia coast. Washington’s army and French forces under Rochambeau then joined Lafayette, while the French fleet defeated or repelled British naval support.
Lafayette was not the overall commander at Yorktown; Washington held that role. Rochambeau commanded the French army, and Admiral de Grasse led the French fleet. Lafayette’s importance lay in his field command, coordination, and role in containing Cornwallis before the siege concluded with the British surrender on October 19, 1781.