Who is admiral de grasse

Explore Wikis Community Central. Register Don't have an account? View source. History Talk 0. Do you like this video? Play Sound. De Grasse : " Lafayette promised me a fleet beyond compare, and a captain without peer! Instead I find myself greeted by one old ship and a boy in costume! But beggars do not choose, hmm? Assassin's Creed III. Universal Conquest Wiki. Homestead Residents. Animi Avatars. Terms and concepts. Commanding officer of the French fleet, de Grasse was on his flagship, the Ville de Paris, too sick to witness the surrender.

Their battle at sea off the Virginia Capes had sealed the fate of Lord Cornwallis and forced the capitulation of the last operational British army on the mainland. De Grasse's strategic vision, Yale historian Jonathan R.

Dull said, had "made possible the most important naval victory of the 18th century. De Grasse was born into an old noble family in southern France in At the outbreak of the war of the Austrian Succession in , he transferred to the French navy and, for 25 years, served his king in India and in the Mediterranean.

More importantly, he spent much time in the Caribbean where he commanded the gun frigate Amphitrite in Haiti in and Returning to American waters in , he commanded a squadron under the comte d'Estaing at Grenada in July and was commanding officer of the French fleet in the Caribbean after d'Estaing left for Europe following the unsuccessful siege of Savannah, Georgia.

His health failing, the year-old de Grasse sailed for France in late as well. In his absence, French strategy for defeating her British archenemy had fundamentally changed.

Clandestine aid became official with the declaration of war on Britain in Yet, neither in nor in had the French fighting effort been crowned by success. An attempt to invade England in had been a dismal failure. Though Louis XVI and his foreign minister the comte de Vergennes had put no high hopes in the attack on Britain, the all-too apparent inability of French forces to make a difference in the war strained the alliance with the United States.

In the fall of , French voices in favor of fighting England in her colonies grew ever stronger. The decisive shift in thinking on the question of sending troops came late in January On February 2, the king approved a plan, codenamed expedition particuliere, for the transportation of an infantry force large enough to decide the war in the New World. Naval forces in the Caribbean would be strengthened and positioned to support the expeditionary force. Come May, the comte de Rochambeau sailed for Rhode Island with officers and 5, men.

But he arrived too late in the campaign season, and with too many sick men, to undertake any military action. By the spring of , America's allies were still encamped in Newport while Cornwallis was marching almost at will across the southern colonies. George Washington wrote April 9, "We are at the end of our tether, and On March 22, , Louis XVI promoted de Grasse to rear admiral and sent him back to the West Indies with 20 ships of the line, 3 frigates and transport. Concurrently, the vicomte de Rochambeau, son of the general, sailed from France with badly needed cash for his father.

He also brought the news that a second division of infantry the French had planned to send would not be coming. General Rochambeau was free to draw his own plans for the coming campaign, possibly in cooperation with de Grasse, who might be able to provide naval support. At Wethersfield, Connecticut, in late May, Washington and Rochambeau decided to join the forces on the North River for an attack on New York, "the only practicable object under present circumstances," as Washington reminded Rochambeau.

Two days earlier, about French officers and 2, enlisted men in four regiments had crossed from Newport to Providence, Rhode Island. They left behind a garrison of men under Brigadier Claude Gabriel de Choisy; the siege artillery, 30 officers and men, a detachment of about 90 men under Major de Prez of the Royal Deux-Ponts in Providence, and a French fleet under Admiral de Barras.

During the next three days, the remainder of Rochambeau's army followed. Artillery lieutenant the comte de Clermont-Crevecoeur was shocked: "In beholding this army I was struck, not by its smart appearance, but by its destitution: the men were without uniforms and covered with rags; most of them were barefoot.

They were of all sizes, down to children who could not have been over fourteen. There were many negroes, mulattoes, etc. It was really painful to see these brave men, almost naked with only some trousers and little linen jackets, most of them without stockings, but, would you believe it?

Very cheerful and healthy in appearance. Some of the cheerfulness no doubt, could be attributed to French silver. Rochambeau had loaned half his cash - , livres - to Washington, and for many a Continental soldier this was the first and only time he was paid in something other than worthless shinplasters.

Their generals, however, had less cause for celebration. Rochambeau, a veteran of 40 years and 14 sieges, declared the fortifications around New York impregnable. Yet something had to be done. Rochambeau began urging a campaign against Cornwallis, who had begun erecting fortifications in a town called Little York, on August 1.

But without a navy to throw across Cornwallis's escape seaward route, any siege would be doomed to failure. Enter the comte de Grasse. Sailing from Brest on March 22, de Grasse and his huge convoy, re-enforced by six ships of the line from Martinique, had arrived off the island coast on April British Rear Admiral Samuel Hood was waiting for him, but in a stroke of that good fortune that would shine on the FrancoAmerican alliance all year, Hood had but 18 ships against de Grasse's French expenditures for Rochambeau's army amounted to 12,, livres, and total French aid, including loans and subsidies, ran to about 48 million.

To protect the loot, Rodney had withdrawn four of Hood's ships, giving de Grasse the superiority he needed to get his convoy safely into Port Royal on May 6.

Following his conquest of Tobago in early June, de Grasse sailed for St. Domingo, where four more ships of the line joined his fleet July Now, said Dull, began the "most perfectly executed naval campaign of the age of sail. Domingo, Rochambeau learned June 8 of the admiral's arrival in the West Indies.

In a hastily called conference with de Barras, they decided that admiral's fleet should stay in Newport rather than sail for Boston and be ready to depart at short notice.

On June 15, Rochambeau had information from de Grasse that he would be in St. Domingo by the end of June and could be in American waters as early as July Rochambeau immediately dispatched the aptly named Concorde to St. Domingo to apprise de Grasse of Franco-American plans. He also informed the admiral of Cornwallis's arrival in Virginia and hinted strongly that he would prefer de Grasse to sail for the Chesapeake rather than New York, even if this contradicted the plan reached at Wethersfield:.

There are two points at which an offensive can be made against the enemy; the Chesapeake Bay and New York. The southwesterly winds and the state of defense in Virginia with there [sic] where we think you may be able to render the greatest service, whereas you will need only two days to come from there to New York. In any case it is essential that you send, well in advance, a frigate to inform de Barras where you are to come and also General Washington.

Concurrently, the chevalier de la Luzerne, French minister to America, impressed upon de Grasse that "It is you alone who can deliver the invaded states from that crisis which is so alarming that it appears to me there is no time to lose. That day Rochambeau informed him of de Grasse's plans, if not of his own intentions.

It took a swift ship up to three weeks to sail to St. De Grasse got the letters in mid-July. He opted to sail for the Chesapeake. De Grasse sided with Rochambeau and chose Virginia. Born to one of the oldest families of French nobility in , de Grasse entered the French navy in at 17 years old. By the time he was given command of his own ship in , de Grasse had already fought in the War of Austrian Succession, been seriously wounded, captured and held for three months in England as a prisoner of war.

Arriving in Haiti, de Grasse found the dispatch from America waiting for him. He responded quickly, and by Aug. On Sept. Amidst the storm of broadsides and the fire, smoke, and deafening din, the French had the edge as they battered the British ships, severely damaging and crippling five of them.

Outnumbered and too badly damaged to continue the fight, the British fleet hurried to New York for repairs and reinforcements, leaving Cornwallis completely surrounded by enemy forces on both land and sea.