15. Walker, Engineers of Independence, 296–98.
16. June 23, 1780, in James Thacher, Military Journal of the American Revolution, from the Commencement to the Disbanding of the American Army: Comprising a Detailed Account of the Principal Events and Battles of the Revolution, with Their Exact Dates, and a Biographical Sketch of the Most Prominent Generals (Hartford, CT: Hurlbut, Williams, 1862; New York: New York Times and Arno Press, 1974).
17. Papers of George Washington, general orders, July 6, 1781, in Washington, Writings, 22:232.
18. Sparks, Writings, 8:97–98, shows the addressee of the letter as the president of Congress.
19. Henri Doniol, Histoire de la participation de la France à l’établissement des États-Unis d’Amérique. Correspondance diplomatique et documents (Paris: Imprimerie nationale, 1886–1892), 5:513.
20. Kite, Brigadier-General Duportail, 197.
21. Doniol, Histoire, 5:514–16; Scott, De Grasse, 149–53.
22. George Washington to Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, Comte de Rochambeau, July 25, 1781, in Washington, Writings, 22:416.
23. Senate Documents, 71st Cong., 3rd Sess. (December 1, 1930–March 4, 1931) (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1931), 2:159.
24. Senate Documents, 2:159.
25. Landers, Virginia Campaign, 159ss.
26. Washington, Writings, 22:425.
27. Washington, Writings, 22:425. This note was written by Washington on the back of Duportail’s letter. The draft was copied and sent by one of his aides.
28. Walker, Engineers of Independence, 298–99.
29. Walker, Engineers of Independence, 298.
30. Kite, Brigadier-General Duportail, 202.
31. Joseph Plumb Martin, The Adventures of a Revolutionary Soldier (n.p.: Madison and Adams Press, 2019), 161.
32. Martin, Adventures, 161.
33. Washington, Writings, 22:501. When Admiral Graves returned to New York after abandoning the search for Colonel Laurens, he learned that a French fleet of twenty-eight vessels was fitting out at Martinique for North America. Rear Admiral Hood reached Sandy Hook on the twenty-eighth with a large fleet from the British West Indies. That same day, Clinton, Graves, and Hood held a council on Long Island, when they received intelligence that Barras had left Newport with his whole squadron on the twenty-fifth. They decided immediately to combine their forces to pursue both Barras and Grasse. However, Graves had to wait until the thirty-first to get his ships over the bar at Sandy Hook. Grasse arrived in the Chesapeake that same day. See Landers, Virginia Campaign, 159ss.
34. Founders Online, “[Diary Entry: 14 August 1781],” https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/01-03-02-0007-0004-0010.
35. George Washington to François-Joseph-Paul, Comte de Grasse-Tilly, August 17, 1781, in Washington, Writings (Fitzpatrick), 23:8.
36. William Spohn Baker, ed., Itinerary of General Washington, from August 24, 1777 to June 20, 1778 (East Sussex, UK: Gardners Books, 2007).
37. Washington, Writings, 23:1, 23:79–80.
38. Letter of Grasse in George Washington, Correspondence of General Washington and Comte de Grasse, 1781, August 17–November 4: With Supplementary Documents from the Washington Papers in the Manuscripts Division of the Library of Congress, ed. the Institut Français de Washington (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1931), document 211, 8–11. Scott, De Grasse, 243ss, discusses at length the significance of Grasse’s intended action.
39. The letter is published in full in US Senate, Correspondence, document 211, 12–14.
40. Emil Reich, Foundations of Modern Europe: Twelve Lectures Delivered in the University of London (London: G. Bell and Sons, 1904). See Landers, Virginia Campaign, chap. 15, for a full and authoritative description of this battle, with maps and more. A letter from Benjamin Franklin to his grandson tells of the effect produced by the news when it reached Europe. He writes,
Versailles, Oct. 23, ’81.
My Dear Child
... Inclos’d I send you the last Paper from London by which you will see there has been an Action between the French and English Fleets off Chesapeake. It appears even by their own Account that the English have been drubb’d and oblig’d to leave the French in possession of the Bay, and at Liberty to carry on their Operations against Cornwallis. By other Accounts M. Rochambeau was near joining the Marquis de la Fayette so that if Cornwallis has not made the best of his way into Carolina, he will probably be taken with his whole force. [Benjamin Franklin, The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, ed. Leonard W. Labaree and Whitfield J. Bell Jr. (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1959), http://franklinpapers.org, 35:639].
41. Washington, Writings, 22:101–2.
42. Sparks, Writings, 8:155–56.
43. George Washington to Marie-Joseph-Paul-Yves-Roch-Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, September 10, 1781, in Washington, Writings, 23:10.
44. Founders Online, “To George Washington from Marie-Joseph-Paul-Yves-Roch-Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, 8 September 1781,” https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-06933.
45. Founders Online, “To Washington from Lafayette, 8 September 1781.”
46. Founders Online, “To Washington from Lafayette, 8 September 1781.”
47. Letter of October 29, 1781, in Kite, Brigadier-General Duportail, 219; US Continental Congress, Papers, vol 10, no. 152, folio 373.
48. George Washington, Correspondence of General Washington and Comte de Grasse, 1781, August 17–November 4: With Supplementary Documents from the Washington Papers in the Manuscripts Division of the Library of Congress, ed. The Institut Français de Washington (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1931), 35.
49. Elizabeth S. Kite, “General Washington and the French Engineers Duportail and Companions,” Records of the American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia 44, no. 2 (June 1933): 149.
50. Washington, Writings, 23:188.
51. Landers, Virginia Campaign, 191.
52. Landers, Virginia Campaign, chap. 17; Washington, Writings, 22:140–41.
53. Great Britain found herself isolated in world politics only once during the last three centuries: when the American colonies were fighting for their independence. French diplomacy influenced Spain and Holland to side with France and America. This eventually led to the formation of the League of Armed Neutrality, which also included Sweden, Prussia, and Russia and, in turn, led to the victory of the colonies. See John J. Meng, The Comte De Vergennes: European Phases of His American Diplomacy (1774–1780) (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America, 1932).
54. Washington, Writings, 22:246.
55. Washington, Writings, 23:268–69.
56. Given in full in US Senate, Correspondence, 146–47.
57. M. le Chevalier,
permettez moy l’honneur de vous presenter un plan des attacques d’York. Je me proposais au commencement de la siège de vous en faire suivre les progrès par mes lettres, mais je me suis trouvé accablé de besogne, et d’ailleurs le colonel armand m’a annoncé que
