After defeating a British fleet off the Virginia Capes on 5 Sept. 1781, Admiral de Grasse gained control of the Chesapeake Bay with a large French fleet. Gen. George Washington, commander in chief of the combined American and French armies, and the Comte de Rochambeau, commander of the French expeditionary army, met with de Grasse aboard his flagship near here on 18 Sept. and planned to entrap the British army at Yorktown. As Washington and Rochambeau departed, sailors atop the masts of the French ships saluted them with running musket fire known as a feu de joie while the flagship fired its cannons. The siege of Yorktown began on 28 Sept., and the British surrendered on 19 Oct.
