CHAPTER X

NAVAL OPERATIONS PRECEDING AND DETERMINING THE FALL OF YORKTOWN. CORNWALLIS SURRENDERS
1781

Summary of Land Operations in Virginia early in 1781 [169]

Portsmouth Occupied [170]

A French Squadron from Newport, and a British from Gardiner's Bay, proceed to the Scene [170]

They meet off the Chesapeake [171]

Action between Arbuthnot and des Touches, March 16, 1781 [171]

The Advantage rests with the French, but they return to Newport. Arbuthnot enters the Chesapeake [174]

Cornwallis reaches Petersburg, Virginia, May 20 [175]

Under the directions of Sir Henry Clinton he evacuates Portsmouth and concentrates his forces at Yorktown, August 22 [175]

The French Fleet under de Grasse Anchors in the Chesapeake, August 30 [176]

British Naval Movements, in July and August, affecting conditions in the Chesapeake [176]

Admiral Graves, successor to Arbuthnot at New York, joined there by Sir Samuel Hood, August 28 [177]

Washington and Rochambeau move upon Cornwallis [178]

The British Fleet under Graves arrives off the Chesapeake [179]

Action between de Grasse and Graves, September 5 [179]

Hood's Criticism of Graves's Conduct [181]

The British, worsted, return to New York. De Grasse, reinforced, re-enters the Chesapeake, September 11 [184]

Cornwallis Surrenders, October 19 [184]

De Grasse and Hood Return to West Indies [185]