![Position du camp de l’armée combinée a Philipsburg du 6 juillet au 19 aoust. [1781] Map. Library of Congress.](https://www.thenmusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/iiif-service_gmd_gmd380_g3802_g3802w_ar121100-full-pct_25-0-default.jpg)
The Franco-American army of Washington and Rochambeau began moving in late August, first crossing the Hudson River before skirting west around Manhattan and then marching south to Yorktown to link up with a French fleet under V. Adm. Francois Joseph Paul, Comte de Grasse. Meanwhile, the fleet commanded by Comte de Barras would transport Washingtons’ artillery and other heavy gear from New York to Virginia.
"This [Hudson River] crossing occupied much time, owing to the breadth of the river, which they were obliged to cross in ferry boats, collected in great numbers, but still not enough. On the 25th I went myself to the spot, and saw many of the troops and much baggage cross. General Washington was there; they had provided a pavilion for him, from which he examined everything very attentively. He seemed, in this crossing, in the march of our troops toward the Chesapeake Bay, in our reunion with M. de Grasse, to see a better destiny arise, when, at this point of the war, exhausted, destitute of resources, he needed a great success, which might revive courage and hope. He pressed my hand with much affection when he left us and crossed the river himself."
Claude Blanchard, commissary of the French corps, in his Journal, 25 August 1781The Journal of Claude Blanchard : Commissary of the French Auxiliary Army Sent to the United States during the American Revolution, 1780-1783, Internet Archive, archive.org/details/journalofclaudeb00blan, p. 129.