Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau
Marshal Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau was a French nobleman and general whose army played a critical role in helping the United States defeat the British Army at Yorktown in 1781 during the American Revolutionary War. He was commander-in-chief of the French expeditionary force sent by France to help the American Continental Army fight against British forces.
Portrait by Charles Wilson Peale, 1782
Landing of a French auxiliary army in Newport, Rhode Island on 11 July 1780 under the command of the comte de Rochambeau. This image is one of 12 scenes from the American Revolution printed in Allgemeines historisches Taschenbuch by Daniel Nickolaus Chodowiecki, a well-known Polish engraver.
Bataille de Yorktown by Auguste Couder
Surrender of Lord Cornwallis by John Trumbull, depicting Cornwallis surrendering at Yorktown; the French troops of General Rochambeau are on the left and the American troops of Washington are on the right; oil on canvas, 1820
The siege of Yorktown, also known as the Battle of Yorktown and the surrender at Yorktown, began September 28, 1781, and ended on October 19, 1781, at exactly 10:30 am in Yorktown, Virginia. It was a decisive victory by a combined force of the American Continental Army troops led by General George Washington with support from Marquis de Lafayette and French Army troops led by Comte de Rochambeau and a French naval force commanded by Comte de Grasse over the British Army commanded by British Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis.
Surrender of Lord Cornwallis, an 1820 portrait by John Trumbull depicting the British surrendering to Benjamin Lincoln flanked by French (left) and Continental Army troops
Siège de Yorktown by Auguste Couder, c. 1836. Rochambeau (center L), Washington (center R), Marquis de La Fayette (behind Washington, R), Marquis de Saint Simon (behind Washington, L), Duke of Lauzun (L, mounted) and Comte de Ménonville (R of Washington).
Washington firing the first gun
Storming of Redoubt No. 10