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ROCHAMBEAU, Comte Jean de: Memorial in Lafayette Park in Washington, D.C.
by J. J. Fernand Hamar
Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau (July 1, 1725 – May 10, 1807) was a French aristocrat, soldier, and a Marshal of France. In 1780, Rochambeau was given the rank of Lieutenant General in command of 5,000 French troops and sent to join the American colonists under George Washington fighting Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War.
He landed at Newport, Rhode Island, on July 10, but was held there inactive for a year, owing to his reluctance to abandon the French fleet blockaded by the British in Narragansett Bay. At last, in July 1781, Rochambeau's force finally left Rhode Island, marching across Connecticut to join Washington on the Hudson River at Dobbs Ferry, New York. There then followed the celebrated march of the combined forces and the siege of Yorktown. On September 22, they combined with the Marquis de Lafayette's troops and forced Cornwallis to surrender on October 19.
Rochambeau's behavior has been celebrated: he had placed himself entirely under Washington's command and handled his troops as part of the Continental Army. At Yorktown, when Cornwallis' representative attempted to surrender to Rochambeau, snubbing Washington, Rochambeau's aide-de-camp directed him to Washington as the army's commander-in-chief.
Source: Wikipedia
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