Washington shortly learned that de Grasse had engaged the Royal Navy under Admiral Thomas Graves off the Virginia capes, sending the British squadron scurrying back to New York and leaving the French in undisputed control of Chesapeake Bay. Between Lafayette's small army on the land side and de Grasse's massive fleet at sea, Cornwallis was bottled up near the end of the Yorktown peninsula.
Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow, pg. 409










