The Probert Encyclopaedia of People

FRANCOIS DE GRASSE

The Fancois de Grasse (Count de Grasse) was a French sailor. He was born in 1723 and died in 1788. He was appointed commander of a French fleet of twenty-nine vessels and 3000 men to aid the American colonists against Great Britain in 1781. He aided in the siege of Yorktown, blockading the York and James Rivers, and sent troops to aid in the decisive engagement by which Charles Cornwallis was compelled to surrender.
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