Battle Of The Chesapeake Background The Battle Aftermath

The victory by the French fleet prevented the Royal Navy from resupplying the forces of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, Virginia. It also prevented interference with the supply of troops and supply from New York to the armies of George Washington through Chesapeake Bay. As a result, General Cornwallis surrendered after the Battle of Yorktown and Great BritainThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a state in Western Europe, usually known simply as the United Kingdom the UK Britain or less accurately as Great Britain . The UK was formed by a series of Acts of Union which united the formerly later recognized the independence of the United States of AmericaThe United States of America also referred to as the United States U. America ¹ or the States is a federal republic in central North America, stretching from the Atlantic in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west. It shares land borders with Canada in.

1 Background

After a successful campaign in the southern states that included victories at the Siege of CharlestonThe Siege of Charleston is one the major battles which took place towards the end of the American Revolutionary War in which the British began to shift their focus towards the southern colonies. From 1777-1778, they had a considerable amount of success, n and the Battle of Guilford Court HouseThe Battle of Guilford Courthouse was a battle fought on March 15, 1781 inside the present-day booming metropolis of Greensboro, North Carolina, during the American Revolutionary War in which 1,900 British troops under General Charles Cornwallis defeated, British troops under Lord Cornwallis headed north in the summer of 1781 in order to rejoin Sir Henry Clinton's army in New York CitySkyline, with Statue of Liberty New York, New York" redirects here. For alternate meanings, see New York, New York (disambiguation). New York — officially named City of New York and often called New York City to distinguish it from the state of New York,, which were under threat of attack from American forces led by George Washington. Rather than taking an overland route, Cornwallis led his troops to the coast at Yorktown, Virginia to await naval transport to New York. The presence of the British troops at Yorktown made control of the Chesapeake Bay an essential naval objective.

Cornwallis was expecting to be met by ships of the British West Indian fleet, which in any case would be heading north to escape hurricane season in the Carribean. At the same time, the French fleet in the Carribean had been urgently petitioned to come north by Washington, who realized the strategic importance of the Chesapeake.

The British fleet under Rear Admiral Sir Samuel Hood arrived off the entrance to the Chesapeake on August 25, but finding no French ships there and perhaps underestimating the urgency of the situation, Hood proceeded to take his entire fleet of 14 ships of the line to New York to join with Rear Admiral Sir Thomas Graves's fleet. However, upon arriving in New York, he found that Graves had only 5 additional ships of the line that were fit for battle.

Meanwhile, Rear Admiral Comte de Grasse had arrived at the Chesapeake on August 29 with a French fleet that included 27 ships of the line and also carried three regiments of regular troops under General Marquis de Saint-Simon . Thus, the British had already made two fatal mistakes: they had failed to track the movements of the French fleet, and they had badly underestimated its strength and sent an inadequate force to deal with the threat.

2 The Battle

When the British fleet of 19 ships, now under Graves's command, arrived back at the Chesapeake on the morning of September 5, they found 24 French ships at anchor behind Cape Henry. The remaining 3 ships of de Grasse's fleet had been detached to blockade the York and James Rivers farther up the bay, and many of the ships at anchor were missing officers, men, and boats who were busy landing the French troops.

With the wind and tide in their favor as well as the element of surprise in finding the French ships at anchor in a state of unpreparedness for battle, the British might have been able to inflict severe losses by sailing into the bay and striking quickly in a general attack. However, it is unlikely that such an idea ever occurred to Graves. Conventional naval tactics of the time called for the fleets to each form up in line of battle and then maneuver within gun shot range of each other, each ship attacking its opposite in the enemy line.

Forming up the British line took so much time that the French were able to cut their anchors, sail out of Chesapeake Bay, and form their own line of battle. It was after 4 p.m., over 6 hours since the two fleets had first sighted each other, by the time the British -- who still had the weather gage, and therefore the initiative -- were ready to open their attack.

At this point, both fleets were sailing generally east, away from the bay. The two lines were approaching at an angle so that the leading ships of the vans of both lines were within range of each other, but the ships behind them were still attempting to close the gap. A shift in wind direction during the battle made it even harder for the ships in the rear to engage. Thus the ships in the van on both sides were engaged in heavy and continuous firing from the beginning of the action, while several of the ships in the rear never got into action at all. There was also confusion in the British fleet's maneuvers caused by apparently contradictory signals issued by Graves during the battle.

Around 6:30 p.m., at dusk, firing ended. Graves gave a general signal to keep to windward so that the heads of the two fleets separated. By this time, the British ships in the van division that had borne the brunt of the battle were very badly damaged and unable to continue to fight effectively in any case. Many of the British ships had been leaking badly and were in need of refitting even before the battle, and the French gunnery had been particularly destructive of the ships' rigging and masts.

3 Aftermath

The actual battle ended at sunset on September 5, but for several days afterwards the two fleets continued to maneuver within sight of each other, as ships on both sides carried out repairs and waited for an opportunity to resume the fight. In the meantime, both fleets were sailing farther and farther away from Chesapeake Bay, their strategic objective. Finally, on the evening of September 9, de Grasse recognized the futility of continuing the stalemate, and the French fleet turned around. When they arrived back at Cape Henry the following day, they found that in their absence, Comte de Barras had arrived from Newport, Rhode Island with 7 more ships of the line. Thus Chesapeake Bay was indisputably under French control.

Although the actual naval battle was inconclusive, the Battle of the Chesapeake was a major strategic victory for the French because of its consequences for the land campaign. Cornwallis was cut off from rescue or resupply, while the French were reinforced by the troops brought by de Grasse, and Washington's army converged from the north. This led to the Battle of Yorktown, the surrender of Cornwallis's army, and the ultimate defeat of the British forces in America.

[1] general account

Chesapeake Chesapeake

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1 Background

2 The Battle

3 Aftermath

Topics: Battle Of The Chesapeake, Background, The Battle, Aftermath...