,
almost before he knew it, was besieged with no hope of rescue except by
a fleet.

Then it was that from the sea, the restless and mysterious sea, came
the final decision. Man seems so much the sport of circumstance that
apparent trifles, remote from his consciousness, appear at times to
determine his fate; it is a commonplace of romance that a pretty face
or a stray bullet has altered the destiny not merely of families but of
nations. And now, in the American Revolution, it was not forts on the
Hudson, nor maneuvers in the South, that were to decide the issue, but
the presence of a few more French warships than the British could muster
at a given spot and time. Washington had urged in January that France
should plan to have at least temporary naval superiority in American
waters, in accordance with Rochambeau's principle, "Nothing without
naval supremacy." Washington wished to concentrate against New York,
but the French were of a different mind, believing that the great
effort should be made in Chesapeake Bay. There the British could have
no defenses like those at New York, and the French fleet, which was
stationed in the West Indies, could reach more readily than New York a
point in the South.

Early in May Rochambeau knew that a French fleet was coming to his aid
but not yet did he know where the stroke should be made. It was clear,
however, that there was nothing for the French to do at Newport, and,
by the beginning of June, Rochambeau prepared to set his army in motion.
The first step was to join Washington on the Hudson and at any rate
alarm Clinton as to an imminent attack on New York and hold him to that
spot. After nearly a year of idleness the French soldiers were delighted
that now at last there was to be an active movement. The long march from
Newport to New York began. In glowing June, amid the beauties of nature,
now overcome by intense heat and obliged to march at two o'clock in the
morning, now drenched by heavy rains, the French plodded on, and joined
their American comrades along the Hudson early in July.

By the 14th of August Washington knew two things--that a great French
fleet under the Comte de Grasse had sailed for the Chesapeake and that
the British army had reached Yorktown. Soon the two allied armies, both
lying on the east side of the Hudson, moved southward. On the 20th of
August the Americans began to cross the river at King's Ferry, eight
miles below Peekskill. Washington had to leav