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GRASSE, FRANCOIS JOSEPH PAUL, MARQUIS...

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 369 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GRASSE, See also:FRANCOIS See also:JOSEPH See also:PAUL, See also:MARQUIS DE GRASSETILLY, See also:COMTE DE (1722-1788) , See also:French sailor, was See also:born at See also:Bar, in the See also:present See also:department of the Alpes Maritimes. In 1734 he took service on the galleys of the See also:order of See also:Malta, and in 1740 entered the service of See also:France, beingpromoted to See also:chief of See also:squadron in 1779. He took See also:part in the See also:naval operations of the See also:American See also:War of See also:Independence, and distinguished himself in the battles of See also:Dominica and See also:Saint See also:Lucia (1780), and of See also:Tobago (1780. He was less fortunate at St Kitts, where he was defeated by See also:Admiral See also:Hood. Shortly afterwards, in See also:April 1782, he was defeated and taken prisoner by Admiral See also:Rodney. Some months later he re-turned to France, published a Memoire justificatif, and was acquitted by a See also:court-See also:martial (1784). He died at See also:Paris in See also:January 1 788. His son See also:Alexandre de Grasse, published a See also:Notice bibliographique sur l'amiral comte de Grasse d'apres See also:les documents inedits in 1840. See G. Lacour-Gayet, La Marine militaire de la France sous le regne de See also:Louis X V (Paris, 1902).

End of Article: GRASSE, FRANCOIS JOSEPH PAUL, MARQUIS DE GRASSETILLY, COMTE DE (1722-1788)

Additional information and Comments

The article fails to mention the fact that De Grasse fought a tactically undecisive battle against the Royal Navy off Cape Henry and subsequently successfully denied entry to the British into Chesapeake Bay. He thereby prevented them from relieving their army under Lord Cornwallis which was besieged by the French and Americans at Yorktown and thus forced the surrender of that army in October 1781. Subsequently, this proved to have been the decisive moment of the American Revolutionary War. De Grasse's tactically undecisive battle may therefore be seen as the strategically conclusive event of the American Revolution and thus a major event that changed the course of history.
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