François-Joseph Paul de Grasse
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- "A promise is a promise - even when made to a lunatique (lunatic)"
- ―De Grasse to Ratonhnhaké:ton, 1781[src]
François-Joseph Paul, Marquis de Grasse Tilly, Comte de Grasse (1722 – 1788) was a French Navy admiral, best known for his command of the French fleet at the Battle of the Chesapeake, which directly led to the British surrender at Yorktown.
Biography
Born as the youngest child of a French nobleman, de Grasse joined the military at the age of eleven when he became a page in the religious military Order of Malta. Having fully joined the French Navy in 1740, he had become a captain by 1775, helping the French secure Saint-Domingue.
In 1781, the Assassin Ratonhnhaké:ton sought Admiral de Grasse's help through Marquis de Lafayette, in order to shell Fort George and create a distraction so that he could slip inside undetected and kill Charles Lee. After Connor assisted de Grasse's fleet in the Chesapeake, the admiral agreed to the Assassin's plan, though he admitted it made no sense to him.
Ten days later, de Grasse's fleet was anchored in New York's harbor, flying British flags scavenged from the wrecks in the Chesapeake. After Connor lit a signal fire, the fleet opened fire, breaching Fort George's walls and creating the diversion Connor desired.
De Grasse died in 1788, briefly before the beginning of the French Revolution. Despite his actions during the Revolutionary War, the French revolutionaries considered him nobility, and his estate was ransacked. His family fled to the United States afterwards, being welcomed as the children of a hero.
Gallery
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Connor telling de Grasse of his plan -
Admiral de Grasse agreeing to help Connor
