After spending 11 months in Newport, Rhode Island, in total inaction, the men under Rochambeau began a march on 12 June 1781, to link up with Washington's army at Philipsburg on the Hudson. On 15 August, von Fersen was tasked with conveying a letter from Rochambeau to Comte de Barras, who had been waiting for a signal to join Comte de Grasse's fleet at the Chesapeake Bay. Word reached the troops in early September of Grasse's victory in gaining control of the Chesapeake, and by the end of the month Washington surrounded Cornwallis in Yorktown. By 19 October, the British surrendered the town, hastening the end of the war.