Louis - Philippe de Vaudreuil Louis - Philippe de Rigaud , Marquis de Vaudreuil ( 28 October 1724 – 14 December 1802 ) was second in command of the French Navy during the American Revolutionary War . Early life . Louis - Philippe was born into a family with a rich political and military tradition . His grandfather , Philippe de Rigaud de Vaudreuil , and his uncle Pierre de Rigaud de Vaudreuil de Cavagnal , were both governors of Canada ; the latter was its last governor , surrendering Montreal to the British in 1760 . Another uncle , Pierre - François de Rigaud , fought with Montcalm at the Battle of Oswego . His father , also named Louis - Philippe de Rigaud de Vaudreuil , was a celebrated admiral of the French Navy , and was in charge of the navy in North America in 1747 . Louis - Philippe the elder successfully saved Desherbiers de l ' Etenduère at the Second battle of Cape Finisterre while commanding the " Intrépide " . Louis XV himself ordered the celebrated Dutch artist Charles - André van Loo to paint one of his naval battles ; this painting is still in the Palace of Versailles . Although his father was born in Quebec City and there are claims that Louis - Philippe the son was born in Canada , it is more probable that he was born in Rochefort , France , as his father was in charge of that city on the west coast of France at the time . American Revolutionary War service . First Ushant . Vaudreuil was dispatched to America when the French entered the war on the side of the Americans in February 1778 . His first engagement came at the First Battle of Ushant , an island on the north - west part of France near Brest , where the French Navy and the British Navy fought to a draw . He was at sea for about 5 months . Chesapeake . Vaudreuil was on the " Sceptre " in the Battle of the Chesapeake . After one furious engagement with the British Navy , Admiral de Grasse ' s fleet and the British fleet drifted for miles south of Yorktown and lost sight of each other . De Grasse eventually disengaged and returned to the Chesapeake , where he met the fleet of the Comte de Barras . This combined fleet outnumbered the British fleet , and gave the French control of the bay when the British opted not to attack . This had the effect of cutting the army of Cornwallis off from resupply and relief , leading to the Siege of Yorktown and his surrender . Yorktown . Vaudreuil ' s contribution to this effort was to provide the cavalry of Duke of Lauzun , a foreign legion that was a mixed lot of Russian , Slavic , Polish and German mercenaries in the service of France . He also provided 800 men from his ship to Gloucester Point in defence of a peninsula near Yorktown . Together with the Duke of Lauzun these men fought the cavalry of Tarleton ( made famous by the Mel Gibson movie " The Patriot " ) , and defeated him . Battle of the Saintes . In the 1782 Battle of the Saintes , Vaudreuil was credited with saving most of the French Navy ' s ships in the disastrous defeat . Since De Grasse was taken prisoner Vaudreuil took command of the entire French fleet in America . Boston harbour . After the Battle of the Saints in 1782 , Vaudreuil was on the ship " Triumphant " in Boston harbour . At the conclusion of the war in 1783 , he was responsible for bringing the victorious French army of Rochambeau back to France . External links . In the Washington paper you can read the letters between Washington and Vaudreuil while he was in Boston in 1782 . In one of the link you will find a British caricature of Louis - Philippe de Vaudreuil with D ' Estaing , Bougainville and de Grasse .