Publisher's Synopsis
Gilbert Di Lucia tells a shockingly new version of Cornwallis's famous defeat and surrender to George Washington at Yorktown, the battle that effectively ended the Revolutionary War. Historian Gilbert Di Lucia's revisionist version finally assigns key credit for the formation of the American Republic to the French Navy. Dating the "de facto" birth of the United States of America to October 19, 1781, the day that Lord Cornwallis surrendered his army of 9,000 troops to General Washington, Di Lucia breaks with scholars - including David McCullough in his best-selling "1776 "- to demonstrate that what concluded the war was the contribution of the French Navy. Based on the author's meticulous research and clear elucidation, French Admiral de Grasse should wear the laurels, for it is he who defeated the British navy in the Battle of Cape Henry and blockaded Chesapeake Bay, barring the British from evacuating their troops and forcing their final surrender. Di Lucia calls this battle the most important battle of the Revolutionary War. The analysis that leads the reader to this key insight is executed with precision and delivers a compelling and important version of the events that formed the nation.
