=230. Plans of Washington and Rochambeau.=—Two days after the British reached Petersburg, Washington had an important conference with Rochambeau at Wethersfield, Connecticut. There, it was decided to send to the West Indies for Commodore de Grasse and such ships of the French fleet as could be spared from that region. The purpose was to combine the French and Americans, either to make a joint attack upon New York, or, by a sudden movement toward the South, to overwhelm Cornwallis. De Grasse was to choose and to report whether he would go to New York, or would stop at the Chesapeake. [Illustration: OPERATIONS AT YORKTOWN] =231. Plan of the Yorktown Campaign.=—In due time, Washington learned that De Grasse had chosen the Southern destination, and accordingly he began at once to maneuver his force so as to lead Clinton to suppose that the purpose was a general attack on New York. He ordered all preparations to be made in New Jersey as though he intended a siege, even sending misleading dispatches, which he planned to have the British capture. So skillfully was this done, that even when the army began to move from the Hudson, the British believed it was for the purpose of a general attack upon the city from New Jersey and Staten Island. The secret of the movement was confined to the French and American commanders. Washington evidently believed with Franklin, that three persons can keep a secret only when one of them is dead. On the 19th of August, leaving a strong guard along the front line, the French and American armies commenced their Southern march. So skillfully had all plans been arranged, that Clinton learned of the movement only after the Americans had reached Philadelphia, nearly a hundred miles away. He attempted a diversion by an attack upon Connecticut, but it was impossible to retard the march, or distract the attention of Washington. The British could not follow without abandoning New York to Heath, who had been left with four thousand men on the Hudson. =232. Movement of De Grasse.=—De Grasse, with a larger fleet even than had been anticipated, reached the Chesapeake on the day when Washington reached Philadelphia. The French admiral at once landed three thousand troops and turned them over to Lafayette, whose army was thus increased to about eight thousand men. The French general, knowing that Washington was not far away, threw his lines boldly across the peninsula, September 7, thus shutting Cornwallis completely in. The British now saw the James on the one side, the York River on the other, with De Grasse in the rear, and Lafayette in front. Their condition was hopeless.