Du Barras, however, did not arrive in the Chesapeake for near a fortnight after De Grasse, having put out to sea from fear of being intercepted by the British fleet, which was a very necessary caution, as he had under his charge the transports which conveyed from Rhode Island the heavy ordnance and other necessaries indispensable for the siege of York Town, and upon which the success of the enterprise depended. De Grasse, in the meantime, sent four ships of the line and several frigates to block up James and York rivers, so as to cut off the retreat of Cornwallis, and landed also 3,000 French troops, under the Marquis St. Simon, who had joined La Fayette, then at Williamsburg. The first intelligence which Admiral Graves received of the French fleet, was the discovery of it, early in the morning of September 5th, lying within the mouth of the Chesapeake. Each enemy was an unwelcome sight to the other, and the French ships immediately stood out to sea. For five days the two fleets manœuvred in sight of each other; a distant cannonade was kept up; but De Grasse had no intention of coming to a close action, his sole object was to keep possession of the Chesapeake, and to cover the arrival of Du Barras with his squadron and convoy from Rhode Island. All this was done so successfully that Du Barras entered the bay without the slightest impediment, on the 10th of September, which was in fact signing the doom of Lord Cornwallis; and the French fleet, no whit the worse, returned to their old anchorage in the Chesapeake; while Graves, who had suffered considerably, having lost two of his ships and been obliged to burn a third, sailed immediately to New York to refit. On the 17th of September, transports began to bring down a portion of the French and American armies from the Head of Elk, while Washington proceeded with the remainder to Annapolis, whence they too were conveyed by the same easy mode to Williamsburg, where all had arrived by the end of the month. Washington and the principal commanders having already had an interview, the plan of operations was agreed upon. Before, however, we proceed to this, we must return to Sir Henry Clinton. Having at length discovered the true purpose of Washington’s deeply-laid scheme, Sir Henry Clinton attempted to prevent its full accomplishment, by rendering it necessary for that commander to divide his forces. Arnold, therefore, having now returned from Virginia, was immediately despatched on a plundering expedition against Connecticut, of which state he was an unworthy native.