In April 1782, the American Revolution was virtually over.
Benjamin Franklin was in Paris about to begin the peace talks.
In Fort Royal, Martinique,the French Admiral, The Compte,
Francois Joseph Paul de Grasse, had gathered his battle fleet
and was preparing to join with the Spanish for an invasion of
British-held Jamaica. Seven months previously, in September
1781, de Grasse had landed French reinforcements for General
Washington's troops in Virginia and then trounced the British
fleet under Admiral Graves in the Battle of the Capes. This
sealed the defeat of the British and insured the success of the
American Revolution. De Grasse had become a popular hero in
America. De Grasse's French ships left the Virginia coast on
November 4, 1781 and set sail for the Caribbean. The French,
riding a wave of victory, were determined to oust the British
from all of the new world and win the Caribbean for the glory of
France. By January 1782, de Grasse's fleet began capturing
British possessions and within three months t