As the Americans made their way toward Trenton Washington said “The guns are too wet, Use the bayonets.” Germain revised the british strategy as well. His new plan was to divide the rebels by taking control of new york’s Hudson river valley. On October 17, 1777, Gentleman Johnny accepted defeat. Not long after war France came into war as an ally of the United States. Late in 1777, Congress declared a day of thanksgiving. On June 28, 1778, he caught up with retreating near Monmouth. Late in 1780, washington sent General Nathaniel Greene to slow the British advance through the south. Greene led cornwallis’s troops on an existing chase through the southern backcountry. He wrote of his strategy, “We fight, get beat, rise, and fight again.” Cornwallis wrote that he was “quite tired of marching about the country.” By the time Cornwallis was setting into Yorktown , France had sent nearly 5,000 troops to join Washington's army in New York. Washington learned that another 3,000 troops were scheduled to arrive soon in 29 French warships. The trap was sprung on October 6, 1781. Joseph Martin watched as a flag was raised to signal American and French gunners to open fire on