Two days prior, the armies of Washington and Rochambeau had begun moving forward from Williamsburg toward Yorktown, a distance of about 12 miles. Near the halfway point, the two armies divided, the Americans taking the right flank and the French, the left. Both armies took advantage of the heavy woods to conceal their movements.
The French encountered no resistance at all during their march until the British works were in sight; there were no scouting parties or outer picket lines in place.
Washington's forces encamped about 500 yards to the east. This placed them about 1 mile from the British defenses, and on flat ground between the two armies. Unfortunately, it was so flat that it was nearly suicidal to be spotted on the open ground, as the British cannon had a clear field of fire.
However, by now Cornwallis was aware that succor by sea was nearly impossible. He knew of the outcome of the
Battle of the Capes. On 16 September he had begun preparations for a defensive ring on the river side of the town, by scuttling several ships . The hope being to prevent an amphibious assault on the lower town.
(The photo here, from a June 1988 National Geographic article shows the excavation of one of those ships, directly off the end of the Yorktown pier. In the upper right is the restaurant mentioned in several of my posts about the town, including my very first.
By personnel knowledge, I'd have to say it would be damn near impossible to use scuttled ships to stop such an assault. Once you are about 100 yards off shore, the river channel drops off steeply to a depth of over 100 feet. At a range of 100 yards even musket fire would have a fair chance of being effective. Ship cannon fire would be devastating.)
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