 On July 8 Cornwallis received orders from Clinton directing the troops he was planning to embark for a potential operation against Philadelphia . Upon his arrival at Suffolk he received further dispatches from Clinton , including some that predated others he had already received . Cornwallis decided to proceed with the embarkation of troops for Philadelphia . By July 20 , some of these troops had boarded their transports when fresh orders arrived countermanding those for the Philadelphia expedition . He was now ordered to , if possible , recall any embarked troops , and instead do nothing beyond establishing a fortified naval station . He was " at full liberty to detain all the Troops now in Chesapeake " for the purpose . It proved a fateful decision on Clinton 's part , since the need to build and protect the new anchorage robbed Cornwallis of any freedom of manoeuvre . This was doubly unfortunate for as Cornwallis pointed out to his superior , the open bays and rivers of the Chesapeake , meant that any base there would " always be exposed to sudden French attack . " Nevertheless , Cornwallis , after analysing Portsmouth and several other options , dutifully chose Yorktown and Gloucester Point ( across the York River from Yorktown ) as the best of the choices for the station . On August 2 , he disembarked his army at Yorktown , and began fortifying the area . 
