Here are Grenadiers of the French Gâtinais Regiment (spellings of this vary) as they would have appeared during the siege of Yorktown . A New York soldier named Hudson in a post war account recalled them advancing against the British redoubt in the night assault with sacks of grenades they were hurling . Not sure how effective this was. The French took much heavier losses then the Americans , possibly monkeying with the grenades slowed them down .