Andrew Deveaux (30 April 1758 – 11 July 1812) was an

American Loyalist Loyalists were colonists in the Thirteen Colonies who remained loyal to the British Crown during the American Revolutionary War, often referred to as Tories, Royalists or King's Men at the time. They were opposed by the Patriots, who supporte ...

from

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

who is most famous for his recapture of the Bahamas in 1783.

Early life

He was born to plantation owners Andrew Deveaux Senior and Catherine Barnwell on 30 April 1758 at St Helena's Parish in

Beaufort, South Carolina Beaufort ( , a different pronunciation from that used by the city with the same name in North Carolina) is a city in and the county seat of Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1711, it is the second-oldest city in South ...

. Deveaux's ancestry stretches back to France in 1665 when André de Veaux (who was born in 1665 at Château de Veaux, France) went to the American Colonies in late 17th or early 18th century. Andrew Deveaux Junior was owner of many thousands of acres around Prince William Parish, South Carolina and

Port Royal Island Port Royal Island (historically Port Royal) is an island located in Beaufort County, South Carolina. It is considered one of the Sea Islands in the Lowcountry region and is the most populous island in northern Beaufort County, containing most of ...

Service

At the age of 17 Andrew Deveaux Jr., enlisted in the

Continental army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies (the Thirteen Colonies) in the Revolutionary-era United States. It was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, and was establis ...

. However, the elder Deveaux was under constant badgering by Beaufort locals for his support of the British. In defense of his father, young Deveaux banded together a group of Loyalists who created havoc in and around Beaufort. He and his Loyalist partisans are believed to have been responsible for burning the Prince William Parish church at Sheldon in April 1779. Deveaux joined the services of the British under Major General

Augustine Prévost Major General Augustine Prévost (born Augustin Prévost) (b. 22 August 1723 Geneva, Republic of Geneva – d. 4 May 1786 East Barnet, England) was a Genevan-born British soldier who served in the Seven Years' War and the American War of Inde ...

in 1779 and was present at the

Siege of Savannah The siege of Savannah or the Second Battle of Savannah was an encounter of the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) in 1779. The year before, the city of Savannah, Georgia, had been captured by a British expeditionary corps under Lieutenan ...

where the Franco-American assault was repulsed with heavy loss. He was also at the

Siege of Charleston The siege of Charleston was a major engagement and major British victory in the American Revolutionary War, fought in the environs of Charles Town (today Charleston), the capital of South Carolina, between March 29 and May 12, 1780. The Britis ...

, after which he was given a commission by

Lord Cornwallis Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis, (31 December 1738 – 5 October 1805), styled Viscount Brome between 1753 and 1762 and known as the Earl Cornwallis between 1762 and 1792, was a British Army general and official. In the United S ...

to raise a regiment called the "Royal Foresters".Rowland, Lawrence S., "Deveaux, Andrew, IV", ''South Carolina Encyclopedia'', University of South Carolina, Institute for Southern Studies, September 15, 2016
/ref> Deveaux was promoted to colonel and was given command of a group Loyalist irregulars which captured two American generals in woodland ambushes. In 1782 he was among the British occupation garrison in Charleston. In December of that year, the British evacuated South Carolina and Deveaux with his men went to St. Augustine, Florida capital of

East Florida East Florida ( es, Florida Oriental) was a colony of Great Britain from 1763 to 1783 and a province of Spanish Florida from 1783 to 1821. Great Britain gained control of the long-established Spanish colony of ''La Florida'' in 1763 as part of ...

. He set about a plan to recapture

The Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...

for himself and the

British Crown The Crown is the state (polity), state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, British Overseas Territories, overseas territories, Provinces and territorie ...

. Nassau had fallen to the Spanish earlier in the year.

Recapture of the Bahamas

From St Augustine Deveaux set off with 70 men and 6 vessels. He was joined by another 170 men whilst on

Harbour Island, Bahamas Harbour Island is an island and administrative district in the Bahamas and is located off the northeast coast of Eleuthera Island. It has a population of 1,762 (2010 census).Don Antonio Claraco Sauz to surrender on April 17, 1783, without a single shot fired. When Deveaux took down the Spanish flag, it marked the last time that a foreign banner was to fly over the Bahamian capital.

Later life

As a reward for his efforts in the Bahamas Deveaux was given a large portion of Cat Island where he built a mansion at Port Howe, Cat Island, the remains of which can be seen today. He left for England in September 1783 and he often returned to the islands. His fortune however was made in

Red Hook, New York Red Hook is a town in Dutchess County, New York, United States. The population was 9,953 at the time of the 2020 census, down from 11,319 in 2010. The name is supposedly derived from the red foliage on trees on a small strip of land on the Hu ...

where he resided for the remainder of his life. He married Anna Verplanck and thus had four children; Steven, William, Augusta Maria and Julia, who would later marry the American agriculturalist John Hare Powel. Deveaux and his family were the foremost of the developers of the new plantation islands. Deveaux died in July 1812 leaving a sizable portion of the land of the islands of The Bahamas in his will.

References

Sources

* Craton, Michael and Saunders, Gail: ''Islanders in the Stream: A History of the Bahamian People: Volume 1: From Aboriginal Times to the End of Slavery'', University of Georgia Press (April 1, 1999) .

External links

"Palmetto Connections" Andrew DeVeaux family
{{DEFAULTSORT:Deveaux, Andrew 1812 deaths 1758 births Loyalists in the American Revolution from South Carolina South Carolina in the American Revolution Huguenot participants in the American Revolution