The Capture of St Lucia was the result of a campaign from 18–28 December 1778 by British land and naval forces to take over the island, which was a French colony. Britain's actions followed the capture of the British-controlled island of Dominica by French forces in a surprise invasion in September 1778. During the
Battle of St. Lucia
The Battle of St. Lucia or the Battle of the Cul de Sac was a naval battle fought off the island of St. Lucia in the West Indies during the American Revolutionary War on 15 December 1778, between the British Royal Navy and the French Navy.
Ba ...
, the British fleet defeated a French fleet sent to reinforce the island. A few days later French troops were soundly defeated by British troops during the Battle of Morne de la Vierge. Realising that another British fleet would soon arrive with reinforcements, the French garrison surrendered. The remaining French troops were evacuated, and the French fleet returned to
Martinique
Martinique ( , ; gcf, label=Martinican Creole, Matinik or ; Kalinago: or ) is an island and an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France. An integral part of the French Republic, Martinique is located in th ...
, another French colony. St. Lucia stayed in the hands of the British.
Composition
British Troops
British forces in the battle included:
*
4th (The King's Own) Regiment of Foot
*
5th Regiment of Foot
*
15th Regiment of Foot
*
27th Regiment of Foot
*
28th Regiment of Foot
*
35th Regiment of Foot (The Prince of Orange's Own Regiment)
*
40th Regiment of Foot
The 40th (the 2nd Somersetshire) Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1717 in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 82nd Regiment of Foot (Prince of Wales's Volunteers) ...
*
46th Regiment of Foot
The 46th (South Devonshire) Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1741. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 32nd (Cornwall) Regiment of Foot to form the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry in 1881, ...
*
49th Regiment of Foot
*
55th Regiment of Foot
French Troops
French forces in the battle included:
*
Régiment d'Armagnac (2 Battalions)
*
Régiment de la Martinique (2 Battalions)
* Company from
Artillerie Régiment de Metz
Background
France formally recognized the United States on February 6, 1778, with the signing of the
Treaty of Alliance. Britain declared war on France on March 17, 1778 spurring France's entry into the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
. On September 7, 1778, the French governor of
Martinique
Martinique ( , ; gcf, label=Martinican Creole, Matinik or ; Kalinago: or ) is an island and an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France. An integral part of the French Republic, Martinique is located in th ...
,
Marquis de Bouille, launched a surprise attack on the British-held Island of
Dominica
Dominica ( or ; Kalinago: ; french: Dominique; Dominican Creole French: ), officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of the island. It is geographically ...
, and took control of the former French colony.
On November 4,
Commodore William Hotham was sent from
Sandy Hook
Sandy Hook is a barrier spit in Middletown Township, Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States.
The barrier spit, approximately in length and varying from wide, is located at the north end of the Jersey Shore. It encloses the southern en ...
,
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
, to reinforce the British fleet in the West Indies. Hotham sailed with "five men of war, a bomb vessel, some frigates, and a large convoy."
[ Ekins, Charles. ''The Naval Battles of Great Britain: From the Accession of the Illustrious House of Hanover to the Throne to the Battle of Navarin.'' Baldwin and Cradock, 1828; p. 91.] The convoy consisted of 59 types of transport carrying 5,000 British soldiers under Major General Grant.
[Ekins, p. 93.]
Admiral Samuel Barrington, the British naval commander stationed on the
Leeward Islands
french: Îles-Sous-le-Vent
, image_name =
, image_caption = ''Political'' Leeward Islands. Clockwise: Antigua and Barbuda, Guadeloupe, Saint kitts and Nevis.
, image_alt =
, locator_map =
, location = Caribbean SeaNorth Atlantic Ocean
, coor ...
, joined the newly arrived Commodore Hotham on December 10 on the island of
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...
. Grant's men were not permitted to disembark and spent the next several days aboard their transports. Barrington and Hotham sailed for the French island of St. Lucia on the morning of December 12, with the idea of capturing it and using it as a base for monitoring French activity in the area.
The French
Admiral Jean Baptiste Charles Henri Hector Comte d'Estaing had also sailed for the West Indies, departing from the port of
Boston, Massachusetts on November 4. However the French fleet was blown off course by a violent storm, preventing it from arriving in the Caribbean ahead of the British.
Invasion
Upon the British ships' arrival on December 13, Major General James Grant ordered Brigadier General William Medows to land with a force of 1,400 at Grand Cul-de-Sac. This force consisted of the flank companies from several regiments and the 5th Foot. They quickly scaled the heights on the north side of the bay and captured an abandoned gun. Brigadier-General Prescott landed shortly afterward with the 27th, 35th, 40th, and 49th Regiments of Foot (approx. 2,000 troops) and guarded the bay.
On December 14, Medows' group took the fort at Morne Fortune and the capital, Castries, while Prescott's force remained in support. The third force of 1600 remained with the fleet under the command of Brigadier General Sir H. Calder. The French governor, Claude-Anne Guy de Micoud, had evacuated into the jungle without a fight, allowing the British to occupy the
Carénage Bay, three miles north of Cul de Sac, without losses.
On 13 December Admiral Barrington received news of the imminent arrival of the French Fleet. Barrington placed his transports inside the bay, but behind his battle line which took the entire evening of 14 December. By 1100 hours the next day, most of the transports were safely behind his line
By the evening of December 14, the French fleet under d'Estaing had arrived.
Naval battle
The Battle of St. Lucia or the Battle of the Cul de Sac was fought between the British invasion fleet and French relief fleet on December 15, 1778, for control of the Island of St. Lucia.
Admiral Barrington had organised his line of battle so that ''Isis'' and his three frigates (''Venus'', ''Aurora'', and ''Ariadne'') were close to shore guarding the windward approach, and he placed his flagship, ''Prince of Wales'', toward the leeward.
">/sup> At 1100 hours 15 December Admiral d’Estaing approached St. Lucia with ten ships of the line, and was fired on by one of the shore batteries. D’Estaing then moved to engage Barrington from the rear, and a “warm conflict” raged between the two fleets, with the British supported by two shore batteries. ">/sup> D’Estaing was repulsed but succeeded in reforming his line of battle. At 1600 hours d’Estaing renewed his assault by attacking Barrington’s centre with twelve ships of the line. Again heavy fire was exchanged, but the French were repulsed for a second time. ">0/sup>
On 16 December Admiral d’Estaing appeared to be preparing for a third assault against Admiral Barrington’s line, but then sailed away towards the windward. ">/sup> On the evening of 16 December d’Estaing anchored in Gros Islet Bay with "ten frigates and twelve sail of the line, &c." ">1/sup>Admiral d’Estaing’s failure to break Barrington’s line on 15 December was a major setback for the French in their efforts to expel the British from St. Lucia.
Battle of Vigie
On December 18, 1778 a force of 9,000 French troops was landed near Castries, St. Lucia to attack General Medows' smaller force of 1,400. Medows ordered his troops to entrench themselves on a hill located on the neck of the Vigie peninsula. The British force consisted of the grenadier and light infantry companies of the 4th, 5th, 15th, 27th, 28th, 35th, 40th, 46th, and 55th Regiments of Foot.
The French were relatively inexperienced soldiers and were unprepared to fight against experienced, entrenched British infantry who were veterans of fighting in America. They advanced in line on the British force several times. After the third French attack, the British commander, Brigadier General Medows, who had been wounded, realised that ammunition was low and fearing that they would be over-run, addressed his men "Soldiers, as long as you have a bayonet to point against an enemy's breast, defend the colours." But the French did not attack a fourth time.
Despite being heavily outnumbered, the British had inflicted a stinging defeat on the French. French losses amounted to 400 killed and 1100 wounded, whereas British casualties were 25 killed and 255 wounded. After the battle, so regimental tradition states, men of the 5th Regiment took white feathers from the hats of fallen French soldiers and put them in their own hats as battle trophies. Subsequently, white plumes did form part of the uniform of the 5th Northumberland Regiment.
The French forces were now in the unenviable position of having been defeated at sea and on land, and faced the prospect of another British fleet arriving shortly under the command of John Byron
Vice-Admiral John Byron (8 November 1723 – 1 April 1786) was a British Royal Navy officer and explorer. He earned the nickname "Foul-Weather Jack" in the press because of his frequent encounters with bad weather at sea. As a midshipman, he sa ...
. The French garrison surrendered on 28 December. ">2/sup>, and the remaining French troops embarked on their ships that same night. The French fleet had returning to Martinique by December 30.[Marly p.319.]
Aftermath
St. Lucia became a crucial base for the British fleet for the rest of the war in the Lesser Antilles
The Lesser Antilles ( es, link=no, Antillas Menores; french: link=no, Petites Antilles; pap, Antias Menor; nl, Kleine Antillen) are a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea. Most of them are part of a long, partially volcanic island arc betwe ...
. It providing a critical resupply point for British ships, and was instrumental in the British success at the Battle of the Saintes
The Battle of the Saintes (known to the French as the Bataille de la Dominique), also known as the Battle of Dominica, was an important naval battle in the Caribbean between the British and the French that took place 9–12 April 1782. The Brit ...
in 1782, where the French suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Admiral Rodney
Admiral George Brydges Rodney, 1st Baron Rodney, KB ( bap. 13 February 1718 – 24 May 1792), was a British naval officer. He is best known for his commands in the American War of Independence, particularly his victory over the French at t ...
.
During the peace negotiations in 1783 the British used the island as a bargaining chip during negotiations with the French. Eventually it as decided that most of the territory captured would be returned, which meant that Dominica
Dominica ( or ; Kalinago: ; french: Dominique; Dominican Creole French: ), officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of the island. It is geographically ...
was returned to Britain, and St Lucia was returned to France in January 1784,
References
The Capture of Saint Lucia, 26 February 1762
Bibliography
* Appleton, D ''Appletons' Cyclopaedia of American Biography''. ,
* Jaques, Tony ''Dictionary of Battles and Sieges: A-E'' Greenwood 2006
* Marley, F. David. ''Wars of the Americas: A Chronology of Armed Conflict in the New World, 1492 to the Present'' ABC-CLIO (1998).
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Lucia, Capture of
Conflicts in 1778
Battles of the American Revolutionary War
Battles involving France
Battles involving Great Britain
1778 in France
Capture
no:Slaget ved St Lucia