Thomas Cumming was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

merchant of the 18th century who built up a large commercial empire in West Africa. He is best known for the role he played in the 1758

Capture of Senegal The British capture of Senegal took place in 1758 during the Seven Years' War with France, as part of a concerted British strategy to weaken the French economy by damaging her international trade. To this end, a succession of small British milit ...

in which he submitted a plan to the British war leader William Pitt which advocated an attack on France's valuable but ill-defended African colonies. Cumming was born in New York City, and raised as a

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

, something which later earned him the nickname of the "fighting quaker".Brown p. 165

Capture of Senegal

Cumming had travelled to West Africa extensively, and was aware of the enormous wealth and future potential of the French colonies along the

Sénégal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 � ...

and

Gambia The Gambia,, ff, Gammbi, ar, غامبيا officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. It is the smallest country within mainland AfricaHoare, Ben. (2002) ''The Kingfisher A-Z Encyclopedia'', Kingfisher Publicatio ...

rivers. He advocated to William Pitt, the

Southern Secretary The Secretary of State for the Southern Department was a position in the cabinet of the government of the Kingdom of Great Britain up to 1782, when the Southern Department became the Home Office. History Before 1782, the responsibilities of ...

an expedition to seize these valuable settlements. Pitt agreed to despatch a force in 1758 which in April arrived of West Africa. Cumming had gone ahead to meet with local African leaders to try and gain their support for the British attack. He was successful, and a number of African troops assisted the British in capturing the settlement of Saint Louis which fell without firing a shot. Cumming made a fortune in captured goods which were brought back to London. Particularly valuable were the large amounts of

gum arabic Gum arabic, also known as gum sudani, acacia gum, Arabic gum, gum acacia, acacia, Senegal gum, Indian gum, and by other names, is a natural gum originally consisting of the hardened sap of two species of the '' Acacia'' tree, ''Senegalia sen ...

which were used by silk-weavers. Pitt was impressed enough to send two further expeditions which led to the capture of the island of

Gorée (; "Gorée Island"; Wolof: Beer Dun) is one of the 19 (i.e. districts) of the city of Dakar, Senegal. It is an island located at sea from the main harbour of Dakar (), famous as a destination for people interested in the Atlantic slave trade ...

and the French trading station on the Gambia.

References

Bibliography

* Anderson, Fred. ''Crucible of War: The Seven Years' War and the fate of Empire in British North America, 1754-1766''. Faber and Faber, 2000. * Brown, Peter Douglas. ''William Pitt, Earl of Chatham: The Great Commoner''. George Allen & Unwin, 1978. {{DEFAULTSORT:Cumming, Thomas American military personnel of the Seven Years' War 18th-century births 18th-century deaths Businesspeople from New York City