The capture of Demerara and Essequibo was a French military expedition carried out in January 1782 as part of 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 ...

. In 1781 Admiral Lord Rodney sent two sloops from his fleet at

Sint Eustatius Sint Eustatius (, ), also known locally as Statia (), is an island in the Caribbean. It is a special municipality (officially " public body") of the Netherlands. The island lies in the northern Leeward Islands portion of the West Indies, so ...

to take possession of the Dutch colonies of Essequibo and

Demerara Demerara ( nl, Demerary, ) is a historical region in the Guianas, on the north coast of South America, now part of the country of Guyana. It was a colony of the Dutch West India Company between 1745 and 1792 and a colony of the Dutch state ...

. In 1782 the French successfully took possession of these settlements, compelling British Governor Robert Kingston to surrender. The

Treaty of Paris Treaty of Paris may refer to one of many treaties signed in Paris, France: Treaties 1200s and 1300s * Treaty of Paris (1229), which ended the Albigensian Crusade * Treaty of Paris (1259), between Henry III of England and Louis IX of France * Trea ...

in 1783 restored these territories to the Dutch.

Background

In December 1780 Great Britain declared war on the

Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, also known as the (Seven) United Provinces, officially as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands (Dutch: ''Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden''), and commonly referred to in historiography ...

, bringing it formally into the 4th Anglo-Dutch War. In early 1781 a large British fleet under Admiral Lord Rodney was sent to the West Indies. After making seizures in the Caribbean islands, Rodney sent two sloops to take possession of the colonies of Essequibo and Demerara with little difficulty. The colonies had already de facto surrendered to six British privateer ships by the time the two naval vessels arrived. The governor, Van Schuilenburg, was not satisfied with Dutch protection and surrendered to the British, who found a rich booty in the colonies from the vast quantity of produce that had accumulated due to a lack of shipping.

French capture

French naval captain Armand de Kersaint, with his 32-gun flagship ''Iphigénie'', the 26-gun ''Aimable'', and three lesser ships, arrived at Demerara with little opposition. A French force of 335 men from the Régiment d'Armagnac and the 1st Legion Volontaires étranger de la Marine launched an assault on the British garrison and compelled Gov. Robert Kingston and his detachment from the 28th Regiment of Foot to surrender. As a result, Essequibo and Berbice also surrendered to the French on 1 and 5 February. The French seized five

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

vessels: the 20-gun '' Orinoque'' (Commander William Tahourdin), 16-gun ''Barbuda'' (Commander Francis Pender), 18-gun ''Sylph'' (Commander Lawrence Graeme), 16-gun ''Stormont'' (Commander Christmas Paul), and 16-gun brig ''Rodney'' (Lieutenant John Douglas Brisbane).

Aftermath

The Comte de Kersaint became governor of the three rivers and their settlements and inhabitants. To guarantee their conquest, the French began to construct forts at the mouth of the Demerara River, one on each eastern and western bank, and for that purpose, they compelled the planters to furnish slave labor. They also doubled the

capitation tax A poll tax, also known as head tax or capitation, is a tax levied as a fixed sum on every liable individual (typically every adult), without reference to income or resources. Head taxes were important sources of revenue for many governments fr ...

, which burden was felt severely by the colonists. In 1783 the Treaty of Paris restored these territories to the Dutch.Cust p.294 When Demerara surrendered to the French, the British naval commander in place signed the capitulation. Gov. Kingston's proposals for terms contained the following rather singular proposition: To this the following answer was returned:

Notes

References

*Chartrand, René (1992) ''The French Army in the American War of Independence''. (Osprey). * *Hadden, James (2009) ''Hadden's Journal and Orderly Books''. (Applewood). *Henry, Dalton G. (1855) ''The History of British Guiana: Comprising a General Description of the Colony: A narrative of some of the principal events from the earliest period of products and natural history''. *Marley, F. David. (1998) ''Wars of the Americas: A Chronology of Armed Conflict in the New World, 1492 to the Present''. (ABC-CLIO) {{DEFAULTSORT:Demerara, Capture of Conflicts in 1782 Naval battles of the American Revolutionary War Naval battles involving France Naval battles involving Great Britain History of Guyana 1782 in the Caribbean Essequibo River