The Capture of the Bahamas took place in April 1783, late in 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 ...

, when a

Loyalist Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British C ...

expedition under the command of

Andrew Deveaux Andrew Deveaux (30 April 1758 – 11 July 1812) was an American Loyalist from South Carolina 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 ...

set out to retake the Bahamas from the Spanish. The expedition was successful and Nassau fell without a shot being fired. It was one of the last actions of the entire war.

Background

The Bahamas had been taken by Spanish forces in May 1782. However

Saint Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Afr ...

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 ...

was still in British hands, the Spanish thinking it too well defended to attack. A plan was devised to retake the Bahamas by launching an attack on

Nassau Nassau may refer to: Places Bahamas *Nassau, Bahamas, capital city of the Bahamas, on the island of New Providence Canada *Nassau District, renamed Home District, regional division in Upper Canada from 1788 to 1792 *Nassau Street (Winnipeg), ...

. Andrew Deveaux was a

and veteran of the

Southern theater of the American Revolutionary War The Southern theater of the American Revolutionary War was the central theater of military operations in the second half of the American Revolutionary War, 1778–1781. It encompassed engagements primarily in Virginia, Georgia and South Carolina. ...

Recapture

Major Deveaux departed from

with seventy followers and was joined at sea two days later by the 26-gun

privateer A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...

brigantine A brigantine is a two-masted sailing vessel with a fully square-rigged foremast and at least two sails on the main mast: a square topsail and a gaff sail mainsail (behind the mast). The main mast is the second and taller of the two masts. Ol ...

''Perseverance'' of Thomas Dow and the 16-gun, 120-man brigantine ''Whitby Warrior'' of Daniel Wheeler. The expedition anchored off Harbour Island and

Eleuthera Eleuthera () refers both to a single island in the archipelagic state of The Commonwealth of the Bahamas and to its associated group of smaller islands. Eleuthera forms a part of the Great Bahama Bank. The island of Eleuthera incorporates the ...

on 6 April, recruiting another 170 volunteers for an attempt against the Spanish garrison at

New Providence New Providence is the most populous island in the Bahamas, containing more than 70% of the total population. It is the location of the national capital city of Nassau, whose boundaries are coincident with the island; it had a population of 246 ...

. Four days later the sloop ''Flor de Mayo'' reached

with a message from the governor of Cuba

Luis de Unzaga Luis de Unzaga y Amézaga (1717–1793), also known as Louis Unzaga y Amezéga le Conciliateur, Luigi de Unzaga Panizza and Lewis de Onzaga, was governor of Spanish Louisiana from late 1769 to mid-1777, as well as a Captain General of Venezuela ...

, saying that peace preliminaries had been signed back in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and that the Bahamas were to be restored to British rule in exchange for East Florida. When Deveaux's flotilla drew near to New Providence on 13 April, the Spanish commander Claraco mistook it for smugglers. His customs patrols were surprised at dawn the following morning to find a heavily armed landing party storming ashore to occupy

Fort Montagu Fort Montagu is a small fort of four cannon on the eastern shore of New Providence Island (Nassau) Bahamas. Peter Henry Bruce oversaw the construction of the fort that began in 1741 to defend the British possession from Spanish invaders. C ...

and three guardboats. Claraco retreated into his citadel and a brief

ceasefire A ceasefire (also known as a truce or armistice), also spelled cease fire (the antonym of 'open fire'), is a temporary stoppage of a war in which each side agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions. Ceasefires may be between state ac ...

was arranged; Deveaux rescinded it next day. The Spaniards scuttled their remaining warships on 16 April and huddled within the main fort, before deciding to surrender it two days later.

Aftermath

Over 600 Spaniards surrendered, and 50 cannon and seven ships were captured. Some of the ships that had been scuttled were later refloated and the Spaniards were repatriated to

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribb ...

. By this time, Britain had already given up East Florida in exchange for the Bahamas in the preliminary talks of the Treaty of Paris. 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, the remains of which can be seen today.Craton pg. 302

References

Bibliography

* Chartrand, Rene. ''American Loyalist Troops 1775-84'' (Men-at-Arms Series). Osprey Publishing (2008). * Craton, Michael, and Gail Saunders. ''Islanders in the Stream: A History of the Bahamian People: Volume 1: From Aboriginal Times to the End of Slavery''. University of Georgia Press (1999). * Marley, David. ''Wars of the Americas: A Chronology of Armed Conflict in the New World, 1492 to the Present''. ABC-CLIO (1998). {{DEFAULTSORT:Bahamas, Capture of the 1783 Conflicts in 1783 Battles involving Great Britain Battles of the Anglo-Spanish War (1779–1783) Naval battles of the American Revolutionary War Battles involving Spain Battles and conflicts without fatalities

Capture Capture may refer to: *Asteroid capture, a phenomenon in which an asteroid enters a stable orbit around another body *Capture, a software for lighting design, documentation and visualisation *"Capture" a song by Simon Townshend *Capture (band), an ...