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Invasion of Guadeloupe (1810)
Encyclopedia
The Invasion of Guadeloupe was a British amphibious operation fought between 28 January and 6 February 1810 over control of the Caribbean
island of Guadeloupe
during the Napoleonic Wars
. The island was the final remaining French colony in the Americas, following the systematic invasion and capture of the others during 1809 by British forces. During the Napoleonic Wars, the French colonies had provided protected harbours for French privateer
s and warships, which could prey on the numerous British trade routes in the Caribbean and then return to the colonies before British warships could react. In response, the British instituted a blockade of the islands, stationing ships off every port and seizing any vessel that tried to enter or leave. With trade and communication made dangerous by the British blockade squadrons, the economies and morale of the French colonies began to collapse, and in the summer of 1808 desperate messages were sent to France requesting aid.
Despite repeated efforts, the French Navy
failed to reinforce and resupply the garrison, as their ships were intercepted and defeated either in European waters or in the Caribbean itself. The British had intercepted a number of these messages, and launched a series of successful invasions during 1809, until Guadeloupe was the only French colony remaining. A British expeditionary force landed on 28 January 1810, and found that much of the island's militia garrison had deserted. Advancing from two landing beaches on opposite sides of the island, they were able to rapidly push inland. It was not until they reached Beaupère–St. Louis Ridge outside the capital Basse-Terre
that the expeditionary force faced strong opposition, but in a battle lasting for most of 3 February, the French were defeated and driven back. The island's commander, Jean Augustin Ernouf
, began surrender negotiations the following day.
were almost completely cut off from France due to the British naval strategy of close blockade: squadrons of British Royal Navy
warships patrolled the coasts of both France itself and the West Indian islands under French control. This hindered communications, severely restricted trade and prevented the reinforcement of the French garrisons during the conflict. As a result, the colonies began to suffer food shortages, their economies stagnated and public and military morale began to severely erode. In desperation, the commanders of the main colonies, the Leeward Islands
of Martinique
and Guadeloupe
, sent a series of messages to France during the summer of 1808, entreating the French government to send food and military supplies. The French responded with a series of frigate
s and smaller vessels, sailing to the Caribbean independently or in small squadrons. Some of these ships reached their destinations, but the majority were captured by the Royal Navy blockades off France or the islands. Those few ships that did safely make port were trapped there, unable to make the return journey without risking defeat by the British ships waiting offshore.
The British had intercepted a number of the messages sent to France, and the decision was made to invade and capture the French West Indies before substantial reinforcements could arrive. During the winter of 1808, ships and troops from across the Caribbean began gathering off Barbados
under the command of Vice-Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane
and Lieutenant General George Beckwith
, with the intention of invading Martinique early in 1809. A smaller force was sent to Cayenne
, which was invaded and captured
in early January 1809. In late January the invasion of Martinique
began, and despite resistance in the central highlands, the island fell to the invaders in 25 days. Cochrane then split his attention, sending a number of ships and men to aid the Spanish in the Siege of Santo Domingo while still maintaining a strong blockade force in the Leeward Islands. In April 1809, a strong reinforcement squadron
arrived at the Îles des Saintes
, south of Guadeloupe. There they were blockaded until 14 April, when a British force under Major-General Frederick Maitland
invaded and captured the islands. In the attempt to escape, the ship of the line
Hautpoult was captured and two French frigates were trapped in Basse-Terre
on Guadeloupe. In June, the frigates attempted to return to France. Only one of the frigates escaped the blockade squadron, although the escapee was also captured a month later in the North Atlantic.
Subsequent French attempts to supply their one remaining colony on Guadeloupe were minor, most of the brig
s sent were seized without reaching the island. The only significant attempt
, launched in November 1809, achieved initial success in the destruction of the British frigate HMS Junon on 13 December, but ultimately failed when the two armed storeships, Loire and Seine were destroyed on 18 December in a battle with a British squadron off the southern coast of Guadeloupe. During the autumn and winter, British forces were collected from across the Caribbean at Fort Royal
, Martinique, under Cochrane and Beckwith for the invasion of Guadeloupe.
s, the 1st Foot, 15th Foot, 19th Foot, 25th Foot, 63rd Foot, 90th Foot
and the Royal York Rangers, as well as 300 garrison artillerymen and various militia forces. These troops were split into two divisions: the largest, 3,700 men under Beckwith with subordinate command given to Major General Thomas Hislop
, was to be deployed at Le Gosier
on the island's southern shore. The second division, 2,450 men under Brigadier General George Harcourt, was initially ordered to wait on the Îles des Saintes before being deployed after the main attack to the rear of the French garrison. A small reserve under Brigadier General Charles Wale
would follow the main assault to provide support if required. As the French had no significant naval resources on the island, the Royal Navy's contribution was much smaller than that required for the Martinique invasion the year before. Cochrane attached ships of the line to both divisions, Beckwith sailing in Cochrane's flagship HMS Pompee, accompanied by HMS Abercrombie with Commodore William Charles Fahie
, while Harcourt sailed with Commodore Samuel James Ballard
in HMS Sceptre
. Ballard and Fahie were in command of the transports and smaller vessels that carried the invasion forces and bore responsibility for ensuring that the amphibious landings were successful as well as for any naval units that participated in the land campaign.
The French defenders of the island were weakened by years of isolation caused by the British blockade. Although the available French troops numbered between 3,000 and 4,000, there was an epidemic on the island and a significant proportion of the garrison, principally formed by the 66e Régiment, were unfit for duty. Apart from the capital, the rest of the island's defences were manned by a militia formed from local inhabitants, among whom morale was low and desertion rates high. Military and food stores of all kinds were in short supply and the governor, General Jean Augustin Ernouf
was unable to maintain garrisons around the island's extensive perimeter.
, Cochrane and Beckwith sailed for Guadeloupe on 27 January 1810, arriving off Le Gosier in the evening and landing the larger division at the village of Sainte-Marie under the command of Hislop. The division split, with one half marching south towards Basse-Terre and the other north. Neither met serious opposition, the militia forces deserting in large numbers and abandoning their fortifications as the British approached. Messages were sent by the approaching British ordering the surrender of towns and forts, and both forces made rapid progress over the following two days. On 30 January, Ernouf took up a position with his remaining garrison in the Beaupère–St. Louis Ridge highlands that guarded the approaches to Basse-Terre, Hislop forming his men in front of Ernouf's position. Later in the day, Harcourt's men came ashore to the north of Basse-Terre, outflanking the strongest French positions at Trois-Rivières
and forcing their withdrawal to Basse-Terre itself.
With his capital coming under bombardment from gun batteries set up by Royal Navy sailors organised into naval brigades, Ernouf marched to meet the British on the plain at Matabar on 3 February. Forming up, Ernouf attacked the British and initially drove them back, before superior numbers forced him to retire after he was outflanked by Wale's force attacking from the north. General Wale was wounded in the attack, in which his men suffered 40 casualties. One eyewitness, an Irish sailor from HMS Alfred
, claimed that Ernouf had laid a large land mine
along his line of retreat and planned to detonate it as the British advanced but was prevented from doing so when Beckwith spotted the trap and refused to be drawn into it, although this story does not appear in other accounts. While Ernouf was retreating, Commodore Fahie seized the opportunity to attack the undefended town of Basse-Terre, landing with a force of Royal Marines
and capturing the town, cutting off Ernouf's route of escape. Isolated and surrounded, the French general requested a truce at 08:00 on 4 February to bury the dead from the battle the day before. This was accepted, and on 5 February he formally surrendered.
of the 66e Régiment. As Napoleon had rescinded the prisoner exchange
system previously in place, all of the prisoners would remain in British hands until 1814. The captured eagle was sent to Britain, the first French eagle captured during the Napoleonic Wars. By 22 February, the nearby Dutch colonies of Sint Maarten, Sint Eustatius and Saba were all persuaded to surrender without a fight by ships sent from Cochrane's fleet. The British officers were rewarded for their successes: Beckwith was knighted and remained in the Caribbean until he retired in 1814 from ill-health, while Cochrane and Hislop were promoted. All of the expedition's officers and men were voted the thanks of both Houses of Parliament
and ten years later the regiments and ships that participated (or their descendents) were awarded the battle honour
Guadaloupe 1810. Four decades after the operation, it was among the actions recognised by a clasp attached to the Naval General Service Medal and the Military General Service Medal
, awarded upon application to all British participants still living in 1847.
Guadeloupe was taken over as a British colony for the remainder of the war, only restored to France after Napoleon's abdication in 1814. The following year, during the Hundred Days
, Guadeloupe's governor Charles-Alexandre Durand Linois
declared for the Emperor once more, requiring another British invasion, although of much smaller size and duration, to restore the monarchy. The fall of Guadeloupe marked the end of the final French territory in the Caribbean; the entire region was now in the hands of either the British or the Spanish, except the independent state of Haiti
. The lack of French privateers and warships sparked a boom in trade operations, and the economies of the Caribbean islands experienced a resurgence. It also made a significant reduction in French international trade and had a corresponding effect on the French economy. Finally, the capture of the last French colony struck a decisive blow to the Atlantic slave trade
, which had been made illegal by the British government in 1807 and was actively persecuted by the Royal Navy. Without French colonies in the Caribbean, there was no ready market for slaves in the region and the slave trade consequently dried up.
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
island of Guadeloupe
Guadeloupe
Guadeloupe is an archipelago located in the Leeward Islands, in the Lesser Antilles, with a land area of 1,628 square kilometres and a population of 400,000. It is the first overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. As with the other overseas departments, Guadeloupe...
during the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
. The island was the final remaining French colony in the Americas, following the systematic invasion and capture of the others during 1809 by British forces. During the Napoleonic Wars, the French colonies had provided protected harbours for French privateer
Privateer
A privateer is a private person or ship authorized by a government by letters of marque to attack foreign shipping during wartime. Privateering was a way of mobilizing armed ships and sailors without having to spend public money or commit naval officers...
s and warships, which could prey on the numerous British trade routes in the Caribbean and then return to the colonies before British warships could react. In response, the British instituted a blockade of the islands, stationing ships off every port and seizing any vessel that tried to enter or leave. With trade and communication made dangerous by the British blockade squadrons, the economies and morale of the French colonies began to collapse, and in the summer of 1808 desperate messages were sent to France requesting aid.
Despite repeated efforts, the French Navy
French Navy
The French Navy, officially the Marine nationale and often called La Royale is the maritime arm of the French military. It includes a full range of fighting vessels, from patrol boats to a nuclear powered aircraft carrier and 10 nuclear-powered submarines, four of which are capable of launching...
failed to reinforce and resupply the garrison, as their ships were intercepted and defeated either in European waters or in the Caribbean itself. The British had intercepted a number of these messages, and launched a series of successful invasions during 1809, until Guadeloupe was the only French colony remaining. A British expeditionary force landed on 28 January 1810, and found that much of the island's militia garrison had deserted. Advancing from two landing beaches on opposite sides of the island, they were able to rapidly push inland. It was not until they reached Beaupère–St. Louis Ridge outside the capital Basse-Terre
Basse-Terre
Basse-Terre is the prefecture of Guadeloupe, an overseas region and department of France located in the Lesser Antilles...
that the expeditionary force faced strong opposition, but in a battle lasting for most of 3 February, the French were defeated and driven back. The island's commander, Jean Augustin Ernouf
Jean Augustin Ernouf
Jean Augustin Ernouf was a French general and colonial administrator of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. He demonstrated moderate abilities as a combat commander; his real strength lay in his organizational and logistical talents...
, began surrender negotiations the following day.
Background
The French West Indian colonies during the Napoleonic WarsNapoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
were almost completely cut off from France due to the British naval strategy of close blockade: squadrons of British Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
warships patrolled the coasts of both France itself and the West Indian islands under French control. This hindered communications, severely restricted trade and prevented the reinforcement of the French garrisons during the conflict. As a result, the colonies began to suffer food shortages, their economies stagnated and public and military morale began to severely erode. In desperation, the commanders of the main colonies, the Leeward Islands
Leeward Islands
The Leeward Islands are a group of islands in the West Indies. They are the northern islands of the Lesser Antilles chain. As a group they start east of Puerto Rico and reach southward to Dominica. They are situated where the northeastern Caribbean Sea meets the western Atlantic Ocean...
of Martinique
Martinique
Martinique is an island in the eastern Caribbean Sea, with a land area of . Like Guadeloupe, it is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. To the northwest lies Dominica, to the south St Lucia, and to the southeast Barbados...
and Guadeloupe
Guadeloupe
Guadeloupe is an archipelago located in the Leeward Islands, in the Lesser Antilles, with a land area of 1,628 square kilometres and a population of 400,000. It is the first overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. As with the other overseas departments, Guadeloupe...
, sent a series of messages to France during the summer of 1808, entreating the French government to send food and military supplies. The French responded with a series of frigate
Frigate
A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...
s and smaller vessels, sailing to the Caribbean independently or in small squadrons. Some of these ships reached their destinations, but the majority were captured by the Royal Navy blockades off France or the islands. Those few ships that did safely make port were trapped there, unable to make the return journey without risking defeat by the British ships waiting offshore.
The British had intercepted a number of the messages sent to France, and the decision was made to invade and capture the French West Indies before substantial reinforcements could arrive. During the winter of 1808, ships and troops from across the Caribbean began gathering off Barbados
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...
under the command of Vice-Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane
Alexander Cochrane
Admiral Sir Alexander Forrester Inglis Cochrane GCB RN was a senior Royal Navy commander during the Napoleonic Wars.-Naval career:...
and Lieutenant General George Beckwith
George Beckwith (British Army officer)
General Sir George Beckwith KB was a British Army officer.-Military career:Beckwith was commissioned into the 37th Regiment of Foot in 1771. He distinguished himself as a regimental officer in the American Revolutionary War, where he was assistant to Major Oliver Delancey responsible for British...
, with the intention of invading Martinique early in 1809. A smaller force was sent to Cayenne
Cayenne
Cayenne is the capital of French Guiana, an overseas region and department of France located in South America. The city stands on a former island at the mouth of the Cayenne River on the Atlantic coast. The city's motto is "Ferit Aurum Industria" which means "Work brings wealth"...
, which was invaded and captured
Invasion of Cayenne (1809)
The Invasion of Cayenne was a combined military operation by an Anglo-Portuguese-Brazilian expeditionary force against Cayenne, capital of the French South American colony of French Guiana in 1809, during the Napoleonic Wars...
in early January 1809. In late January the invasion of Martinique
Invasion of Martinique (1809)
The invasion of Martinique of 1809 was a successful British amphibious operation against the French West Indian island of Martinique that took place between 30 January and 24 February 1809 during the Napoleonic Wars...
began, and despite resistance in the central highlands, the island fell to the invaders in 25 days. Cochrane then split his attention, sending a number of ships and men to aid the Spanish in the Siege of Santo Domingo while still maintaining a strong blockade force in the Leeward Islands. In April 1809, a strong reinforcement squadron
Troude's expedition to the Caribbean
Troude's expedition to the Caribbean was a naval operation by a French force under Commodore Amable-Gilles Troude during the Napoleonic Wars. The French squadron departed from Lorient in February 1809 in an attempt to reach and resupply the island colony of Martinique in the Caribbean Sea, then...
arrived at the Îles des Saintes
Îles des Saintes
The Îles des Saintes , also called simply Les Saintes , is a small archipelago of French Antilles located in the South of Basse-Terre Island, on the West of Marie-Galante and in the North of Dominica in the arc of Lesser Antilles...
, south of Guadeloupe. There they were blockaded until 14 April, when a British force under Major-General Frederick Maitland
Frederick Maitland
General Frederick Maitland was the youngest son of the hon. Sir Alexander Maitland Baronet and Penelope, daughter of Martin Madan and Judith Madan the poet...
invaded and captured the islands. In the attempt to escape, the ship of the line
Ship of the line
A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed from the 17th through the mid-19th century to take part in the naval tactic known as the line of battle, in which two columns of opposing warships would manoeuvre to bring the greatest weight of broadside guns to bear...
Hautpoult was captured and two French frigates were trapped in Basse-Terre
Basse-Terre
Basse-Terre is the prefecture of Guadeloupe, an overseas region and department of France located in the Lesser Antilles...
on Guadeloupe. In June, the frigates attempted to return to France. Only one of the frigates escaped the blockade squadron, although the escapee was also captured a month later in the North Atlantic.
Subsequent French attempts to supply their one remaining colony on Guadeloupe were minor, most of the brig
Brig
A brig is a sailing vessel with two square-rigged masts. During the Age of Sail, brigs were seen as fast and manoeuvrable and were used as both naval warships and merchant vessels. They were especially popular in the 18th and early 19th centuries...
s sent were seized without reaching the island. The only significant attempt
Roquebert's expedition to the Caribbean
Roquebert's expedition to the Caribbean, was an unsuccessful operation by a French naval squadron to transport supplies to Guadeloupe in December 1809 at the height of the Napoleonic Wars. Over the previous year, British Royal Navy squadrons had isolated and defeated the French Caribbean colonies...
, launched in November 1809, achieved initial success in the destruction of the British frigate HMS Junon on 13 December, but ultimately failed when the two armed storeships, Loire and Seine were destroyed on 18 December in a battle with a British squadron off the southern coast of Guadeloupe. During the autumn and winter, British forces were collected from across the Caribbean at Fort Royal
Fort-de-France
Fort-de-France is the capital of France's Caribbean overseas department of Martinique. It is also one of the major cities in the Caribbean. Exports include sugar, rum, tinned fruit, and cacao.-Geography:...
, Martinique, under Cochrane and Beckwith for the invasion of Guadeloupe.
Preparations
Beckwith mustered 6,700 men from a variety of garrisons and sources, his men belonging to the 3rd, 4th, 6th and 8th West India RegimentWest India Regiment
The West India Regiment was an infantry unit of the British Army recruited from and normally stationed in the British colonies of the Caribbean between 1795 and 1927. The regiment differed from similar forces raised in other parts of the British Empire in that it formed an integral part of the...
s, the 1st Foot, 15th Foot, 19th Foot, 25th Foot, 63rd Foot, 90th Foot
90th Regiment of Foot (Perthshire Volunteers)
The 90th Regiment of Foot was a Scottish infantry regiment of the British Army, active from 1794 to 1881.The 90th was raised in 1794 for service during the French Revolutionary Wars, and later the Napoleonic Wars. In the post-war period the regiment saw action inSouth Africa, serving in the 7th...
and the Royal York Rangers, as well as 300 garrison artillerymen and various militia forces. These troops were split into two divisions: the largest, 3,700 men under Beckwith with subordinate command given to Major General Thomas Hislop
Sir Thomas Hislop, 1st Baronet
Sir Thomas Hislop, 1st Baronet, GCB was a senior British Army officer of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Serving exclusively in colonial campaigns, Hislop fought in the West Indies between 1796 and 1810 and subsequently in India, where he was a senior commander during the Third...
, was to be deployed at Le Gosier
Le Gosier
Le Gosier is the third most populated commune in the French overseas region and department of Guadeloupe, in the Lesser Antilles. It is located on the south side of the island of Grande-Terre, and is part of the urban area of Pointe-à-Pitre, the largest conurbation in Guadeloupe.-External links:*...
on the island's southern shore. The second division, 2,450 men under Brigadier General George Harcourt, was initially ordered to wait on the Îles des Saintes before being deployed after the main attack to the rear of the French garrison. A small reserve under Brigadier General Charles Wale
Charles Wale
Charles Wale was an English General and the last British governor of Martinique between about 1812 and 1815 He became Colonel of the 33rd Regiment of Foot on 25 February 1831 and was given the governorship in recognition of his capture Guadeloupe from the French...
would follow the main assault to provide support if required. As the French had no significant naval resources on the island, the Royal Navy's contribution was much smaller than that required for the Martinique invasion the year before. Cochrane attached ships of the line to both divisions, Beckwith sailing in Cochrane's flagship HMS Pompee, accompanied by HMS Abercrombie with Commodore William Charles Fahie
William Charles Fahie
Vice-Admiral Sir William Charles Fahie KCB was a prominent British Royal Navy officer during the American War of Independence, French Revolutionary War and the Napoleonic Wars. Unusually, Fahie's service was almost entirely spent in the West Indies, where he had been born and where he lived during...
, while Harcourt sailed with Commodore Samuel James Ballard
Samuel James Ballard
Samuel James Ballard was a Vice-Admiral in the Royal Navy, baptised 28 March 1765 at St Thomas, Portsmouth, the son of Samuel Ballard, a burgess and chandler of Portsmouth, and Lydia née Flint daughter of James Flint of Epsom in Surrey.-Naval career:Ballard entered the navy in December 1776, under...
in HMS Sceptre
HMS Sceptre (1802)
HMS Sceptre was a 74-gun third rate of the Royal Navy, built by Dudman of Deptford after a design by Sir William Rule, and launched in December 1802 at Deptford. She served in the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812 before being broken up in 1821....
. Ballard and Fahie were in command of the transports and smaller vessels that carried the invasion forces and bore responsibility for ensuring that the amphibious landings were successful as well as for any naval units that participated in the land campaign.
The French defenders of the island were weakened by years of isolation caused by the British blockade. Although the available French troops numbered between 3,000 and 4,000, there was an epidemic on the island and a significant proportion of the garrison, principally formed by the 66e Régiment, were unfit for duty. Apart from the capital, the rest of the island's defences were manned by a militia formed from local inhabitants, among whom morale was low and desertion rates high. Military and food stores of all kinds were in short supply and the governor, General Jean Augustin Ernouf
Jean Augustin Ernouf
Jean Augustin Ernouf was a French general and colonial administrator of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. He demonstrated moderate abilities as a combat commander; his real strength lay in his organizational and logistical talents...
was unable to maintain garrisons around the island's extensive perimeter.
Invasion
After a brief period of consolidation on DominicaDominica
Dominica , officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island nation in the Lesser Antilles region of the Caribbean Sea, south-southeast of Guadeloupe and northwest of Martinique. Its size is and the highest point in the country is Morne Diablotins, which has an elevation of . The Commonwealth...
, Cochrane and Beckwith sailed for Guadeloupe on 27 January 1810, arriving off Le Gosier in the evening and landing the larger division at the village of Sainte-Marie under the command of Hislop. The division split, with one half marching south towards Basse-Terre and the other north. Neither met serious opposition, the militia forces deserting in large numbers and abandoning their fortifications as the British approached. Messages were sent by the approaching British ordering the surrender of towns and forts, and both forces made rapid progress over the following two days. On 30 January, Ernouf took up a position with his remaining garrison in the Beaupère–St. Louis Ridge highlands that guarded the approaches to Basse-Terre, Hislop forming his men in front of Ernouf's position. Later in the day, Harcourt's men came ashore to the north of Basse-Terre, outflanking the strongest French positions at Trois-Rivières
Trois-Rivières, Guadeloupe
Trois-Rivières is a commune in the overseas department of Guadeloupe, and the chef-lieu of the Canton of Trois-Rivières. It is on the south coast of the island of Basse-Terre.-External links:* ....
and forcing their withdrawal to Basse-Terre itself.
With his capital coming under bombardment from gun batteries set up by Royal Navy sailors organised into naval brigades, Ernouf marched to meet the British on the plain at Matabar on 3 February. Forming up, Ernouf attacked the British and initially drove them back, before superior numbers forced him to retire after he was outflanked by Wale's force attacking from the north. General Wale was wounded in the attack, in which his men suffered 40 casualties. One eyewitness, an Irish sailor from HMS Alfred
HMS Alfred (1778)
HMS Alfred was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 22 October 1778 at Chatham.She fought at the Battle of Cape St Vincent in 1780.Alfred was broken up in 1814....
, claimed that Ernouf had laid a large land mine
Land mine
A land mine is usually a weight-triggered explosive device which is intended to damage a target—either human or inanimate—by means of a blast and/or fragment impact....
along his line of retreat and planned to detonate it as the British advanced but was prevented from doing so when Beckwith spotted the trap and refused to be drawn into it, although this story does not appear in other accounts. While Ernouf was retreating, Commodore Fahie seized the opportunity to attack the undefended town of Basse-Terre, landing with a force of Royal Marines
Royal Marines
The Corps of Her Majesty's Royal Marines, commonly just referred to as the Royal Marines , are the marine corps and amphibious infantry of the United Kingdom and, along with the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary, form the Naval Service...
and capturing the town, cutting off Ernouf's route of escape. Isolated and surrounded, the French general requested a truce at 08:00 on 4 February to bury the dead from the battle the day before. This was accepted, and on 5 February he formally surrendered.
Aftermath
British casualties in the operation numbered 52 killed and 250 wounded, with seven men missing. French losses were heavier, in the region of 500–600 casualties throughout the campaign. 3,500 soldiers were captured with their officers, cannon and the French Imperial EagleFrench Imperial Eagle
French Imperial Eagle refers to the figure of an eagle on a staff carried into battle as a standard by the Grande Armée of Napoleon I during the Napoleonic Wars....
of the 66e Régiment. As Napoleon had rescinded the prisoner exchange
Prisoner exchange
A prisoner exchange or prisoner swap is a deal between opposing sides in a conflict to release prisoners. These may be prisoners of war, spies, hostages, etc...
system previously in place, all of the prisoners would remain in British hands until 1814. The captured eagle was sent to Britain, the first French eagle captured during the Napoleonic Wars. By 22 February, the nearby Dutch colonies of Sint Maarten, Sint Eustatius and Saba were all persuaded to surrender without a fight by ships sent from Cochrane's fleet. The British officers were rewarded for their successes: Beckwith was knighted and remained in the Caribbean until he retired in 1814 from ill-health, while Cochrane and Hislop were promoted. All of the expedition's officers and men were voted the thanks of both Houses of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
and ten years later the regiments and ships that participated (or their descendents) were awarded the battle honour
Battle honour
A battle honour is an award of a right by a government or sovereign to a military unit to emblazon the name of a battle or operation on its flags , uniforms or other accessories where ornamentation is possible....
Guadaloupe 1810. Four decades after the operation, it was among the actions recognised by a clasp attached to the Naval General Service Medal and the Military General Service Medal
Military General Service Medal
The Military General Service Medal was a campaign medal approved in 1847, for issue to officers and men of the British Army.The MGSM was approved on 1 June 1847 as a retrospective award for various military actions from 1793–1814; a period encompassing the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic...
, awarded upon application to all British participants still living in 1847.
Guadeloupe was taken over as a British colony for the remainder of the war, only restored to France after Napoleon's abdication in 1814. The following year, during the Hundred Days
Hundred Days
The Hundred Days, sometimes known as the Hundred Days of Napoleon or Napoleon's Hundred Days for specificity, marked the period between Emperor Napoleon I of France's return from exile on Elba to Paris on 20 March 1815 and the second restoration of King Louis XVIII on 8 July 1815...
, Guadeloupe's governor Charles-Alexandre Durand Linois
Charles-Alexandre Léon Durand Linois
Charles-Alexandre Léon Durand, Comte de Linois was a French admiral during the time of Napoleon Bonaparte. He won a victory over the British at the Battle of Algeciras in 1801 and was reasonably successful in a campaign against British trade in the Indian Ocean and South China Sea in...
declared for the Emperor once more, requiring another British invasion, although of much smaller size and duration, to restore the monarchy. The fall of Guadeloupe marked the end of the final French territory in the Caribbean; the entire region was now in the hands of either the British or the Spanish, except the independent state of Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
. The lack of French privateers and warships sparked a boom in trade operations, and the economies of the Caribbean islands experienced a resurgence. It also made a significant reduction in French international trade and had a corresponding effect on the French economy. Finally, the capture of the last French colony struck a decisive blow to the Atlantic slave trade
Atlantic slave trade
The Atlantic slave trade, also known as the trans-atlantic slave trade, refers to the trade in slaves that took place across the Atlantic ocean from the sixteenth through to the nineteenth centuries...
, which had been made illegal by the British government in 1807 and was actively persecuted by the Royal Navy. Without French colonies in the Caribbean, there was no ready market for slaves in the region and the slave trade consequently dried up.