Invasion of Tobago
Encyclopedia
The Invasion of Tobago was a French
expedition in May 1781 against the British
-held island of Tobago
during the American War of Independence. The fleet of the Comte de Grasse
on 24 May landed troops under the command of the Marquis de Bouillé
, which successfully gained control of the island on 2 June 1781.
sent a large fleet consisting of 20 ships of the line and a convoy with 6,000 troops to the West Indies under the command of the Comte de Grasse
. They arrived off Martinique
on 28 April, and de Grasse chased away
the smaller British
fleet of Sir Samuel Hood
that had been blockading Fort Royal. Hood and the British station commander, Admiral George Brydges Rodney
joined forces on 11 May between St. Kitts and Antigua
to discuss the French threat.
De Grasse met with Martinique's governor, the Marquis de Bouillé
, and developed a plan for capturing the British-controlled island of Tobago
. The French forces were to be divided, with one convoy accompanied by a small number of battle ships to head for Tobago, while the other forces would make a landing on St. Lucia that was little more than a demonstration
. These forces would then be withdrawn and also sent to Tobago, where they would assist the first force.
The force for St. Lucia, led by de Bouillé and accompanied by de Grasse, left Martinique on 8 and 9 May, with the force for Tobago, led by Blanchelande and accompanied by two ships of the line and a number of frigates under de Rions, also departing on the 9th.
, a village at the northern tip of St. Lucia, early on 10 May. They surprised the small British garrison there, taking about 100 prisoners and seizing military supplies. This prompted General Arthur St. Leger, the island's lieutenant governor, to organise the defence of Castries
and fortify the slopes of Morne Fortune
above that port.
Two nights later, the French troops reembarked on the transports, and the fleet sailed off to the windward for several days before returning to Martinique on 15 May. Troops numbering 3,000 were then embarked, and the fleet sailed for Tobago on 25 May.
Rodney was alerted to the landing, but rather than sailing his whole fleet to St. Lucia, he sailed for Barbados
, detaching only a few smaller ships to the island's aid. He was not informed of the French withdrawal from St. Lucia until he was en route to Barbados, which he reached on 23 May.
. They quickly overran the town's forts, and Governor George Ferguson led his remaining forces into the hills. These forces, three to four hundred regulars and four to five hundred militia, established a strong position fortified by cannons on the interior ridge. Blanchelande followed, but decided to wait for reinforcements rather than attack the position.
Admiral Rodney learned of the attack on Tobago on 27 May, while at Barbados. He detached Francis Samuel Drake and six ships of the line and some troops on 29 May to provide relief to Ferguson, only to learn on 2 June that de Grasse's fleet (20 ships of the line) had arrived and chased Drake away. De Grasse had arrived at Tobago on 30 May; Drake, greatly outnumbered, retreated, losing only one small ship. De Grasse then landed troops on both sides of the island the next day, and Bouillé made a junction with Blanchelande outside the British line of defence. They decided to attack the next day.
With the arrival of French reinforcements, Ferguson decided to abandon his position, and began a retreat that night. The French gave chase the following morning when they saw the British lines had been abandoned. It was a sweltering, hot day, and both columns had men drop out due to the conditions; a number of the retreating British were captured. By the end of the day, Ferguson realised the situation was hopeless, and opened negotiations for terms of surrender. Under the agreed terms, Ferguson's forces surrendered on 2 June.
with 24 ships of the line to Rodney's 20; Rodney decided to avoid action, claiming later that he was concerned that chasing de Grasse would have left him to leeward, with de Grasse then free to attack Barbados.
When Ferguson reached London
, he and Rodney engaged in a highly public war of words over Rodney's failure to relieve the island in a timely manner.
De Grasse, after Rodney called off his chase, returned to Tobago, embarked some of the troops, and returned to Martinique. He then sailed in July for Cap-Français, where he was met by a dispatch from the North American fleet, whose news prompted him to sail north to support operations on Chesapeake Bay
that culminated in the pivotal Battle of the Chesapeake
and Siege of Yorktown
.
The island of Tobago remained in French hands under the terms of the 1783 Treaty of Paris
that ended the war; it was again fought over during the Napoleonic Wars
, and fell definitively under British control with the 1814 Treaty of Paris
.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
expedition in May 1781 against the British
Kingdom of Great Britain
The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...
-held island of Tobago
Tobago
Tobago is the smaller of the two main islands that make up the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It is located in the southern Caribbean, northeast of the island of Trinidad and southeast of Grenada. The island lies outside the hurricane belt...
during the American War of Independence. The fleet of the Comte de Grasse
François Joseph Paul de Grasse
Lieutenant Général des Armées Navales François-Joseph Paul, marquis de Grasse Tilly, comte de Grasse was a French admiral. He is best known for his command of the French fleet at the Battle of the Chesapeake, which led directly to the British surrender at Yorktown...
on 24 May landed troops under the command of the Marquis de Bouillé
François Claude Amour, marquis de Bouillé
François Claude Amour, marquis de Bouillé was a French general. After distinguishing himself in the Seven Years' War, he was appointed governor of Guadeloupe in 1768...
, which successfully gained control of the island on 2 June 1781.
Background
In March 1781, FranceFrance
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
sent a large fleet consisting of 20 ships of the line and a convoy with 6,000 troops to the West Indies under the command of the Comte de Grasse
François Joseph Paul de Grasse
Lieutenant Général des Armées Navales François-Joseph Paul, marquis de Grasse Tilly, comte de Grasse was a French admiral. He is best known for his command of the French fleet at the Battle of the Chesapeake, which led directly to the British surrender at Yorktown...
. They arrived off 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...
on 28 April, and de Grasse chased away
Battle of Fort Royal
The Battle of Fort Royal was a naval battle fought off Fort Royal, Martinique in the West Indies during the American War of Independence on 29 April 1781 between fleets of the British Royal Navy and the French Navy. After an engagement lasting four hours, the British squadron under Sir Samuel Hood...
the smaller British
Kingdom of Great Britain
The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...
fleet of Sir Samuel Hood
Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood
Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood was a British Admiral known particularly for his service in the American War of Independence and French Revolutionary Wars...
that had been blockading Fort Royal. Hood and the British station commander, Admiral George Brydges Rodney
George Brydges Rodney, 1st Baron Rodney
George Brydges Rodney, 1st Baron Rodney, KB 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 the Battle of the Saintes in 1782...
joined forces on 11 May between St. Kitts and Antigua
Antigua
Antigua , also known as Waladli, is an island in the West Indies, in the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region, the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua means "ancient" in Spanish and was named by Christopher Columbus after an icon in Seville Cathedral, Santa Maria de la...
to discuss the French threat.
De Grasse met with Martinique's governor, the Marquis de Bouillé
François Claude Amour, marquis de Bouillé
François Claude Amour, marquis de Bouillé was a French general. After distinguishing himself in the Seven Years' War, he was appointed governor of Guadeloupe in 1768...
, and developed a plan for capturing the British-controlled island of Tobago
Tobago
Tobago is the smaller of the two main islands that make up the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It is located in the southern Caribbean, northeast of the island of Trinidad and southeast of Grenada. The island lies outside the hurricane belt...
. The French forces were to be divided, with one convoy accompanied by a small number of battle ships to head for Tobago, while the other forces would make a landing on St. Lucia that was little more than a demonstration
Demonstration (military)
In military terminology, a demonstration is an attack or show of force on a front where a decision is not sought, made with the aim of deceiving the enemy....
. These forces would then be withdrawn and also sent to Tobago, where they would assist the first force.
The force for St. Lucia, led by de Bouillé and accompanied by de Grasse, left Martinique on 8 and 9 May, with the force for Tobago, led by Blanchelande and accompanied by two ships of the line and a number of frigates under de Rions, also departing on the 9th.
Attack on St. Lucia
Bouillé's force, numbering between 1,200 and 1,500, landed at Gros IsletGros Islet
Gros Islet is a community located near the northern tip of the island country of Saint Lucia. Originally a quiet fishing village, it has gone on to become one of the more popular tourist destinations in the country....
, a village at the northern tip of St. Lucia, early on 10 May. They surprised the small British garrison there, taking about 100 prisoners and seizing military supplies. This prompted General Arthur St. Leger, the island's lieutenant governor, to organise the defence of Castries
Castries
Castries , population 10,634, aggl. 37,963 , is the capital city of Saint Lucia, a country in the Caribbean. The district with the same name had a population of 61,341 in 2001-05-22, and stretches over an area of ....
and fortify the slopes of Morne Fortune
Morne Fortune
Morne Fortune is a hill and residential area located south of Castries, Saint Lucia in the West Indies. Originally it was a fort constructed by the French, it was captured by the British on 24th May 1796. A memorial to the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers still stands commemorating the battle...
above that port.
Two nights later, the French troops reembarked on the transports, and the fleet sailed off to the windward for several days before returning to Martinique on 15 May. Troops numbering 3,000 were then embarked, and the fleet sailed for Tobago on 25 May.
Rodney was alerted to the landing, but rather than sailing his whole fleet to St. Lucia, he sailed for 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...
, detaching only a few smaller ships to the island's aid. He was not informed of the French withdrawal from St. Lucia until he was en route to Barbados, which he reached on 23 May.
Invasion of Tobago
On 24 May, the detachment of General Blanchelande arrived at Tobago. Under cover of fire from the Pluto and the Experiment, his troops were landed near the port of ScarboroughScarborough, Tobago
Scarborough, Tobago is the largest town in Tobago, one of the two main islands of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Its population is around 17,000, almost one-third of the population of the island. The town is dominated by Fort King George, an 18th century fortification named after King George...
. They quickly overran the town's forts, and Governor George Ferguson led his remaining forces into the hills. These forces, three to four hundred regulars and four to five hundred militia, established a strong position fortified by cannons on the interior ridge. Blanchelande followed, but decided to wait for reinforcements rather than attack the position.
Admiral Rodney learned of the attack on Tobago on 27 May, while at Barbados. He detached Francis Samuel Drake and six ships of the line and some troops on 29 May to provide relief to Ferguson, only to learn on 2 June that de Grasse's fleet (20 ships of the line) had arrived and chased Drake away. De Grasse had arrived at Tobago on 30 May; Drake, greatly outnumbered, retreated, losing only one small ship. De Grasse then landed troops on both sides of the island the next day, and Bouillé made a junction with Blanchelande outside the British line of defence. They decided to attack the next day.
With the arrival of French reinforcements, Ferguson decided to abandon his position, and began a retreat that night. The French gave chase the following morning when they saw the British lines had been abandoned. It was a sweltering, hot day, and both columns had men drop out due to the conditions; a number of the retreating British were captured. By the end of the day, Ferguson realised the situation was hopeless, and opened negotiations for terms of surrender. Under the agreed terms, Ferguson's forces surrendered on 2 June.
Aftermath
Rodney learned of Ferguson's surrender on 4 June, and immediately sailed out from Barbados. When he finally spotted de Grasse's fleet, the latter was sailing for GrenadaGrenada
Grenada is an island country and Commonwealth Realm consisting of the island of Grenada and six smaller islands at the southern end of the Grenadines in the southeastern Caribbean Sea...
with 24 ships of the line to Rodney's 20; Rodney decided to avoid action, claiming later that he was concerned that chasing de Grasse would have left him to leeward, with de Grasse then free to attack Barbados.
When Ferguson reached London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, he and Rodney engaged in a highly public war of words over Rodney's failure to relieve the island in a timely manner.
De Grasse, after Rodney called off his chase, returned to Tobago, embarked some of the troops, and returned to Martinique. He then sailed in July for Cap-Français, where he was met by a dispatch from the North American fleet, whose news prompted him to sail north to support operations on Chesapeake Bay
Chesapeake Bay
The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. It lies off the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by Maryland and Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay's drainage basin covers in the District of Columbia and parts of six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West...
that culminated in the pivotal Battle of the Chesapeake
Battle of the Chesapeake
The Battle of the Chesapeake, also known as the Battle of the Virginia Capes or simply the Battle of the Capes, was a crucial naval battle in the American War of Independence that took place near the mouth of Chesapeake Bay on 5 September 1781, between a British fleet led by Rear Admiral Sir Thomas...
and Siege of Yorktown
Siege of Yorktown
The Siege of Yorktown, Battle of Yorktown, or Surrender of Yorktown in 1781 was a decisive victory by a combined assault of American forces led by General George Washington and French forces led by the Comte de Rochambeau over a British Army commanded by Lieutenant General Lord Cornwallis...
.
The island of Tobago remained in French hands under the terms of the 1783 Treaty of Paris
Treaty of Paris (1783)
The Treaty of Paris, signed on September 3, 1783, ended the American Revolutionary War between Great Britain on the one hand and the United States of America and its allies on the other. The other combatant nations, France, Spain and the Dutch Republic had separate agreements; for details of...
that ended the war; it was again fought over 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...
, and fell definitively under British control with the 1814 Treaty of Paris
Treaty of Paris (1814)
The Treaty of Paris, signed on 30 May 1814, ended the war between France and the Sixth Coalition, part of the Napoleonic Wars, following an armistice signed on 23 May between Charles, Count of Artois, and the allies...
.