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 the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

, 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 Cr ...

expedition under the command of Andrew Deveaux 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 from the British in May 1782, also without a shot being fired. However

Saint Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; ; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430) was a theologian and philosopher of Berbers, Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia (Roman province), Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings deeply influenced th ...

East Florida East Florida () was a colony of Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain from 1763 to 1783 and a province of the Spanish Empire from 1783 to 1821. The British gained control over Spanish Florida in 1763 as part of the Treaty of Paris (1763), Tre ...

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. 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, North 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 vessel which engages in commerce raiding 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 o ...

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 The Bahamas, 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 incor ...

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. On the eastern side of the island is the national capital, national capital city of Nassau, Bahamas, Nassau; 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 continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

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 and three guard boats. Claraco retreated into his citadel and a brief

ceasefire A ceasefire (also known as a truce), also spelled cease-fire (the antonym of 'open fire'), is a stoppage of a war in which each side agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions often due to mediation by a third party. Ceasefires may b ...

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, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

. 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 Sieges of the Anglo-Spanish War (1779–1783) Battles and conflicts without fatalities 1783 in the British Empire 1783 in the Caribbean 18th century in the Bahamas Capture Battles of the American Revolutionary War involving Spain Sieges of the American Revolutionary War involving Great Britain