The Capture of Dominica

On 7 September 1778, the marquis de Bouillé seized the British island of Dominica, the first French conquest of the War of Independence in the Caribbean

On 7 September 1778, the marquis de Bouillé, Governor General of the Windward Islands, seized the British island of Dominica with an expeditionary force of 2,000 men. It was the first French conquest of the War of American Independence in the Caribbean.

  • Date: 7 September 1778
  • Location: Island of Dominica (Caribbean)
  • French commander: Marquis François-Claude-Amour de Bouillé
  • French forces: 2,000 men, 3 frigates, 1 corvette, 1 storeship, 18 transports
  • British garrison: 150 men of the 48th Regiment, 400 militiamen
  • French casualties: 2 wounded

As soon as he received, on 17 August 1778, notification of the state of war between France and Great Britain, the marquis François-Claude-Amour de Bouillé, Governor General of the Windward Islands, began preparing for the conquest of the British island of Dominica. For a long time, he had been eyeing this island which, situated between Guadeloupe and Martinique, occupied a strategic position of the first order, enabling the British to intercept communications between these two French colonies. He was perfectly informed of the weakness of the local garrison by one Renaud, editor-in-chief of the Dominica gazette and an agent in his pay, as well as by numerous inhabitants of French origin.

Admittedly, the English governor Thomas Shirley, aware of the island’s importance, had begun reinforcing its defences as early as 1775, but when he handed over command to Lieutenant-Governor William Stuart in June 1778, the restoration of the fortifications was far from complete. Moreover, the garrison then numbered only 150 men of the 48th Regiment of Foot, theoretically reinforced by 400 militiamen and above all by the 70-gun warship HMS Boyne cruising in the island’s waters.

Preparations

On 3 September, Bouillé sent a flag-of-truce vessel to Dominica whose unofficial but essential mission was to ascertain the presence or absence of the English warship. As it happened, the Boyne had just sailed to rejoin Barbados. At the same time, agents dispatched by Bouillé persuaded a number of militiamen of French origin not to take part in the coming fight.

The Assault

On 6 September 1778, the marquis, assured that he would not have to face the Boyne, personally took command of an expeditionary force of 2,000 men, composed of the Auxerrois regiment, detachments from the Viennois and Martinique regiments, about a hundred Creole fighters belonging to the Volontaires de Bouillé company and a few privateers, plus eight field guns. Within this force, the light infantry was commanded by C. de Marillac, vicomte de Damas, colonel of the Auxerrois regiment, the grenadiers by the marquis Du Chilleau d’Airvault, colonel of the Viennois regiment, and the volunteers and privateers by Édouard de Tilly, comte de Blaru, brigadier of colonial troops and aide-major of the Martinique garrison.

Embarked aboard the 32-gun frigates Amphitrite, Tourterelle and La Diligente, the corvette L’Étourdie, the storeship Truite and 18 transport vessels, these troops left Martinique on 6 September at eight o’clock in the evening and landed on Dominica the following day. Subjected to vigorous and simultaneous attacks against the Loubières battery, the entrenched camp on Major Bruce’s heights and the fort at Roseau, the English garrison quickly asked to capitulate. At the conclusion of this brilliant operation, which cost the French forces only two wounded, the marquis Du Chilleau d’Airvault was appointed governor of the island for the King of France.

Bouillé’s Strategic Plan

Before departing for America in 1777, the marquis de Bouillé had submitted to Minister Sartine an ambitious strategic plan: “I had proposed, at the very first moment of war, to vigorously attack the English islands where there remained only three battalions, some militia and few warships for their protection. I believed that, upon declaring war, great blows must be struck: Antigua, Dominica, Saint Kitts were to fall first and immediately thereafter, Jamaica was to be attacked; a supplement of six thousand men to the island garrisons and 10 ships of the line were to be employed in these conquests.” Alas, the marquis’s plan was not followed by the Court. Yet one cannot help thinking that the course of the war in the Caribbean would have been very different had it been carried out.

Philippe Henrat, member of the SAR History Committee

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