Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville, the French Canadian founder of Louisiana in North America, in 1706 decides to drive the English out of Nevis and thus also stop pirate attacks on French ships; he considers Nevis the region's headquarter for piracy against French trade.
During d'Iberville's invasion of Nevis, French Buccaneers were used in the front line, infamous for being ruthless killers after the pillaging during the wars with Spain where they have gained a reputation for torturing and murdering non-combatants.
In the face of the invading force, the English militiamen of Nevis flee.
Some planters burn the plantations, rather than letting the French have them, and hide in the mountains.
It is the enslaved Africans who hold the French at bay by taking up arms to defend their families and the island.
The slave quarters have been looted and burned as well, as the main reward promised the men fighting on the French side in the attack is the right to capture as many slaves as possible and resell them in Martinique.
During the fighting, thirty-four hundred enslaved Nevisians are captured and sent off to Martinique, but about one thousand more, poorly armed and militarily untrained, hold the French troops at bay, by "murderous fire" according to an eyewitness account by an English militiaman.
He writes that "the slaves' brave behavior and defense there shamed what some of their masters did, and they do not shrink to tell us so." (Hubbard, Vincent K. (2002). Swords, Ships & Sugar: History of Nevis. Corvallis, Oregon: Premiere).
After eighteen days of fighting, the French are driven off the island.
One consequence of the French attack is a collapsed sugar industry.
During the ensuing hardship on Nevis, small plots of land on the plantations are made available to the enslaved families in order to control the loss of life due to starvation.
