Castries Saint Lucia

Thomas Warner (son of the governor of St. Kitts) had claimed Saint Lucia for England in 1664, bringing one thousand men there to defend it from the French, but after two years there were only eighty-nine left, mostly due to disease.

The island  be for years after this venture will officially traded back and forth between the English and the French in various treaties, as a bargaining chip in negotiations.

Roberts and his pirates are at sea again by October 25, off St. Lucia, where they capture up to fifteen French and British ships in the next three days.

Among the captured ships is the Greyhound, whose chief mate, James Skyrme, joins the pirates.

He will later become captain of Roberts' consort, the Ranger.

News of Dominica's fall is received with surprise in London considering that a single ship of the line might have prevented the attack.

Admiral Barrington is widely blamed for the loss, and criticized for adhering too closely to his orders.

French Admiral the comte D'Estaing arrives in the West Indies in early December 1778 in command of a fleet consisting of twelve ships of the line and a number of smaller vessels.

At about the same time a British fleet under Admiral William Hotham also arrives, augmenting the West Indies fleet of Admiral Barrington.

The orders and reinforcements whose late arrival had held Admiral Barrington at Barbados are to launch an attack on French-held St. Lucia, which the British capture in December 1778.

Despite d'Estaing's attempt at relief, the British use St. Lucia to monitor the major French base at Martinique, where d'Estaing is headquartered.

A British expedition of three thousand troops sails from Saint Lucia on January 30, 1781.

Rodney leaves behind ships to monitor the French on Martinique.

He also sends Samuel Hood ahead to stop any merchant ships escaping from the harbor.

...St. Lucia, and ...

The National Assembly had sent four Commissaries to St. Lucia in January 1791, during the French Revolution, to spread the revolution philosophy.

By August, slaves had begun to abandon their estates and Governor de Gimat had fled.

In December 1792, Lieutenant Jean-Baptiste Raymond de Lacrosse arrived with revolutionary pamphlets, and the impoverished whites and free people of color began to arm themselves as patriots.

On February 1 1793, France declared war on England and Holland, and General Nicolas Xavier de Ricard took over as Governor.

The National Convention had abolished enslavement on February 4, 1794, but St. Lucia falls to a British invasion led by Vice Admiral John Jervis on April 1794.

Morne Fortune becomes Fort Charlotte.

Soon, a patriot army of resistance, L'Armee Francaise dans les Bois, begins to fight back.

Thus starts the First Brigand War.

A short time later the British invade the island as a part of the recently broken out war with France.

A group of local Saint Lucians under the nominal control of Victor Hugues defeats a battalion of British troops at Vieux Fort and Rabot on February 21, 1795.

Castries is burned in 1796 as part of the Anglo-French conflict.

General John Moore retakes Fort Charlotte in 1796 with the 27th Inniskilling Fusiliers after two days of bitter fighting.

As an honor, the Fusiliers' regimental color is displayed on the flagstaff of the captured fortress at Morne Fortune for an hour before being replaced by the Union Jack.

Moore now participate in British efforts to repress the slave rebels until falling ill of yellow fever, upon which he will return to Britain before 1798.