Eastern West Indies (1756–1767 CE): War, Colonial Transitions, and Natural Disasters

Seven Years' War in the Caribbean

Between 1756 and 1767, the global Seven Years' War heavily impacted the Eastern West Indies, as European powers vied fiercely for dominance. British forces captured Grenada on March 4, 1762, under Commodore Swanton without resistance. Grenada was formally ceded to Britain by the Treaty of Paris (1763). A significant earthquake struck Grenada in 1766, followed by a suppressed rebellion among the enslaved population the following year.

Throughout the war, Britain secured control over several islands, notably St. Vincent, Grenada, and Tobago, reflecting significant territorial gains in the region.

British Victories and Strategic Shifts

The year 1759, often called Britain's Annus Mirabilis (year of wonders), saw sweeping British successes across global theaters. These included repelling French forces in India, decisive victories at the Battle of Minden in Europe, naval triumphs at the Battles of Lagos and Quiberon Bay, and significant North American conquests including Quebec City and Guadeloupe. British politician Horace Walpole famously remarked, "Our bells are worn threadbare with ringing for victories." British dominance established this year would notably elevate Britain’s global position at the expense of France.

Under the strategic direction of Secretary of State William Pitt the Elder, British forces carried out major offensives in the West Indies. In January 1759, British troops landed at Martinique but soon shifted focus to Guadeloupe due to stiff resistance. After intense fighting, disease, and leadership setbacks—including the death of commander Peregrine Hopson—Colonel John Barrington led British forces to victory, compelling the French governor Nadau du Treil to surrender on May 1, 1759. The costly victory, however, saw heavy casualties due to the tropical climate.

Following the war, Britain debated retaining either Canada or Guadeloupe. Britain ultimately prioritized Canada's strategic value, returning Guadeloupe to France under the Treaty of Paris (1763).

Jesuit Expulsion and Financial Crisis

In the French colony of Martinique, economic turmoil followed the bankruptcy of Jesuit missions. Father Antoine La Vallette, who borrowed heavily to expand plantation operations, faced ruin when ships laden with goods worth millions were captured during war. His creditors' legal action in 1760 led to a severe financial crisis, significantly contributing to the suppression of the Jesuit order across French territories.

Founding of Mayagüez

On September 18, 1760, settlers led by Faustino and Lorenzo Martínez de Matos, Juan de Silva, and Juan de Aponte established the town of Mayagüez near the Yagüez River on the island of Puerto Rico. Named Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria de Mayagüez, reflecting the Canarian heritage of its settlers, the town received rights of self-government in 1763.

Colonial Unrest and the Stamp Act

Political opposition to Britain's Stamp Act (1765) erupted notably in the Caribbean, especially in St. Kitts and Nevis, where violent riots targeted stamp distributors. Rioting successfully prevented stamp use in these islands. Although vocal political resistance appeared in other colonies, including Montserrat and Antigua, enforcement differed, with Barbados notably complying despite local opposition.

Port-au-Prince and Earthquakes

The city of Port-au-Prince, originally named L'Hôpital by the French in 1749, endured significant earthquakes in 1751 and again in 1770, the latter marking its establishment as the new capital of Saint-Domingue (modern Haiti).

Conclusion

The era 1756–1767 in the Eastern West Indies was characterized by intense warfare, natural disasters, and significant territorial and administrative shifts. The aftermath reshaped colonial dynamics, illustrating both the opportunities and challenges faced by European powers and local populations in a rapidly evolving geopolitical landscape.

The British had entered 1759 anxious about a French invasion, but by the end of the Annus Mirabilis of 1759, they are victorious in all theaters against France.

In India, they repulse French forces besieging Madras.

In Europe, British troops partake in a decisive Allied victory at the Battle of Minden.

The destruction of the French invasion barges and the victory of the Royal Navy over the French Navy at the Battle of Lagos and the decisive Battle of Quiberon Bay end any realistic prospect of a French invasion, and confirm Britain's reputation as the world's foremost naval power.

In North America, the British capture Fort Ticonderoga (Carillon), drive the French out of the Ohio Country, capture Quebec City as a result of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, and capture Guadeloupe in the West Indies.

The succession of victories leads Horace Walpole to remark; "Our bells are worn threadbare with ringing for victories".

Several of the triumphs will assume an iconic place in the mindset of the British public, reinforced by representations in art and music, such as the popular song Heart of Oak and the later painting The Death of General Wolfe.

Frank McLynn will identiiy 1759 as the year that prefigures the rise of the British Empire in eclipsing France as the dominant global superpower.

Much of the credit for the annus mirabilis is given to William Pitt the Elder, the minister who directs military strategy as part of his duties as Secretary of State for the Southern Department, rather than to the Prime Minister, the Duke of Newcastle.

More recent historians, however, will portray the British Cabinet as a more collective leadership than had previously been thought.

The year 1759 sees several Prussian defeats.

At the Battle of Kay, or Paltzig, the Russian Count Saltykov with forty-seven thousand Russians defeats twenty-six thousand Prussians commanded by General Carl Heinrich von Wedel.

Though the Hanoverians defeat an army of sixty thousand French at Minden, Austrian general Daun forces the surrender of an entire Prussian corps of thirteen thousand in the Battle of Maxen.

Frederick himself loses half his army in the Battle of Kunersdorf (now Kunowice, Poland), the worst defeat in his military career and one that drives him to the brink of abdication and thoughts of suicide.

The disaster results partly from his misjudgment of the Russians, who had already demonstrated their strength at Zorndorf and at Gross-Jägersdorf (now Motornoye, Russia), and partly from good cooperation between the Russian and Austrian forces.

The western German-speaking states of Europe have been a major theater of the Seven Years' War since 1757, when the French had launched an invasion of Hanover.

This had culminated in a decisive victory for the French at the Battle of Hastenbeck and the attempted imposition of the Convention of Klosterzeven upon the defeated allies: Hanover, Prussia and Britain.

Prussia and Britain had refused to ratify the convention and, in 1758, a counter-offensive commanded by Ferdinand had seen French forces first driven back across the Rhine, then beaten at the Battle of Krefeld.

The Prussian port of Emden had also been recaptured, securing supply from Britain.

As the campaigning season of 1759 opens, Prince Ferdinand steals a march on the French by moving out of winter quarters in late March.

His destination is Frankfurt, where the French have a base on the Main River.

The intent is to drive the French out of Westphalia and seize the initiative for the allies.

By the end of the month, his army comprises some twenty-seven thousand men grouped into three divisions.

One is commanded by Ferdinand himself, one by Prince Isenburg, and the third by the Duke of Holstein-Gottorp.

Operations commence with the seizing of Fulda and Meiningen from troops of the Imperial army under Field Marshal von Zweibrücken.

As the Imperial army retreats into Bohemia, Ferdinand moves into Hesse hoping to fall upon Broglie's corps before it can be reinforced.

Broglie, however, is able to reinforce his corps with a contingent of Saxons under the General von Dyhrn (Dyherrn) along with other French regiments that he is able to assemble.

He places his small army at the fortified town of Bergen and awaits developments.

Ferdinand's army arrives on the field of battle piecemeal.

Ferdinand himself accompanies the vanguard, commanded by the Erbprinz.

As Ferdinand mistakenly believes that the French had not yet fully deployed, he orders an immediate attack, choosing not to wait for the other two divisions.

Despite the long odds, by eight o'clock the town of Vilbel has been seized by Freytag's light infantry and the "Am Hohen Stein," another low hill located east of the "Berger-Warte," has been occupied.

Perceiving that Bergen is the key to the position, by 8:30 Ferdinand has ordered an assault on this position.

The initial allied attack is successful, driving the French infantry from the hedges and orchards that they occupy and back into the town.

Broglie now begins to feed in reinforcements, which turn the tide against the allies, driving them back.

At ten o'clock Prince Isenburg's division arrives.

Isenburg pitches into the fray, once again driving the French troops back into Bergen.

Broglie immediately counterattacks with more fresh regiments that he has fed in from his reserve, disordering the allies and driving them back once more.

Isenburg himself is killed while trying to rally his men.

It is with difficulty that Ferdinand himself is able to restore order to his troops.

At this point, the battle begins to cool off.

As Broglie brings his reserve and his cavalry forward, Ferdinand is able to gauge the size of his opponent's army.

Furthermore, the French artillery is finding its range and forcing the allied army back up the "Am Hohen Stein."

As Holstein-Gottorp's division finally makes it onto the field, preparations for another attack are abandoned and the battle turns into an artillery duel that lasts until the fall of night, when the allies withdraw.

Although it is a clear French victory, Broglie does not aggressively pursue Ferdinand, who is able to slip away with his army back toward Minden.

This is Ferdinand's darkest moment, and even his brother in law, Frederick the Great, commiserates with him to try to boost his morale.

Ferdinand will recover, however, and redeem himself and his army later in the same year at the Battle of Minden.

Allied casualties amount to four hundred and fifteen dead, seventeen hundred and seventy wounded, and one hundred and eighty-eight missing.

The French lose five hundred dead and thirteen hundred wounded.

Fighting had resulted in a draw by late summer of 1758.

None of Prussia's enemies seem willing to take the decisive steps to pursue Frederick into Prussia's heartland.

The Austrian Feldmarshalleutnant Leopold Josef Graf Daun could have ended the war in October at Hochkirch, but he had failed to follow up on his victory with a determined pursuit of Frederick's retreating army.

This has allowed Frederick time to recruit a new army over the winter.

Prussia has reached a strategic defensive position in the war by 1759.

Russian and Austrian troops surround Prussia, although not quite at the borders of Brandenburg.

Frederick, upon leaving winter quarters in April 1759, had assembled his army in Lower Silesia; this had forced the main Habsburg army to remain in its winter staging position in Bohemia.

The Russians, however, had shifted their forces into western Poland and marched westward toward the Oder river, a move that had threatened the Prussian heartland, Brandenburg, and potentially Berlin itself.

Frederick had countered by sending an army corps commanded by Friedrich August von Finck to contain the Russians; he had sent a second column commanded by Christoph II von Dohna to support Finck.

The Austrian and Russian goal is twofold.

The Austrians have advanced to the northern Bohemian frontier river Queis (Kwisa), the frontier between Lusatia and Silesia, and occupied fifteen kilometers (nine point three miles) of the frontier between Austria and Prussia in Silesia.

From there, Leopold Joseph von Daun can cross into either Lusatia or Silesia, as needed.

The Allies hold a council of war on July 8, and Saltykov presses for a crossing into Silesia.

Daun is still reluctant to do so, but he does send Ernst Gideon von Laudon with the auxiliary corps.

Part of Daun's reluctance is based on what Frederick and his brother, Henry, might do.

Frederick leaves his encampment near Landeshut on 4 July and marches north west toward Lowenberg, twenty kilometers (twelve miles) east of Daun's position on July 10.

At the same time, his brother marches with the main army from Saxony to Sagan, in Silesia.

This effectively separates Daun from Saltykov.

Knowing, though, that Loudon's corps is not sufficient to fully support the Russian ally, he sends also Count András Hadik's seventeen thousand-man observation corps from northern Bohemia.

This corps has been shadowing Henry's army and Hadik breaks off his contact with Henry's force on July 22, crossing into Lusatia at Zwickau.

The British government, which had previously been opposed to any direct involvement on the continent, takes the opportunity of the 1758–59 winter break in fighting to send nine thousand British troops to reinforce Ferdinand.

The French crown also sends a reinforcing army, under Contades, hoping this will help to secure a decisive victory, swiftly concluding the costly war, and forcing the Allies to accept the peace terms France is seeking.

In an attempt to defeat the French before their reinforcements arrive, Ferdinand has decided to launch a fresh counter-offensive, and had quit his winter quarters early.

In April, however, Victor-François, Duke de Broglie and the French had withstood Ferdinand's attack at the Battle of Bergen, and de Broglie had been promoted to Marshal of France.

Ferdinand had been forced to retreat northwards in the face of the now reinforced French army.

Contades, senior of the two French marshals, had resumed the advance, occupying a number of towns and cities including the strategic fortress at Minden, which had fallen to the French on July 10.

Ferdinand is criticized for his failure to check the French offensive.

His celebrated brother-in-law, Frederick the Great, is reported as having suggested that, since his loss at Bergen, Ferdinand had come to believe the French to be invincible.

Irrespective of any presumed crisis of confidence, however, Ferdinand does ultimately decide to confront the French, near Minden.

Contades has taken up a strong defensive position along the Weser around Minden, where he has paused to regroup before he continues his advance.

He initially resists the opportunity to abandon this strong position to attack Ferdinand.

Ferdinand instead formulates a plan that involves splitting his force into several groups to threaten Contades' lines of supply.

Perceiving Ferdinand's forces to be over-extended, Contades thinks he sees a chance for the desired decisive victory.

He orders his men to abandon their defensive encampments and advance into positions on the plain west of Minden during the night of July and early morning of August 1.

Ferdinand's cavalry commander, Lieutenant General Lord George Sackville, is accused of ignoring repeated orders to bring up his troopers and charge the enemy until it was too late to make any difference.

In order to clear his name he requests a court martial, but the evidence against him is substantial and the court martial declares him "...unfit to serve His Majesty in any capacity whatsoever."

Sackville will later reappear as Lord George Germain and bear a major portion of the blame for the outcome of the American Revolution while Secretary of State for the Colonies.

In Britain the result at Minden is widely celebrated and is seen as part of Britain's Annus Mirabilis of 1759 also known as the "Year of Victories", although there is some criticism of Ferdinand for not following up his victory more aggressively.

When George II of Great Britain learns of the victory, he awards Ferdinand £20,000 and the Order of the Garter.

Minden further boosts British support for the war on the continent, and the following year a "glorious reinforcement" will be sent, swelling the size of the British contingent in Ferdinand's army.

The reaction in France to the result of the Battle of Minden is severe.

The Duc de Choiseul, the French Chief Minister, writes "I blush when I speak of our army. I simply cannot get it into my head, much less into my heart, that a pack of Hanoverians could defeat the army of the King".

To discover how the defeat had occurred and to establish the general condition of the army, Marshal d'Estrées is sent on a tour of inspection.

Marshal de Contades is subsequently relieved of his command and replaced by the Duc de Broglie.

Michel Louis Christophe Roch Gilbert Paulette du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette and colonel aux Grenadiers de France, had been killed when he was hit by a cannonball in this battle.

La Fayette's son, Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette, is not even two years old at this time.

Jean Thurel, the long-serving fity-nine-year-old French fusilier, had been severely wounded, receiving seven sword slashes, six of them to the head.