Capture of Demerara and Essequibo

Significance

The capture of Demerara and Essequibo in January 1782 was a French expedition that seized Dutch colonial settlements on the South American mainland. The British had taken possession of Essequibo and Demerara in 1781, dispatching two sloops from Admiral Lord Rodney's fleet at Sint Eustatius for that purpose. The French operation the following year, led by Armand of Kersaint and the Comte de Bouillé with a force of 355 men, compelled British Governor Robert Kingston to surrender the settlements. The action was one of several colonial exchanges in the Caribbean and Atlantic theaters during the wider Anglo-French conflict tied to the American Revolutionary War. Its territorial effect proved temporary: the Treaty of Paris in 1783 restored Demerara and Essequibo to the Dutch, leaving the episode with no lasting change in colonial possession.

Forces & casualties

Commanders (2)