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Battle of Jersey

Part of American War of Independence

Death of Major Peirson by John Singleton Copley

Date	January 6 1781
Location	Saint Helier, Jersey
Result	Decisive British victory

Belligerents

Great Britain

France

Commanders and leaders

Major Francis Peirson

Baron Phillipe de Rullecourt

Strength

More than 2,000

1,000

Casualties and losses

Around 30

More than 30 dead and wounded

The Battle of Jersey was a battle during the American War of Independence and was technically the last battle fought in the British Islands (coming after the Battle of Culloden in 1745). It was the last attempt by France to invade Jersey militarily.

Causes

Only 14 miles off the coast of France, and placed on the principal sea-bourne supply route to the French naval base at Brest, Jersey was a location of strategic importance during any war between Britain and that country. Large numers of privateers operated out of the Island, causing chaos amongst French mercantile shipping. Jersey privateers were even operating in support of the Royal Navy off the coast of America. The French government were determined to neutralise this threat. Furthermore, at the time Gibraltar was in the midst of the Great Siege; contemporary British newspapers reported that the attack on Jersey was an attempt to distract British attention from Gibraltar and divert military resources away from the Siege.

Defences in Jersey

Aware of the military importance of Jersey, the British government had ordered the Island heavily fortified. Gun batteries, forts and redoubts had been constructed around the coast. The local militia comprised some 3000 men in five regiments, including artillery and dragoons. They were supplemented by regular army units: the 95th Regiment of Foot, five companies each of the 83rd Foot (Royal Glasgow Volunteers) and 78th Highlanders, and around 700 'Invalids' (semi-retired reservists) - the total amounting to about 9,250 troops of all types. A naval force, the 'Jersey Squadron' was also based in the Island but was on a cruise against the Dutch as the time of the invasion.

The French plan

Despite the misgivings of the French military, who believed that an attack on Jersey would be a futile waste of resources, with any success being short-lived, the government approved a plan put forward by Baron Philippe de Rullecourt. De Rullecourt was an adventurer and a colonel in the French army. King Louis XVI had promised de Rullecourt the rank of General and the Cordon rouge as soon as he had control of the town of Saint Helier, the Island's capital. The Second Commander was an Indian prince, named Prince Emire, who had been taken by England in wars in India, had been sent to France with other French prisoners and whom the French had since retained in their service; a member of the British service wrote of him: "He looked quite barbarian, as much as his discourse; if our fate has depended on him, it would not have been of the most pleasant; he advised the French General to ransack everything and to put the town to fire and to blood."

Officially the expedition was a private affair; however, funding, equipment, transport and troops were provided by the government. In order to conceal their involvement, the government went so far as to order the 'desertion' of several hundred regular troops to De Rullecourt's forces.

On January 5 1781 the expedition, comprising some 2,000 soldiers in four divisions, set out. January 6 was still celebrated as 'Old Christmas Night' in Jersey, and the French were able to land undetected. The first, consisting of 800 men, landed at La Rocque, Grouville, and passed next to the body of guards without being noticed; a French officer even said that he had slept under the body of guards, but that the guard had not heard the French. The guards were subsequently put on trial, where it was found they had abandoned their post to go drinking. The first division of the French stayed there the greatest part of the night. The second division of the French, consisting of 400 men, was entirely lost, upon loading, in the rocks. The boats that contained the third division, consisting of 600 men, were separated from the rest of the fleet and were unable to join it. The fourth division, consisting of 200 men, landed early in the next morning at La Rocque. The total of the French troops unloaded on the island was therefore of 1,000, half the number of soldiers that France had expected to fight the British with.

The day of the battle

The French in Saint Helier

On January 6 1781, between six and seven o'clock in the morning, the first division went to camp in the market while a deep sleep was still reigning through all the town. About at eight o'clock a French patrol surprised the Island's governor, Moses Corbet, in bed in Government House (then situated at Le Manoir de La Motte). De Rullecourt convinced Corbet that thousands of French troops had already overwhelmed Jersey and threatened to burn the town and slaughter the inhabitants if the garrison did not capitulate. Corbet, unable to ascertain the true situation, surrendered. He was taken to the Royal Court building in the Royal Square and was persuaded to order Elizabeth Castle's commander Captain Mulcaster and 24-year old Major Francis Pierson's troops at Saint Peter's Barracks to surrender as well.

The British preparation

The British troops and militia assembled themselves on the Mont ès Pendus (now called Westmount) and Major Pierson soon had 2,000 men at his disposal, with which he resolved to descend the hill and attack the French, who were camping in the market, had seized the town's cannons and had placed them at the different openings of the market, as to better stop the British troops from forcing them; however, the French did not find the howitzers, the location of which they were ignorant. The British learned through different people who had been to observe the French troops that their number did not exceed 800 or 900 men. The French sent Corbet to Elizabeth Castle to offer a capitulation, which was refused by the Castle, which fired on the French troops and killed two or three men.

The 78th Regiment of Foot was detached and sent to take possession of the Mont de la Ville (now the site of Fort Regent), whence the British could stop a retreat of the French in the case that they had wished to flee. When Major Pierson believed that they had reached their destination he gave the orders to his troops to descend to the plain and to directly attack the French; but the British were stopped at the plain, where Corbet was sent by the French General to offer capitulation terms and to tell the British that if the terms were not signed, the French would ransack the town within half an hour. Given the superiority in number of their troops, the British there refused, as did the 83rd Regiment of Foot and the part of the East Regiment in Grouville. When the French General received their answer it was heard that he said: "Since they do not want to surrender, I have come to die."

The battle

The attack started: in the Grande Rue were the 78th Regiment, the Battalion of Saint Lawrence, the South-East Regiment and the Compagnies de Saint-Jean; and in the other avenues were the 95th Regiment of Foot with the rest of the militia. The British had too many troops for the battleground, a member of the British service later saying that a third of the British troops would have been more than enough to destroy the French army; the British soldiers, confused and having nothing to shoot, unloaded most of their shots in the air.

The French resistance was of short duration, the greatest of the action lasting a quarter of an hour. The French only shot once or twice with the canons that they had at their disposal; the British had a howitzer placed directly opposite the market in the Grande Rue, which at each shot "cleaned all the surroundings of French" according to a member of the British service. Major Pierson and the 95th Regiment advanced towards the Avenue du Marché; just as the British were going to win Major Pierson fell dead, a musket bullet having reached his heart, but his saddened troops continued to fight. When the French General fell to the floor the French no longer wanted to fight, throwing their weapons and fleeing; several reached the market houses, whence they dispatched several shots through the windows.

The French Commander, through Corbet, told the British that the French had, at La Rocque, two battalions and an artillery company, which could be at the town within a quarter of an hour. The British were not intimidated, knowing that the number of French troops there did not reach 200, and a guard of 45 grenadiers of the 83rd Regiment resisted against 140 French soldiers until the arrival of a part of the East Regiment, whereupon the French body of troops was entirely undone, with 70 prisoners taken and 30 dead or wounded; the remaining French soldiers dispersed themselves throughout the countryside to reach their boats, though several were caught doing so.

After the battle

Conclusion

The British took 600 prisoners on that day, who were subsequently sent to England. The British loss was of around 30 dead. The French General was wounded in four areas of his body and died on the next day.

It became notorious that there were traitors among the British, the French General having a plan on copper of the fortifications, the towers, the canons and so on, saying that had he not had good friends in Jersey, he would not have come; the French knew exactly the number of British troops and of militia, the names of the officers commanding them and more. In the papers found in the General's trunk was the name of one Mr. Le Geyt a Jerseyman who was later seized, as was another suspect.

After the battle, it was decided to build 30 coastal round towers to improve the defence system of the island.

Painting

John Singleton Copley painted a dramatized version of the death of Major Peirson. That painting now appears on Jersey's 10 pound note and is in the Tate Gallery.

References

Bulletins Volume 5. Jersey Library: Société Jersiaise. 1905. pp. pp. 268–275. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)

External links

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