As the United States prepares to celebrate the 250th anniversary of its Declaration of Independence next year, it’s worth taking a closer look at the singular role played by the town of St. Pierre, Martinique, in the American Revolutionary War.
Initially motivated by the taxation imposed by London to remedy the budgetary crisis caused by the Seven Years’ War (1756-1763) and exacerbated by the British government’s repression of the Thirteen Colonies, the latter’s struggle against the claims of colonial power gave rise to the First Continental Congress, in September-October 1774. This assembly of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies met in Philadelphia to assert the rights and liberties of these North American territories, and to develop a strategy for dealing with the metropolis. But Anglo-American tensions escalated into open conflict on April 19, 1775, with the battles of Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts. The war led to the installation, on May 10, 1775, of a Second Continental Congress, which constituted itself as a true government. It was this institution that adopted the famous Declaration of Independence drafted by Thomas Jefferson.
In need of support from abroad, the Continental Congress appointed the lawyer and merchant Silas Deane as its covert agent in France in March 1776. It had to be said that France, still scarred by the humiliating defeat inflicted on it by Great Britain in the Seven Years’ War, naturally harbored pro-American sentiments. By publicly posing as a merchant, Deane was to obtain arms, ammunition, clothing and other supplies for General George Washington’s army in Louis XVI’s kingdom, and more generally, the support of the French government to the United States.
Arriving in Paris in July 1776, the Philadelphia envoy got a secret meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Count de Vergennes, who was immediately sympathetic to the American cause. Although he could not officially commit France to the United States at this point (as the kingdom professed its neutrality), the minister did offer Deane some facilities in his mission and put him in touch with people who could help him, notably the writer, businessman and secret agent Beaumarchais.
Furthermore, on June 3, 1776, the Continental Congress appointed an agent to St. Pierre, the economic capital of Martinique, known as the “Paris of the Isles”. This mission was entrusted to a fervent supporter of the alliance with France: William Bingham, the secretary of the Continental Congress’ Committee of Secret Correspondence. Captain Lambert Wickes was commissioned to take Bingham to Martinique aboard the brig
Reprisal, which sailed from the port of Philadelphia on July 3, 1776 - the day before the Declaration of Independence.
Reprisal passed off Bermuda and the Virgin Islands before reaching the Lesser Antilles arc. On this non-stop journey, she captured three English merchant ships (
Friendship,
Peter and
Neptune), Wickes assigning members of his crew to ferry them to Philadelphia.
While off Le Prêcheur (Martinique) on the evening of July 27, the American brig encountered HMS
Shark, a British warship anchored at St. Pierre, commanded by Captain John Chapman. After Bingham had been deposited ashore, the two ships engaged in combat,
Reprisal at a disadvantage due to her incomplete crew. Like many St. Pierre residents, the commander of the place, Baron de Courcy, was able to watch the battle from the shore. After a few dozen minutes, the guns of the Sainte-Marthe battery opened fire on
Shark, forcing her to flee.
Although accounts of the incident’s protagonists and witnesses differ somewhat from one another, they leave little doubt that the battery personnel deliberately aimed at
Shark to help the opposing vessel. Yet could the Sainte-Marthe guardian then have been aware of
Reprisal’s flag? Did he really act on his own initiative, as de Courcy asserted?
In any case, the two ships finally anchored in St. Pierre harbor the following morning, with de Courcy forbidding any further fighting between them in his jurisdiction, on pain of having Sainte-Marthe’s cannons fired.
Indignant at the French intervention, Captain Chapman handed over a formal complaint to Baron de Courcy, who passed it on to the Governor of Martinique, Count d’Argout, resident at Fort Royal (now Fort-de-France). The English officer also requested that
Reprisal be seized. In response, Count d’Argout reprimanded Chapman for engaging in combat in Martinique waters, and firmly rejected his request - while assuring him of his neutrality in the conflict between Great Britain and the Insurgents. Wickes and Bingham, meanwhile, were cordially welcomed by the people of St. Pierre, Baron de Courcy, and the Governor of Martinique.
In a letter dated August 5, 1776 and addressed to Silas Deane, Bingham related these events with emotion: “
The Continental Sloop of War the Reprisal of 16 Guns, & one of the Ministerial Fleet the Shark of the same Weight of Metal, but better man'd, have lately had an Engagement opposite the Port of St Pierre. I was a Spectator of the whole of it from on shore. And to the honor of America, the Reprisal damaged the Shark so much, that She was forced to sheer off in order to refit, when the Fort fired upon her & put an End to the Engagement. Never did I feel the Sensation of Joy in a more lively Degree, than upon viewing the different Treatment which the two Commanders met with from the Inhabitants of St Pierre; Capt Wickes was complimented & caressed beyond measure, whereas Capt Chapman was under the necessity of procuring a Guard of Six Men to protect him from the Insults of the Mob...” (
The Silas Deane papers, collections of the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History, and Morgan 1972: 76).
Yet d’Argout had to be careful with both the British authorities and his own government. In a July 31 letter to the French Minister of the Navy, Antoine Gabriel de Sartine, he delivered a curious version of the incident with Chapman, explaining that the firing from the Sainte-Marthe battery was a “mistake” due to confusion on the part of the fort’s guardian. On the other hand, however, he announced that he would favor the interests of the Insurgents to the utmost of his ability, invoking (somewhat abusively) recent instructions from the minister. He even allowed Wickes and Bingham to bring their war prizes to St. Pierre for resale, and to confidentially inform the Continental Congress of his support. In this context, when Vice-Admiral James Young, commander of British naval forces in the Leeward Islands, demanded that he hand over the “pirates” from
Reprisal, d’Argout categorically refused, as the Americans had found refuge “under the flag of the King”. This decision met with Louis XVI’s approval.
So, it was in Martinique that, for the first time, France openly assisted American patriots.
Bingham and Wickes’ reports on these events made a great impression on the Continental Congress, reinforcing the latter’s confidence in France, and its faith in the victory of the United States. Regarding Baron de Courcy’s reception of Wickes, Sarah Vlasity explains: “
De Courcy’s warm reception of Wickes, the first American naval captain to call on a representative of a European nation, sent a powerful signal that France was willing to cooperate with the United States, at least on Martinique.” (Vlasity 2011: 16-17).
In the same period, George Washington received a letter from Martinique, which he forwarded to John Hancock, President of the Continental Congress, in a mail dated August 12, 1776: “
I have Inclosed a Letter Just come to hand from Martinique-Congress will please to consider of the purport, favoring me with their Answer and a Return of the Letter.” (
Founders Online, National Archives:
https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-05-02-0514). This mysterious missive is nowhere to be found. It is unlikely to have been written by Bingham or Wickes; could its author be Count d’Argout?
On August 4, 1776, the captain of a merchant ship from Baltimore brought news of the United States’ Declaration of Independence to Martinique. “
May this then be the blessed Æra, from which America dates her Freedom Happiness and Glory” commented Bingham in his letter of August 5.
After careening
Reprisal at Fort Royal, Wickes left Martinique on August 26, taking with him four French officers wishing to join Washington’s army, and recommended by d’Argout. In October, he was commissioned by the Continental Congress to take Benjamin Franklin, the new American representative (and future minister plenipotentiary) to the French government, to France.
As for Bingham, he settled in the Petit Versailles Street, St. Pierre, and devoted himself to his mission with energy and efficiency, sending reports to Silas Deane. He continued to enjoy excellent relations with d’Argout, who went to great lengths to support the Americans, certainly exceeding his powers. The governor’s attitude earned him some reproaches from Vergennes and Sartine, and he was eventually transferred to Saint-Domingue in 1777, under pressure from the British ambassador to France, Lord Stormont. While the French government was secretly preparing for war with Great Britain, it didn’t want to rush things. That said, Bingham was able to link himself with Count d’Argout’s successor at Fort Royal, the Marquis de Bouillé, who, all in all, followed the same pro-American policy.
The United States agent also forged fruitful collaborations with merchants in St. Pierre, and worked with representatives of North American states sent to Martinique, notably Richard Harrison, Virginia’s commercial agent. In addition, he brought in American privateers; with them, and especially with French hired hands, he attacked numerous British merchant ships on behalf of the Continental Congress.
Bingham was thus able to ship large quantities of arms, munitions and other supplies to the United States, and to develop his country’s trade with Martinique. In addition, in connection with Silas Deane and Benjamin Franklin, he organized the transit via Martinique of a portion of French aid destined for the United States (through the fictitious company Rodrigue Hortalez & Cie, run by Beaumarchais). For the rest, he spared no effort to contribute to American propaganda and was a zealous intelligence agent. His activities on the island, protected and backed by the local authorities, provoked numerous but vain protests from the British. Lord Stormont even told Vergennes that he considered Martinique to “make war on Great Britain”.
The news (and propaganda) from Martinique undoubtedly had a significant influence on the reflections and talks that led to the Franco-American Treaty of Alliance concluded in Paris on February 6, 1778, and ratified by the Continental Congress on May 4. But from then on, and contrary to what one might think, Bingham’s position became more difficult. Feeling inadequately regarded by the Continental Congress and Franklin, and his own commercial interests damaged by France’s entry into the war, the United States agent in Martinique asked his government for a recall, officially for health reasons. He was able to leave the island in March 1780, aboard the frigate
Confederacy, to return to Philadelphia. His stay in Martinique had enabled him to amass a very large fortune, thanks to the resale of war prizes and his personal affairs, which did not fail to fuel controversy...
Martinique, and in particular St. Pierre and Fort Royal, continued to play a crucial role in the American Revolutionary War, not only in terms of logistics and military operations (naval battles even took place off the island), but also through the Martinican volunteers who joined Washington’s army. American independence was finally recognized by Great Britain under the Treaty of Paris, while the British and French made peace by the Treaty of Versailles in 1783. Privileged ties having been forged between the United States and Martinique, the young North American republic created one of its first consulates in St. Pierre in 1790, with President George Washington appointing to the post a Virginian with a promising diplomatic and political future: Fulwar Skipwith.
I would like to thank Dr. Susan Holly and Mr. Douglas L. Sun, from the Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State, Dr. Timothy L. Francis, Senior Historian at the Histories, Archives, and Library Division (HAL) of the Naval History and Heritage Command (U.S. Navy), Ms. Samantha Snyder, Research Librarian at the George Washington Presidential Library (The Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association), as well as the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History, for their much-appreciated help in preparing this note.
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