Capture of Fort Bute

Capture of Fort Bute
Part of the Western Theater of the American Revolutionary War
Detail from a 1776 map showing West Florida
Date 7 September 1779 Location Fort Bute, West Florida (present-day East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana) Result Spanish victory
Belligerents
Spain	Great Britain Waldeck-Pyrmont
Commanders and leaders
Col. Bernardo de Gálvez	Capt. Georg von Haake
Strength
1,430 regulars, militia, & natives[1]	23 Waldecker grenadiers[2]
Casualties and losses
none	1 killed 16 captured[2]

The Capture of Fort Bute signalled the opening of

Spain officially entered the American Revolutionary War on May 8, 1779, with a formal declaration of war by King Charles III. This declaration was followed by another on July 8 that authorized his colonial subjects to engage in hostilities against the British.^[3] When Bernardo de Gálvez, the colonial Governor of Spanish Louisiana, received word of this on July 21, he immediately began to secretly plan offensive operations. Gálvez, who had been planning for the possibility of war since April, intercepted communications from the British at Pensacola indicating that the British were planning a surprise attack on New Orleans; he decided to launch his own attack first.^[4] To that end, he concealed from the public his receipt of the second proclamation.^[5]

Great Britain

Fort Bute was an older stockade fort built in 1766.[6] It was in such disrepair that Dickson judged it to be indefensible. When Dickson received word of Spanish movements, he withdrew most of his forces to Baton Rouge and Panmure, leaving a small garrison of 20 Waldeckers under Captain von Haake behind.^[1]

Spain

Gálvez originally planned to leave New Orleans on August 20. However, a

When the force neared Fort Bute on September 6, Gálvez informed them of the Spanish war declaration and the true purpose of their mission, eliciting cheers from the men. At dawn the next day they attacked the fort, and after a brief skirmish in which one German was killed, most of the garrison surrendered.[2] The six who escaped capture made their way to Baton Rouge to notify Dickson.^[10]

Aftermath

Gálvez remained at Fort Bute for six days, giving his men time to rest, before moving on to Baton Rouge, which fell after a short siege on September 21. The terms of capitulation agreed to by Dickson at Baton Rouge secured for Gálvez the surrender of the remaining British outposts on the Mississippi River.

Gálvez then returned to New Orleans and began planning a campaign against Mobile and Pensacola, the remaining British strongholds in West Florida.

See also

• List of American Revolutionary War battles

References

Bibliography