# Capture of Fort Bute > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Capture_of_Fort_Bute > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Capture_of_Fort_Bute.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capture_of_Fort_Bute > Source revision: 1299454912 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|1779 battle}} {{Infobox military conflict | image = La Marcha de Galvez.jpg | caption = ''La Marcha de Gálvez'' by [Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau](/source/Augusto_Ferrer-Dalmau) | conflict = Capture of Fort Bute | partof = the [Gulf Coast campaign](/source/Gulf_Coast_campaign) | date = 7 September 1779 | place = [Fort Bute](/source/Fort_Bute), [West Florida](/source/British_West_Florida) (present-day {{Nowrap|[East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana](/source/East_Baton_Rouge_Parish%2C_Louisiana)}}) | result = Spanish victory | combatant1 = {{flag|Spanish Empire|name=Spain}} | combatant2 = {{flag|Kingdom of Great Britain|name=Great Britain}} *{{Flagicon image|Flag of Waldeck before 1830.svg|size=23px}} [Waldeck-Pyrmont](/source/Principality_of_Waldeck_and_Pyrmont) | commander1 = {{flagicon|Spanish Empire|army}} Col. [Bernardo de Gálvez](/source/Bernardo_de_G%C3%A1lvez) | commander2 = {{Flagicon image|Flag of Waldeck before 1830.svg|size=23px}} Capt. Georg von Haake{{surrendered}} | strength1 = 1,430 regulars, militia, & nativesDeiler (1909), p. 133 | strength2 = 23 Waldecker grenadiersGayarré (1867), p. 127 | casualties1 = None | casualties2 = 1 killed
16 captured | campaignbox = {{Campaignbox American Revolutionary War: Southern 1775-1779}}{{Campaignbox Anglo-Spanish War (1779)}} }} The '''capture of Fort Bute''', also known as the '''Battle of Manchac Post''', signalled the opening of [Spanish intervention in the American Revolutionary War](/source/Spain_in_the_American_Revolutionary_War) on the side of [France](/source/France) and the [United States](/source/United_States). Mustering an [ad hoc](/source/ad_hoc) army of Spanish regulars, [Acadian militia](/source/Military_history_of_the_Acadians), and native levies under [Gilbert Antoine de St. Maxent](/source/Gilbert_Antoine_de_St._Maxent), [Bernardo de Gálvez](/source/Bernardo_de_G%C3%A1lvez), the [Governor](/source/List_of_colonial_governors_of_Louisiana) of [Spanish Louisiana](/source/Spanish_Louisiana) stormed and captured the small British frontier post on [Bayou Manchac](/source/Bayou_Manchac) on September 7, 1779. ==Background== [Spain](/source/Spain)'s formal [declaration of war](/source/declaration_of_war) against Britain was made by [King Charles III](/source/Charles_III_of_Spain) on May 8, 1779. This declaration was followed by another on July 8 that authorized his colonial subjects to engage in hostilities against the British in North America.Gayarré (1867), p. 121 Many confuse this as Spain joining the American Revolutionary War, but its declaration of war against the British was a separate war with different primary objectives, but secondarily did support the Americans in their efforts towards independence. 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](/source/Pensacola%2C_Florida) indicating that the British were planning a surprise attack on [New Orleans](/source/New_Orleans); he decided to launch his own attack first.Gayarré (1867), p. 122 To that end, he concealed from the public his receipt of the second proclamation.Gayarré (1867), p. 124 ==Great Britain== [[File:West Florida Map 1767.svg|thumb|[West Florida](/source/West_Florida) map (1767)]] [Fort Bute](/source/Fort_Bute) ({{coord|30|19|25|N|91|08|13|W|scale:10000_source:GNIS|display=inline}}) was located on Bayou Manchac, about {{convert|115|mi|km}} up the [Mississippi River](/source/Mississippi_River) from New Orleans, on the far western border of British [West Florida](/source/West_Florida). Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Dickson was charged with the defense of the [Baton Rouge](/source/Baton_Rouge%2C_Louisiana) district, which included Fort Bute, Baton Rouge, and [Fort Panmure](/source/Fort_Panmure) (modern [Natchez, Mississippi](/source/Natchez%2C_Mississippi)). The British had begun sending larger numbers of troops to the area following [George Rogers Clark](/source/George_Rogers_Clark)'s [capture of Vincennes](/source/Illinois_campaign), which had exposed the weak British defenses in the area. At Dickson's disposal in August 1779 were 400 [regulars](/source/Standing_army), including companies from the [16th](/source/16th_Regiment_of_Foot) and [60th Regiments](/source/60th_Regiment_of_Foot), a recently arrived company of [grenadier](/source/grenadier)s from [Waldeck-Pyrmont](/source/Principality_of_Waldeck_and_Pyrmont), and about 150 [Loyalist](/source/Loyalist_(American_Revolution)) [militia](/source/militia). Fort Bute was an older stockade fort built in 1766.Kaufmann (2004), p. 130 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. ==Spain== [[File:Bernardo de Galvez.jpg|thumb|right|upright|[Bernardo de Gálvez](/source/Bernardo_de_G%C3%A1lvez)]] Gálvez originally planned to leave New Orleans on August 20. However, a [hurricane](/source/hurricane) on August 18 swept over the town, sinking most of his fleet and destroying provisions.Gayarré (1867), pp. 122–123 Undeterred, Gálvez rallied the support of the colony and on August 27 set out by land toward Baton Rouge, using as an explanation for the movement the need to defend Spanish Louisiana from an expected British attack.Gayarré (1867), p. 125 The force departing New Orleans consisted of 520 [regulars](/source/Spanish_army), of whom about two-thirds were recent recruits, 60 [militia](/source/militia)men, 80 [free men of color](/source/Free_people_of_color), and ten American volunteers headed by [Oliver Pollock](/source/Oliver_Pollock). As they marched upriver, the force grew by another 600 men, from [Indians](/source/Native_Americans_in_the_United_States) to [Acadians](/source/Cajun). At its peak, the force numbered over 1,400; but this number was reduced, due to the hardships of the march, by several hundred before they reached Fort Bute.Gayarré (1867), p. 126 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. The six who escaped capture made their way to Baton Rouge to notify Dickson.Nester (2004), p. 232 ==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](/source/Battle_of_Baton_Rouge_(1779)) 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](/source/Mobile%2C_Alabama) and Pensacola, the remaining British strongholds in West Florida. ==See also== *[List of American Revolutionary War battles](/source/List_of_American_Revolutionary_War_battles) ==References== {{reflist|30em}} ==Bibliography== {{refbegin|colwidth=30em}} *{{cite book|title=The Settlement of the German Coast of Louisiana and the Creoles of German Descent, Volume 8|first=John Hanno|last=Deiler|publisher=American Germanica Press|year=1909|ref=Deiler|oclc=3557373|location=Philadelphia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WFITAAAAYAAJ}} *{{cite book|title=History of Louisiana : The Spanish domination, Volume 3|first=Charles|last=Gayarré|publisher=Widdleton|year=1867|ref=Gayarre|url=https://archive.org/details/historylouisina00gayagoog|oclc=1855106|location=New York}} *{{cite book|title=Fortress America: the forts that defended America, 1600 to the present|first=J. E.|last=Kaufmann|author2=Idzikowski, Tomasz|publisher=Da Capo Press|year=2004|isbn=978-0-306-81294-1|ref=Kaufmann|oclc=56912995|location=Cambridge, MA|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780306812941}} *{{cite book|title=The frontier war for American independence|first=William R|last=Nester|publisher=Stackpole Books|year=2004|isbn=978-0-8117-0077-1|ref=Nester|oclc=52963301|location=Mechanicsburg, PA}} {{refend}} {{Portal bar|British Empire|Louisiana|Spain}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Fort Bute, Capture Of}} Category:1779 in the British Empire Category:Battles of the American Revolutionary War involving Spain Category:Battles of the American Revolutionary War involving Great Britain Cayo Cocina Category:Conflicts in 1779 Category:East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana Category:Louisiana in the American Revolution --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Capture of Fort Bute](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capture_of_Fort_Bute) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capture_of_Fort_Bute?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.