Brethren of the Coast: The Pirate Republic

[Jedi Dragon]

I've been on a bit of a pirate kick lately, and I got to thinking about the so-called "Republic of Pirates." Was there any way it could have survived and gained legitimacy? I am going to try and keep things as realistic as possible, and see where the voyage takes us. By the way, I'm still writing Back From the Brink, this is a side project while I'm going through writer's block. Without any further ado, I present the introduction and first chapter!

Brethren of the Coast: The Pirate Republic

For as long as men have sailed the seas, there have been pirates. When Christopher Columbus arrived in the Bahamas in 1492, he opened up a new chapter in the story of robbery on the high seas. Ships travelling to Spain from its colonies loaded with gold and silver were tempting targets, and the other European powers could not resist the chance to enrich themselves while undercutting their rival at the same time. The English in particular would sponsor many of the most famous privateers, such as Sir Francis Drake, the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe. Throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, piracy in the New World, especially the Caribbean, would ebb and flow as the great powers struggled for dominance.

Despite their ubiquitous presence, no one ever believed these pirates, the so-called “enemies of all nations”, would ever be more than a nuisance. Certainly, no one thought them capable of carving out their own state. But with the sacking of Nassau by the French and Spanish during the War of the Spanish Succession, their time was at hand. Over the coming years, through struggle with enemies both within and without, the pirates of the Bahamas would go from hated “sea dogs” to a maritime power in their own right. This is the story of the Brethren of the Coast, and the creation of the Pirate Republic.

Chapter 1: Coming of the Pirates​

Pirates had been a part of the Bahamas, especially the island of New Providence, for years. In 1695 Henry Avery landed on the island, bringing treasure looted from Mughal ships in the Indian Ocean. This marked the beginning of an increasing pirate presence on the island, much to the dismay of the British government which theoretically ruled there. When the war of the Spanish Succession began in 1702, the Royal Navy found itself distracted from policing London’s Caribbean holdings. The French and Spanish both attacked the island’s principal settlement of Nassau, causing the governor and many of the British colonists to flee, leaving behind about 100 civilians with no government.

When the war finally ended in 1713, hundreds of former privateers suddenly found themselves out of a job. With weapons, ships, and combat experience, they flocked to New Providence, using the island as a base to raid passing ships. One of the most respected pirates on the island was an Englishman named Benjamin Hornigold. Having served as a privateer during the war, Hornigold loathed the Spanish and, despite turning pirate, viewed his attacks as a continuation of his vendetta against Spain, and urged his fellow pirates not to attack British ships. Knowing that the Royal Navy had become one of the largest and most experienced in the world during the recent conflict, barring a few isolated incidents, most of the pirates listened. Although New Providence was officially British soil, for all practical purposes, the inhabitants governed themselves, electing their captains and dividing the spoils equally among themselves. They were quite proud of their way of life, and reluctant to see colonial rule reinstated. London, on the other hand, was embarrassed by having territory officially belonging to the crown being controlled by brigands. These disagreements put the pirates on a collision course with the British government, one that seemed unlikely to end peacefully.

 

[Jedi Dragon]

Chapter 2: Rapprochement or Repression?

​

For years, England’s American colonists had been content to overlook the depredations of pirates. The Navigation Acts, which required that all overseas trade by conducted with England on English ships, were very unpopular in the colonies, and pirates offered a way to get trade goods, including highly sought-after luxuries, without having to pay customs duties. It helped that many pirates were Americans, and were viewed as respected members of the community, who helped enrich their fellow colonists at the expense of the crown’s enemies. This sympathy made the idea of cracking down on piracy in the New World unpopular. The colonists were not alone in their willingness to coexist with the raiders in the Bahamas. There was a faction in Parliament that hoped to enlist the services of the pirates, especially as many of them were former privateers.

The pirates, meanwhile, were starting to become more organized. Two individuals in particular emerged as leaders in Nassau: Benjamin Hornigold, and Henry Jennings. Both men took on younger pirates as proteges, forming a group known as the Flying Gang. They soon became known as the most dangerous pirates in the Spanish Main, bringing wealth and new recruits to the island. By the mid-1710’s, the island of New Providence was home to as many as 1000 pirates. The informal system of rule by captains enforcing a generally agreed upon yet informal Pirate’s Code was no longer adequate. In 1715, the most prominent captains on the island convened a council and agreed that a governing council should be formed. Englishman Thomas Barrow was elected Magistrate, with authority to enforce the laws of the island, which, for the most part, followed the Pirate’s Code. The biggest change, besides an official magistrate, was the establishment of the Brethren Council, made up of twenty Councilmen, to be elected by a popular vote.

Benjamin Hornigold

Henry Jennings
​

This news came as a surprise to many, in Britain and beyond. The idea of an island full of outlaws governing itself seemed outlandish. The faction in favor of reconciliation with the pirates gained some support, as this development made New Providence appear open to civil discourse, while those in favor of reconquering the island by force felt that this was an affront to the dignity of the crown. For the moment, however, the pirates of the Bahamas had taken a large step towards true self-governance. They just had to survive the rest of the world.

 

[Jedi Dragon]

Chapter 3: Vive la Revolution!​

Located on the island of Hispaniola, Saint-Domingue was one of the most profitable colonies in the world. Since Spain ceded the colony to France in 1697 at the end of the Nine Years War, its sugar plantations had produced millions of dollars for France, with coffee and cattle raising also being highly profitable. It was also home to the most brutal slave economy in the Caribbean, if not the world. Tens of thousands of African slaves were imported every year, both to fuel the growth of agriculture and to replace the thousands of blacks who died in accidents or were executed by local authorities. Harsh punishments were inflicted on slaves, including hanging, drowning, being burned at the stake, or even occasionally boiled alive in cauldrons.

By 1717, the slaves of Saint-Domingue had reached their breaking point. A series of uprisings on different plantations snowballed into widespread disorder. The militia soon found itself overwhelmed by the majority black population, which proclaimed freedom from the French crown. Back on Nassau, the Brethren Council saw an opportunity. Saint-Domingue was an export economy, and one that was suddenly freed from the trade restrictions of its European masters. If the pirates sent support to the rebels, then they would finally have an ally. Hispaniola had a long history with pirates. The island was home to the original Buccaneers, settlers of French, English, Dutch, and numerous other backgrounds who had made their homes on the island, mostly after shipwrecks and mutinies. When the Spanish drove them from their homes, they fortified the nearby island of Tortuga, which remained a pirate stronghold for years. With all this in mind, Saint-Domingue and Nassau seemed like a perfect match.

Slaves storming a plantation.​

In early 1718, the Brethren Council voted to recognize the rebels as the legitimate rulers of Saint-Domingue and provide them with military aid. The first pirates to arrive were the crews of Jack Rackham and Charles Vane, who sailed into Port-au-Prince in late February. France was already preparing an expedition to retake the colony, and the former slaves were glad to receive help, even if it came from brigands. When the French troops arrived in March, they found themselves in a nightmarish situation. They had the advantage in open battle, but the rebels would not engage them directly. Small groups of soldiers would be ambushed and slaughtered on the road, raiding parties would strike camps and supply depots before disappearing into the jungle, and the supply lines from France were ravaged by the pirates, who took many of the larger vessels into their own fleets. In Britain, Parliament was delighted by this turn of events. The fact that their greatest rival had lost its most valuable colony made the idea of striking a deal with the pirates much more appealing. The situation in the Caribbean was set to change.

 

[Jedi Dragon]

Chapter 4: Sunrise in the Caribbean​

By spring of 1718, opinion in Parliament had swung firmly in favor of making a deal with the pirates of Nassau. They did not pose a threat to British shipping, and had proven capable of threatening the Empire’s enemies at no cost to the British public. Offering formal acknowledgement would guarantee that British shipping would be left undisturbed, as well as secure a new source of manpower. With this in mind, the House of Commons passed the Act of Reconciliation with the Bahamas on April 5, 1718.

The Act recognized the current government of Nassau as legitimate. The rebels, and the new state they called Haiti, were not officially recognized, but Parliament would not make any moves against them. Britain would enter into a military alliance with the Republic, as well as restoring the island’s trade rights. The news was greeted in Nassau with great celebration. Hornigold, who had always been a proud Englishman, was especially pleased with the terms, as was Magistrate Barrow. France was enraged by the recognition of a rebellious colony, but as their expedition to reclaim their territory had gone so poorly, there was little they could do. By the end of the month, the French troops on the island had surrendered, and the new Haitian government had allied itself with the newly christened Republic of the Bahamas. Together, the two formed a confederation with strong commercial links and mutual defense obligations if either was attacked. Britain’s American colonies were also quite receptive to this new arrangement, as their supply of cheap goods was assured.

While the pirates of New Providence had achieved something that no band of outlaws had before, things could not stay the way they were forever. Statehood meant behaving like a sovereign nation: formal laws would need to be written, an official military would need to be formed, and, most odious of all to many of the Republic’s citizens, revenue would need to be collected. The path to security would not be a smooth one, but, for the first time, the outcasts of the West Indies had a place all their own.

 

[Jedi Dragon]

I know the last chapter was short, but hopefully this will make up for it. It turns out that running a country is harder than it looks, especially for a bunch of criminals.

Chapter 5: Ship of State​

Independence for the Bahamas meant more than the acknowledgement of foreign nations; it also meant that the islands would need to start behaving like a nation themselves. However, what exactly this meant was open to question. Some, mainly the English colonists who chose to stay after the war, wanted a more formalized, central government that would promote commerce. On the other hand, there were many pirates who wanted affairs to remain the same, with an economy fueled by plundering their enemies and as little government as possible. Charles Vane quickly emerged as a leader among this group, with the former rallying around Benjamin Hornigold.

In 1719, the first general election in the Republic’s history was due to be held. There were no political parties as such, but the candidates made it clear which factions they supported. When the votes were tallied up, the office of Magistrate went to Edward Teach, more widely known as Blackbeard. Teach was a follower of Vane’s limited government philosophy, and his election was a clear sign which way the political winds were blowing. The majority of seats on the Brethren Council went to other Vane supporters, but there was a vocal minority of reformers who were determined to make their voices heard, including Hornigold himself.

This continued focus on violent self-sufficiency put the Republic in an awkward position. British ships, along with those coming from the Thirteen Colonies, were safe, but Spanish and French merchants were in just as much danger as ever. As the Republic was allied with Britain, this caused much of the anger to be directed at Parliament, along with calls for them to restrain their friends in the Caribbean. The new British ambassador to the Bahamas warned Teach that attacking countries that were not at war with either power could lead to a trade embargo against the islands. This got his attention, and led him to make a speech before the Brethren Council, asking them to ban raids outside of open warfare. This was a controversial measure, and the debate was intense, with many councilmen questioning whether the magistrate had lost his touch, in light of his reputation as a fearsome plunderer. Ultimately, the motion failed, much to Britain’s disappointment.

In May of 1720, a Spanish ship on the way to Cuba was attacked by a pirate crew operating out of Nassau. As it turned out, this ship was carrying an important dignitary, who was promptly taken hostage. When news reached Barcelona, it precipitated an international crisis. The pirates were demanding a ransom for the official’s return, which the Spanish court found insulting. The Spanish decided to send a frigate to rescue their missing nobleman, only to find that the crew they were after had picked up a consort, which allowed them to fight off the rescue attempt. Now shots had been fired, and Spain declared war on the Republic of the Bahamas on June 1, 1720, with Britain declaring war in support of its ally two days later. Haiti joined in as a minor participant. The Republic had entered its first war.

 

[Jedi Dragon]

Chapter 6: The Spanish Crucible​

The Bahamian-Spanish War, also known as the second Anglo-Spanish War in Britain, and sometimes referred to as the War of the Spanish Nobleman in common usage, was the first war the Bahamas, and their Haitian allies, fought as a recognized nation. The first few months were fairly uneventful, mostly consisting of raids on Spanish merchant vessels by pirate crews, as well as British privateers. The newly formed Bahamas Navy spent much of its time trying to enforce discipline on men famous for despising it. Commanders like Admiral Hornigold understood that they would need a properly organized military in order to conduct a war, although they struggled to make this a reality. Vane’s supporters in particular were loath to obey a central authority, and often came and went as they pleased.

British and Spanish ships in combat.​

In mid-July, Haitian troops crossed the border into the Spanish colony of Santo Domingo. They initially met little resistance, leading them to think that they could overwhelm the eastern half of the island before the Spanish army could arrive. When they reached the village of San Juan de la Maguana, however, they encountered a force of militia that fought them to a draw. The Haitians stopped to wait for reinforcements, which delayed them by several days. When they advanced again, they found that the Spanish had used the delay to withdraw and regroup with more troops from the east. The advance further north had also stalled, suffering from disease and hit-and-run attacks that chipped away at their numbers. By the end of the month, 200 men had arrived from New Providence, boosting the morale of the invading force. Over the next month, the combined Haitian-Bahamian army would push east, facing spirited resistance, but ultimately reaching Santo Domingo itself, which was already under blockade by the British. With no word from Spain on when help might be coming, and having been bombarded from the sea for weeks, the colonial governor surrendered on August 20.

The governor of Santo Domingo surrendering to Bahamian troops.​

The loss of such a large colony was a shock to the Spanish government. They had expected that the militia could hold for longer than they did, and now feared the loss of more territory if they did not act immediately. Troops were dispatched to reinforce Cuba, the jewel of the Spanish West Indies, and an expedition to retake Santo Domingo began being assembled. The transports made it safely to Havana, thanks to a large escort, but diverting naval ships to protect them meant leaving the Spanish merchant marine undefended. Combined attacks from the British and Bahamian navies ravaged the trade routes to and from New Spain, sinking hundreds of tons worth of shipping. The Bahamians became confident enough to consider attacking Puerto Rico, which was relatively undefended. However, the Spanish navy soon started to arrive in force, and the invasion plans were cancelled, The combined Anglo-Bahamian fleet met the Spanish at San Salvador on October 10, resulting in a narrow victory. This was the last major battle of the year, as operations largely died down for the winter.

In Spring, the idea of attacking another Spanish possession was revived. This time, the decision was made to go for Cuba, in the hopes that a victory there might convince the Spanish to sue for peace. Santiago was chosen as the target, as it was the closest large settlement. On March 10, a combined fleet of mostly Bahamian ships, along with a handful of smaller British vessels, sailed into Santiago Bay, bombarded the coastal defenses, and sacked the town. This had the intended effect, as Spain sent a diplomat to offer a cease-fire. Santo Domingo was given to Haiti, and Puerto Rico was handed over to Britain. The diplomat whose capture had started the whole conflict was ransomed back to the Spanish government for a relatively minor sum. The Bahamas, and their growing confederation, had showed that they were not to be trifled with, although Britain’s ability to keep them in line had been called into question. The conflict had forged a collection of pirate crews into a real country, one that looked forward confidently to the future.

 

[Jedi Dragon]

Chapter 7: Freebooting​

The war with Spain had ended in Nassau’s favor, but the more pragmatic among the Republic’s citizens knew that their luck could not hold forever. If the Republic wanted to remain secure, and not have to rely on Great Britain for protection, it would have to expand its reach. This did not necessarily mean taking territory directly; Haiti had been very useful as an ally. It just needed to find a good addition to the confederacy it sat at the head of.

Spanish territory was off limits for the time being, as nobody wanted to antagonize the nation they had just made peace with. The Republic’s other traditional enemy was France, which held several possessions in the Caribbean. While direct military action was off the table, there was another option. An enterprising captain could put the word out about an expedition to raid a French island, possibly even start a rebellion there, and men from all over the Bahamas would gladly join him. It was not long before the Council found their man.

John Finch had gone on the account early, becoming a cabin boy at the age of 13. He then worked his way up, coming of age in time to fight in the Spanish war. He participated in the invasion of Santo Domingo, and was present for the sacking of San Juan. After his ship’s captain was killed in a skirmish towards the end of the conflict, Finch would be elected to take his place. He had a reputation for bravery, but was also known as a bit of an oddball, carrying lucky charms, particularly a compass, and coming up with extremely audacious plans. When he was contacted about possibly separating Martinique from the French fold, he was all too happy to lead the scheme. In May 1721, Finch started going through taverns and inns in Nassau, Port-au-Prince, and other towns in the Republic and its allies, looking to recruit men for a journey to Martinique. When they arrived they would seek to encourage the island’s population to rise up against French rule and set up their own republic which would, of course, become part of the growing Freemen’s Confederacy, as the Caribbean republics were starting to call themselves. He did not have an especially difficult time, especially with funds secretly provided to him, and was quickly able to assemble 200 men and a consort to accompany the Mother of Pearl.

In 1721, Martinique was a relatively prosperous island, home mainly to French plantation owners along with a sizeable slave population. In the 1680’s, the Protestant population of the island came under intense persecution from the Catholic authorities, causing most of them to flee abroad. This exodus greatly weakened the island and made it vulnerable to infiltration or outright seizure; the British had already tried to capture the island in 1693. Finch’s plan was to rally the slave population against their French masters, so he and his expedition set to work finding slave leaders, arming them, and helping them organize. By mid-July, the plot was ready. It was time to light the powder keg.

 

[Jedi Dragon]

Chapter 8: A League of Their Own​

Captain Finch looked out through his spyglass at the Governor’s Palace as his crew bustled about the ship gathering their weapons and preparing the longboats. The slave uprisings were beginning on plantations across the island, hopefully distracting the militia and leaving Saint-Pierre relatively undefended. If all went well, they would land at the docks, march on the palace, and overthrow French authority on the island in a single stroke. “Sir, the men are ready.” His mate called from behind him. “Excellent. Now to pay the governor a little visit.”

The force of 200 men faced no resistance as they marched through the city streets. If anything, the townspeople simply seemed curious, watching from their windows, and whispering to one another about this unusual occurrence. The palace was lightly guarded, with the sentries shuffling nervously as the procession approached. An officer soon emerged from the gates. “What is the meaning of this?!” He suddenly found himself staring down the barrel of a pistol. “Things around here are under new management, savvy?”



The sudden coordinated slave uprisings threw the French administration on Martinique into confusion. The last thing they expected was for Saint Pierre to be taken from the sea. With the governor taken hostage, it did not take long for the filibusters to proclaim a Republic of Martinique. One of the first acts of its new Parliament, after abolishing slavery, was to request an alliance with Nassau. The Bahamas were only too happy to accept a “fellow island of free, self-governing men” into their growing bloc. France, on the other hand, was far less enthusiastic. The French government fumed, but did not have an official justification for war. Based on the experience of Haiti, they knew that retaking the island could very easily be more trouble than it was worth. Ultimately, Louis XV was restricted to condemning the actions of the Bahamians and thinking of how to best secure France’s other colonial holdings.

Even though Britain was allied with the Bahamians and their puppets, the colonies of British North America, especially the southern ones, were starting to become nervous. Two major slave rebellions in less than a decade had the southern aristocracy, who derived the vast majority of their wealth from cash crops tended by slaves, paranoid that this revolutionary spirit could spread northward. In response, the Virginia House of Burgesses passed a series of Slave Codes which prohibited teaching slaves to read and write, allowed for the organizing of local patrols to catch runaway slaves, and tightened the criteria for who was allowed to manumit their slaves. The Lords Proprietor of North and South Carolina soon followed suit. Their hope was that these new measures would restrain their slaves from entertaining thoughts of rebellion, as well as signal to their allies that they disagreed with their stance on slavery. Most Bahamians shared the racial outlook of the European societies they had been raised in, but the alliance with Haiti, as well as the simple need for manpower, had made them far more accepting of blacks than most whites of the time. The differing treatment of minorities would be an increasing sticking point between the Caribbean republics and the American colonies.

Meanwhile, the Brethren Council was debating formalizing the association of countries that had allied with Nassau. Haiti and Martinique had representatives on the Council, close economic ties with the Bahamas, and were joined by a military alliance. Therefore, they proposed, the three countries should create a formal confederacy. The term “confederacy of freemen” had been in popular use for some time, going back to the war with Spain; this made it the natural name for such a union. On August 12, 1721, the proposal was approved by the Council. The Confederacy was a rising power in the area, and many looked forward to expanding its reach and making it more self-sufficient. These developments made a number of members of the British Parliament uncomfortable. It seemed their attack dog was getting tired of its leash.

 

[Jedi Dragon]

Chapter 9: Morgan’s Revenge​

The Confederacy of Freemen, more widely known as the Caribbean Alliance, or simply the Confederacy, was a loosely organized affair. The Brethren Council expanded its responsibilities to include coordinating the military policy of all of the Confederacy’s members, as well as foreign commerce. The individual republics still had sovereignty over their internal affairs, with the Bahamas being governed by their Magistrate, Haiti by its President, and Martinique by a Chancellor. Each member state elected a number of Councilmen based on their population, which made the Bahamas and Haiti the most influential of the three. All three republics were keenly aware that their enemies, primarily France and Spain, vastly outnumbered them, even with all their forces combined. This knowledge made them eager to expand their federation, which meant using force.

The successful filibustering expedition to Martinique encouraged the Brethren Council to try the same thing again elsewhere. The question was where to go next. The list of important islands that could be seized easily was limited. The other option was to go after port cities. New Orleans was the most important city in the area; consequently, it was not a place which France would willingly part with. Another option was Central America. The buccaneers of the late seventeenth century had frequently attacked ports such as Portobello and Nombre de Dios, with Henry Morgan famously marching across the isthmus to sack Panama City itself. Captain Finch was eager for another chance at fortune and glory, and gladly accepted the offer to “assist the people of Panama in throwing off the Spanish yoke.”

In March of 1722, the expedition was ready to set sail. This time, a group of 50 Haitians would be coming along in search of plunder, along with a handful of Martinicans. They would join roughly 200 Bahamians on three ships, the Mother of Pearl the Ranger under Finch’s quartermaster, and a sloop. The small fleet arrived in the harbor of Nombre de Dios and embarked to no organized resistance. The surprised populace could do little but watch as the men disembarked and marched through the town, requisitioning supplies from a few of the wealthier locals as they passed by. The next target on the list was the capital, Panama City itself. The march through the jungle was arduous, with the expedition’s supplies being lugged through the undergrowth on pack mules as the men hacked their way through the foliage. When they arrived two weeks later, they found that the militia had mustered for a fight. The Spanish troops marched out to engage the filibusters on the plains outside the city, resulting in a battle that lasted several hours, the militia getting the worst of the engagement and fleeing back toward the settlement.

The occupation of Panama City was relatively peaceful, the victorious invaders proclaiming a Republic of Panama in front of the Governor’s Palace. The Spanish authorities were outraged by another act of aggression from the Bahamians, whom they regarded as simply pirates with British protection. Troops were mustered in the nearby Viceroyalty of New Granada and began marching northwards. The filibusters hoped for support from the Panamanian populace in defending their new acquisition, but they were for the most part disinterested in helping. Three weeks after entering Panama City, Finch and his men sacked it and withdrew back eastward. The sacking was almost as brutal as that inflicted by Henry Morgan four decades earlier, leaving much of the city a smoldering ruin, with the expedition stealing everything valuable they could get their hands on.

Captain Finch returned to Nassau to a mixed reception; the Council was disappointed in the failure of their rather expensive gamble, while many of the commoners regarded the sack as a blow against Spain, with the plunder going a long way towards mollifying them as well. Great Britain was also upset with the behavior of its theoretical puppet, with MP Woodes Rogers calling the filibusters “vipers and ne’er-do-well cads” and demanding that they be reined in. The Confederacy did not give up on its dreams of expansion, but it did realize the need to choose its targets more carefully. Perhaps it was time to look towards the possessions of another power.

 

[Jedi Dragon]

Chapter 10: Back on the Account​

The failure of the Panamanian Filibuster did not put a stop to Bahamian attempts at expansion, it simply redirected them. The Council decided to pull back from attacking mainland targets and search for low-hanging fruit, islands or archipelagoes that could be seized with relatively little risk. British possessions were still off-limits, they had just antagonized Spain, and the French were not taking any chances after losing two valuable colonies in as many decades, which left the Dutch and Danish. The Danish Virgin Islands were poorly defended, but also had relatively little to offer. The Dutch islands, just north of Venezuela, on the other hand, were a far more tempting target. The islands were fairly isolated and difficult for the Dutch to defend. They were also the property of the Dutch West India Company, not the United Provinces themselves, so there was a chance the Dutch government might not declare war over them. After several weeks of debate, the Council settled on trying to seize Curacao. This time, Bartholomew Roberts would lead the expedition, with Finch coming along as his second-in-command.

A fleet of four ships, Roberts’s Royal Fortune, Finch’s Mother of Pearl, and a pair of sloops, the Ranger and Rover, set out from Nassau, stopping in Port-au-Prince along the way to pick up more troops. They arrived off Curacao to find a small Dutch fleet, consisting of a pair of armed merchant ships and a frigate. Roberts hailed the frigate and demanded that they allow his fleet to enter the harbor. When the captain refused, he was met with fire from the Royal Fortune. The Mother of Pearl drove one of the merchant ships away with a broadside, with the other fleeing shortly thereafter. The frigate put up more of a fight, but was surrounded and forced to surrender. The Bahamian-Haitian force sailed into port and occupied the town, to the dismay of the populace.

When news arrived in Paramaribo, the Dutch West India Company heads were outraged to hear that Curacao had fallen. They chose to rally all available forces in the area to retake the city and surrounding islands. They were able to put together a respectable force of about 400 men and 5 warships to escort them to the islands. The Bahamians had already begun receiving reinforcements, including 100 men from Martinique and a few ships to add to their fleet guarding Curacao. The battle to retake the islands was sharp, but ended with the Dutch being forced to withdraw with one of their ships sunk and the rest heavily damaged. The Stadholders of the United Provinces voted not to assist the company, choosing instead to punish it for losing yet more Dutch territory in the New World by levying sanctions on the shareholders, with three of them resigning shortly thereafter.

Curacao and the neighboring island of Aruba were admitted into a confederacy of republics that was unlike any other before it. The Bahamas had already been developing an identity of their own, and since their recognition as a legitimate nation this trend had only accelerated. Bahamian culture placed a very high value on individual liberty, owing to its piratical origins, and the majority of decisions were made locally, with the Brethren Council handling foreign affairs. The Magistrate had the power to levy troops and enforce the laws, but said laws were fairly lax, mostly being a more formalized version of the articles that pirate crews had been using since the mid-seventeenth century. Unusually for the time, the Bahamians allowed women to join the navy, a hold-over from the pirate crews that allowed female members. This decision did meet with a good deal of resistance, but the exploits of women such as Anne Bonney and Mary Read helped win many over. Racial inclusion was less grudging, with blacks and Indians often being recruited into pirate crews, and the fact that the second-largest member of the Confederacy was formed by a slave revolt certainly helped shape opinions as well. The Bahamas banned slavery not long after the Haitian Revolution, a practice that would be adopted by later additions to their alliance system, although some members would keep indentured servitude for some time.

The freewheeling stance of the Bahamas and their allies was attractive to many, but also set quite a few people on edge. The southern English colonies in particular were very uncomfortable with abolition so close by, with freedmen able to visit relatively easily and introduce ideas that slaves were not generally supposed to have. The British were accepting of the Confederacy’s early victories against the French and Spanish, but now they were starting to think about bringing them under more firm control. The thought of having to enter a major war because of a handful of filibusters, one that might not necessarily benefit the crown, was an uncomfortable one. The question was how to go about doing this. One option was to threaten the revocation of the trade privileges the Bahamas enjoyed, or even to embargo them entirely. This carried the risk that they might simply ignore the embargo and resort to smuggling, which Bahamian sailors had plenty of experience with. The other option was to try to redirect their energies in a direction more beneficial to their masters. It was unclear exactly where this direction lay, but Parliament needed a solution, and soon.

 

[Jedi Dragon]

This isn't really an "official" chapter, more of a short Halloween special. Just a glimpse of what the culture of Bahamian sailors is like. Hope you enjoy.

“And then she comes running out after him waving a cutlass!” The three other men sitting around the table laughed uproariously. “And that’s why I’m not allowed back in Port Maria,” he concluded. After the laughter died down, the group fell silent for a few moments. “Have any of you men ever heard of the Raven, phantom of the windward islands?” They shook their heads. “She was a brig, a mighty pirate ship that terrorized the Spanish merchant fleet. One night, off Antigua, she got caught in a storm. The gale snapped her masts and the waves swallowed her up. Not a man of her crew escaped.” His companions leaned in. “Not mor’n two weeks later, a fishing boat sights a ship in the distance. She looks just like the Raven, but somethin’s off about her. There’s this glow about her, and it almost looks like she’s sailing through the waves. She moves off into the distance and vanishes. A week after that, a merchant ship washes ashore in pieces. Now every time she appears, a disaster follows.” “There’s a ghost ship in every sea,” one of the other seaman said in a dismissive tone. “Now Hispaniola, that’s where you’ll see unusual things.”

“I’ve been to Haiti. We stopped off in Port-au-Prince to sell some goods, and the crew went off into the taverns and brothels to spend their loot. One of the younger shipmates, a Mr. Cullen, goes missing. Nobody can find hide nor hair of him for two days. Then he comes walking back into town from the countryside, but he’s not right. He’s got this blank look in his eye, and he won’t speak. He’ll follow orders, but nothing else. The Haitians said he was a zombie, a slave to a Voodoo priest.” “A zombie? Like those blokes that stole that cursed Aztec gold?” one of his companions asked. “I don’t know about curses, but I’ve been from one end of the Atlantic to the other, to Malabar and the East Indies, and I’ve seen a lot of strange stuff. Enough to make a man think.” The group fell silent, finished their drinks, and left one by one. Only the old sailor remained, musing over the sights he’d seen over the years, wondering what lay in the blank spots on the map.

 

[Jedi Dragon]

Chapter 11: Uncharted Waters​

By the spring of 1723, Parliament had come to a decision on the Caribbean question. They would bring their wayward ally to heel not with force, but by the ballot. Elections for the Brethren Council were being held, and getting cooler heads into the assembly would go a long way towards advancing British interests. One of their best options was James McCullough, an Irishman who had fought in the Spanish War, and was in favor of holding off on further expansion for the time being. British agents offered to finance his campaign in return for him acting in favor of the crown. Another candidate they had their eye on was Charles Berkley, a sailor from Devonshire who was still sympathetic to the old country. Their efforts paid off, with both men being elected to the Council that fall. However, they had opposition in the form of Jack Rackham, who had turned to politics in the hopes of cementing his legacy, and Jacques Philippoteaux, a Haitian who favored the liberation of enslaved people throughout the Caribbean.

Philippoteaux gave a speech at his first Council Session telling of the plight of slaves in French Louisiana and the few French possessions still remaining in the Leeward Islands. McCullough responded by pointing out that the French were already on edge after the loss of Haiti and Martinique and would not be likely to fall for the same trick again, including a jab at the slavery question by pointing out that his people were under the rule of the British crown, but no-one would suggest going to war with Great Britain over it. This was the start of a rivalry that would last for years to come. Rackham agreed with Philippoteaux in principle, but was far more cautious, knowing how easy it was for imperial alliances to spiral out of control. He preferred to look for easy targets, such as the holdings of minor powers that were less likely to offer stiff resistance. One such option was the Danish West Indies, home to a small population and under the rule of a country that could do relatively little to defend them. The proposition was met with approval from most of the Council, although McCullough worried that Britain might take offense at another brazen conquest.

The town of Charlotte Amelie woke up on April 3, 1723 to find a fleet of ships approaching from the Northwest. When they realized what was going on, the residents chose to surrender without a fight. The rest of the Danish islands were occupied with similar ease. Apart from a different flag flying overhead, life largely went on as it always had for the inhabitants, and profits actually increased for the merchants based there. English, Bahamian, and Haitian traders brought their business to the islands as well, including a merchant from South Carolina named Charles Fitzroy.

Like many colonial businessmen, Fitzroy was willing to skirt the law to make extra money, which included smuggling goods into and out of French and Spanish ports. He was returning from a run to Saint Augustine when he was intercepted by a Spanish sloop. The captain punished Fitzroy for his violation of Spanish law by cutting off his left ring finger. At least, that was how the Spanish put it; Fitzroy claimed adamantly that he had been falsely accused, and was simply moving goods between the Virgin Islands and the English colonies on the Atlantic seaboard. Whatever the case, he brought his story to Parliament in 1726, and outraged MP’s demanded that Spain be punished for mutilating a subject of the British Crown. The vote was close, but Great Britain declared war on Spain on March 10, 1726, followed shortly afterward by the Bahamas and their satellites.

The War of Fitzroy’s Finger would be fought mainly over Florida and Cuba, with Carolinian militia putting in a respectable amount of the work for the Crown, followed by the Bahamians and the Royal Navy. On May 5, a Bahamian fleet blockaded Saint Augustine, while troops from South Carolina moved in to surround the city from the land. Two weeks later, the arrival of British marines led to the fall of the oldest Spanish settlement in North America after a bloody assault. There were several naval battles in the Caribbean with mixed results, an abortive Spanish assault on Gibraltar, and an attack on Havana that failed to take the city, but caused substantial damage. On August 10, Spain agreed to a ceasefire, with a treaty being formally signed one month later. Florida was ceded to Great Britain and a nominal indemnity was paid in return. The Freemen and the American colonists were both delighted by the removal of the Spanish threat on their border and the opening up of new land to settle. The first British colonists to settle the new territory came from South Carolina, followed soon by immigrants from the Caribbean. The Carolinians hoped to spread slavery to the south, which would become a sticking point in the future with their friends on the islands, but for now, the allies could bask in victory.

 

[Jedi Dragon]

Chapter 12: Once More into the Breach
​

For several years after the War of Fitzroy’s Finger, the Freeman’s Confederacy got along smoothly with its neighbors. The member states all had fairly strong economies, bolstered by trade with Britain, the North American colonies, and one another. The Brethren Council was able to tamp down on raiding merchant shipping, and the Bahamian Navy developed into a more professional force. The main sticking point was the Confederacy’s de facto support for abolition, which made the British sugar islands and the southern colonies of Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, and the newly formed Georgia, profoundly uncomfortable. Haiti remained officially unrecognized, and trade goods could not make up for the existence of a majority-black nation of freed slaves right next door to several economies that increasingly relied on slavery.

The newly acquired British colony of Florida quickly became a cultural melting pot as settlers flowed in from the southern colonies, Britain, the Bahamas, and Haiti, mixing with the small Spanish population and the Native Americans who occupied much of the colony. Most of the settlers in the north of the peninsula came from the Carolinas and Virginia, and brought their plantation-focused, cash crop economy with them. In addition, many of the English settlers founded cattle ranches, or appropriated them from their Spanish owners. In the south of Florida, most of the settlers came from the Caribbean, especially Haiti and Martinique, along with a smattering from the Bahamas and the smaller islands. These colonists were averse to using slave labor, mostly establishing small farms and trading posts. In the middle sat the Native population, which was becoming anxious about being squeezed between two new waves of settlement, both larger than the Spanish incursions had been. For the moment, the Indians were the majority, but the more prescient among them could see trouble in the future.

The Brethren Council remained divided between expansionists and moderates, but other divisions among the member states soon became apparent. Many of the more moderate Councilmen were also more traditional in their social outlook, hoping to introduce a class system similar to that in their homelands, often with the unspoken assumption that they would be at the top. Most of the expansionist-minded representatives tended to support a more egalitarian form of organization, feeling that aristocracies and strict hierarchies were the kind of thing they had come to the New World to get away from. Many Haitian Councilmen tended towards egalitarianism as well, with a focus on racial equality in addition to political levelling. These factions would come to be known as the Whigs and Tories after their counterparts in Britain, with Jack Rackham and John Finch being among the better-known and more influential Whigs and James McCullough and an up-and-coming Councilman by the name of Thomas Fitzgerald being leading members of the Tory faction.

Meanwhile in Europe, the great powers continued to squabble among themselves. In 1756, this escalated into another war, with Prussia and Britain lining up against France, Austria, Russia, and Spain. The Austrian Empire sought the return of Silesia from Prussia, while Britain wanted to drive the French out of the Ohio Valley and Canada. For their part, France wanted Haiti and Martinique back, as well as any other islands it could take from the British or their allies, while Spain hoped to recapture Florida. The Freemen, as allies of Great Britain, were drawn into the conflict, both to defend themselves and grab whatever bits of territory they could, preferably sugar islands or, failing that, a Spanish port or two. The war in North America went poorly for Britain at first, with an expedition sent after Fort Duquesne being massacred in the wilds of Appalachia, with most of the survivors being saved through the efforts of a captain in the Virginia Militia by the name of George Washington. The fighting in the Caribbean mostly consisted of skirmishes and attacks on merchant shipping for the first five months of the war, with neither side having a decisive edge. The European conflict saw Prussia bear the brunt of the fighting, nearly being overwhelmed until the Czar died suddenly, causing the Russians to make peace in the confusion of choosing a successor. In North America, the French evacuated their forts in the Ohio Valley as the colonial militias and Regulars began to step up their performance, and soon Britain was eyeing an invasion of Canada to drive France from the continent entirely.

French-aligned Indians massacring English settlers.

English militia in battle in the Ohio country.​

Spain devoted much of its naval strength to a blockade of Florida with the goal of reclaiming its former colony. The blockade was able to isolate Saint Augustine and a few smaller ports, but a great deal of smuggling from the Bahamas and Puerto Rico allowed the settlements to hold out. Once again, the Freemen turned their attention towards Cuba, the jewel of the Spanish Main. An expedition headed by Admiral Finch set out for Havana in 1762 and put the capital under siege. After weeks of blockade and bombardment, the garrison surrendered. When they heard the news, the Spanish fleet pulled out of Saint Augustine and set sail to retake the Cuban capitol. They arrived to find the Bahamians supported by a pair of British frigates, leading to a bloody fight that ultimately saw the Spanish repulsed. The invaders could not advance far from Havana, but word of an attack on Santiago convinced the Spanish that Cuba was a lost cause. France had already lost Quebec, and these twin blows lead the allies to seek peace with Britain.

The Bahamians and English defend Havana.​

The Treaty of Paris of 1763 ceded all of Canada to Great Britain. Louisiana, however, had been secretly sold to Spain shortly before the end of the fighting. The Spanish ceded control of Cuba, which joined the Freemen’s Confederacy. Britain also grabbed parts of Bengal from the Mughal Empire in India, as well as Tobago, Saint Vincent, Grenada, and Dominica from France in the Caribbean. The Thirteen Colonies were overjoyed at the elimination of the French threat, and many looked forward to moving into the new territories west of the Appalachians. Merchants both in the Colonies and the Confederacy were eager to get in on the Cuban market, and control of the Mississippi River promised great commercial gains in the coming years. However, all was not well in the Americas. Britain had expended enormous amounts of money funding a global war, and had large debts to repay. Its American subjects seemed like a perfectly logical source of revenue, especially now that there was no major obstacle to tax collection. Cuba still practiced slavery, as much of its economy was plantation-based. However, its fellow member states in the Confederacy were either ambivalent towards the practice or, in the case of Haiti, outright hostile. The newly acquired lands in North America contained many powerful Indian tribes that Britain was reluctant to provoke, despite the hunger for land displayed by many of their subjects. There were more than a few storm clouds on the horizon.

The situation in North America, 1763.​

 

[Jedi Dragon]

Chapter 13: Shot Heard Round the World
​

After the Seven Year’s War ended, Great Britain was left deep in debt despite its victory. Parliament needed a new source of funds, and their first choice was the Thirteen Colonies. The constant on-and-off wars with France and Spain had kept the Royal Navy distracted and unable to stringently enforce the Navigation Acts for years, and now that the fighting was over for the foreseeable future, it was time to bring the colonies in line and make them pay their share. Smuggling had long been a problem, especially goods routed through the Freemen’s Confederacy, and Britain decided to crack down on the practice. In addition, Parliament levied a series of new taxes on their American subjects, most notably a requirement that all documents sold in the colonies bear an official stamp of approval. The Stamp Act aroused deep resentment, and many a tax collector found themselves driven out of a village by angry colonists. Effigies of Prime Minister George Grenville were burned across the colonies, and public meetings demanded that, as English subjects, the colonists must have a say in their own taxation.

The Freemen’s Confederacy, while not being directly taxed, was still affected by Britain’s attempts to levy funds from their American possessions. The new focus on stopping smuggling cut into the profits of many of the Confederacy’s leading merchants, just as it did for many American businessmen. They protested that they were practicing entirely legitimate business and were being unfairly restricted by a controlling ally. Many of them actually were smugglers, but this detail was largely overlooked. The Brethren Council hoped to modify its trade agreement with Britain, much to the latter’s annoyance. Parliament repealed the Stamp Act in 1764 in the face of colonial outrage, but was unwilling to modify the Navigation Acts or its agreements with the Freemen. Increasing numbers of British troops were stationed in the Colonies, both to enforce the new tax policy and to prevent settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains, as the territories between the Appalachians and the Mississippi River had been designated as an Indian reservation. The American colonists were especially upset about not being allowed to settle lands that they had fought to wrest from the French, and many of them simply moved west anyway.

By 1773, events in the Colonies had escalated significantly. Protests, especially in New England, became increasingly common and violent. Prime Minster James Townshend sent troops to occupy Boston and blockade the town to force obedience in the wake of a particularly violent protest of the tax on tea. In response, leading citizens from across the Thirteen Colonies formed the Continental Congress to coordinate resistance to overbearing British authority. The Brethren Council offered to support the Congress, but this offer was refused for fear of escalating the situation too fast. Despite the efforts of moderates to gain a peaceful redress of Colonial grievances, the so-called Patriot movement soon spun out of control.

The Bahamas were drawn into the crisis when the Bahamian merchant ship Seagull was detained on charges of smuggling goods into Massachusetts. The crew, for their part, insisted that they had been sailing to trade with New Hampshire and had simply gone off course. Several members of the Brethren Council condemned British interference in their affairs and expressed sympathy for the Americans. The admiral who captured the Seagull was adamant that the crew should be tried in a British court, which further angered the Bahamians. The Brethren Council issued a formal condemnation of Parliament, souring relations that had already been cooling for some time. The Confederacy had been developing a distinct identity over the past sixty years, especially thanks to the Haitians and the French and Dutch populations of the minor islands. Their culture was far more egalitarian than that of their British allies, and they were increasingly at odds with slaveholding powers. They still did business with them, of course, but there was a definite distaste for the slave trade. Many of the Freemen sympathized more with the American Patriots than with Parliament, and this would influence their foreign policy going forward.

In April of 1775, British troops fired on the Massachusetts militia at Lexington Green and went on to fight a larger engagement at the nearby village of Concord, which ended with the Regulars being driven back to Boston. Militia began to rally from all over Massachusetts and the neighboring colonies to lay siege to the colonial capital, and Congress was left little choice but to organize the various militias into a Continental Army, under Virginian George Washington, in June. Now the Freemen’s offer sounded far more tempting. After a large battle at Bunker Hill outside of Boston, which saw the British drive the militia from the hill at the cost of nearly 1,000 casualties, those calling for independence from Britain rather than simple reform became emboldened. When word arrived that King George III had declared the Colonies to be in rebellion and was hiring mercenaries to put down the revolt, the issue was settled. The Continental Congress accepted the Brethren Council’s offer of trade and military advisors. The Council was not willing to go to war just yet, but a few “volunteers” would join the fight in North America and on the high seas. If the opportunity presented itself, the Confederacy would intervene. For now, they chose to wait and see what transpired.

 

[Jedi Dragon]

Chapter 14: Turning Point​

Throughout the spring of 1776, the Continental Congress debated a declaration of independence from Great Britain. The Southern Colonies, especially South Carolina and Georgia, were uncomfortable accepting aid from the Confederacy, fearing that it may inspire slave uprisings. Delegates from New England and the Middle Colonies defended the move by pointing out that they needed all the help that they could get. When Virginia’s Thomas Jefferson was asked to write a preliminary declaration, he included a clause claiming that slavery had been forced on the Colonies by Great Britain. Although a slave-owning planter himself, Jefferson believed strongly in the ideals of the Enlightenment, including the idea of natural rights that were possessed by all humans. The anti-slavery clause angered the Southern representatives, some of whom threatened to withdraw their support for the declaration if the clause were not removed. Jefferson was adamant about including the clause, believing that it would help attract foreign aid and that it would be hypocritical not to acknowledge slavery while fighting for freedom.

The debate went on for days, with the Southern delegates ultimately walking out. The Carolinas and Georgia would not declare independence from Britain if it meant giving up their economic mainstay. The planters made up the political elite in the South, and they certainly were not willing to sacrifice their positions for a principle they did not believe extended to all men. Despite their great disappointment, New England, the Middle Colonies, Maryland, Delaware, and Virginia declared their independence from the British Empire on July 4, 1776. The news set off celebrations across the new United States, with statues of King George III being pulled down and copies of the Declaration being read in the squares of towns and villages to excited crowds. The Declaration was dismissed in Britain, but received with interest in France and the various German states. When news arrived in the Caribbean, the Brethren Council voted to extend an offer of alliance to the United States. Knowing that the fighting still to come would surely be difficult, Congress voted to accept on July 18.

In the meantime, the British had been preparing to retake their wayward territories. There were only a handful of large cities in the United States, all of them along the Atlantic coast. Boston was the cradle of the rebellion and a major port, Philadelphia was home to the Continental Congress and the largest population in the Colonies, and New York was the most important commercial port. From New York, British troops could move north along the Hudson River to link up with Canada and split the Colonies in two. After that, it simply became a matter of finishing off any lingering resistance. Some officers advocating landing troops in the South and marching up through Virginia and Maryland, bolstered by loyalist militias and a secure line of communications. General William Howe, supreme commander of British forces in North America, chose the New York plan. British troops landed on Staten Island on July 3 to find the Continental Army digging in on Manhattan and Long Island. In late August, the British attacked American positions on Brooklyn Heights, ultimately driving the Americans from the field, although Washington withdrew his men in good order.

After heated debate, Washington’s officers agreed to evacuate Manhattan. Over the following weeks, Howe chased Washington north to White Plains, and then west into New Jersey. By December, the Continental Army had reached the Delaware River. At this point, many had begun to fear that the cause was lost, including the Bahamian and Haitian advisors who were attempting to train the ragtag Continentals into a real fighting force. On the night of December 24, 1776, Washington surprised these observers by crossing the Delaware River and routing the Hessian mercenaries encamped on the other side at Trenton. Two days later, a British counterattack at Princeton was soundly repulsed. This breathed new life into the rebellion, and the coming year would see the Confederacy flex its muscles as well.

The Freemen had done relatively little up to this point, apart from sending supplies and advisors to the United States. They had also issued letters of marque and sent raiders to harass British shipping. By 1777, the Confederacy was preparing to go on the offensive. The big prize was Jamaica, but its importance meant that it was heavily defended. Puerto Rico, or Richland as the British called it, was right next door to Haiti and easier to isolate and overwhelm. In March, an expedition set sail from Port-au-Prince and met up with a fleet coming down from Nassau near St. John, Richland’s capitol. The garrison could do no more than offer a token resistance, and quickly surrendered. Resistance continued in the countryside for a few weeks, but it consisted of nothing more than occasional raids by militiamen. This got Britain’s attention, and Sir Richard Howe sent a squadron from New York to reinforce Jamaica.

Bahamian privateers attacking a British vessel.​

Meanwhile, Sir John Burgoyne was preparing to lead an expedition down the Hudson in the hopes of cutting off New England from the rest of the Colonies. He expected support from further south, but for reasons known only to himself, William Howe chose to remain in New York. The Continentals intercepted Burgoyne’s forces near Saratoga and after several days of fighting forced him to surrender his entire army. This defeat came as a shock to the British, and convinced Louis XVI and his ministers that the American cause was worth supporting. The French crown made this decision not out of any sympathy for republican ideals, but simply out of a desire to spite their age-old rivals to the north and gain a new ally. France’s entry into the war was a serious blow to the British war effort, with more than a few MPs being willing to recognize American independence so they could focus all their resources on protecting more valuable possessions such as Jamaica, Trinidad, and Canada. Ultimately Parliament decided to continue fighting in North America, but with the goal of containing the United States to the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic while most of their attention shifted to the south. The war was far from over, and the most savage fighting still lay ahead.

Burgoyne surrenders to Horatio Gates.​

 

[Jedi Dragon]

Chapter 15: My God, it is All Over​

The entry of France into the American Revolutionary War forced Britain to change its strategy from one of suppression to one of containment. American troops under George Rogers Clark had already seized much of the Ohio Country, leaving little hope of keeping the rebellious colonies out of the Great Lakes region. However, the South was a different story. The Carolinas and Georgia were loyal to the Crown and offered the perfect staging area for an invasion of Virginia which might force the Americans to move most of their troops south and leave New England exposed. If the Continental Army could be defeated in battle, the Americans might even make peace on Britain’s terms. Sir Henry Clinton landed an army at Charleston in early 1779 and began moving north.

The fighting in the Middle Colonies had gone on inconclusively since Saratoga, with the British capturing Philadelphia in the winter of 1777, only for Congress to flee and the Continental Army to encamp for the winter at nearby Valley Forge. Despite extreme deprivation and an outbreak of smallpox, the Americans used the winter months to train under the leadership of advisors from the Bahamas, Haiti, and the German states, with the former Prussian officer Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben being particularly instrumental. When the campaigning resumed in the spring, the Continentals were able to match Lord Howe’s troops on equal terms, fighting the British to a standstill at Monmouth, New Jersey. Howe was replaced as commander of British forces in America by Lord Charles Cornwallis, who supported a southern strategy. Clinton’s march northward was mostly unhindered, although fighting between Loyalist and Patriot militias was frequent in the Carolina backcountry. The fighting in the South was just as much a civil war as a revolution, and both sides committed atrocities against prisoners and civilians, which only made things ever more brutal.

Patriot Cavalry in the Carolina Backwoods.​

General Horatio Gates, the hero of Saratoga, marched south to defend Virginia from Clinton, taking up a position near the town of Petersburg. Governor Jefferson and the House of Burgesses were adamant that Richmond must not be lost, forcing Gates to operate defensively. The British moved west of Gates’s position, looking to cut off the settlements in the Appalachians from the more established towns in the Tidewater region. As word spread of the British advance, frontier militias began organizing to defend their towns, from Indians just as much as from the British. A detachment of Loyalist troops went to subdue the Appalachian settlements, only to be annihilated by an army of militia and frontiersmen at Lynchburg. Despite this loss, Clinton still moved east to confront Gates. Hoping to avoid a siege, Gates marched out to meet Clinton in the field. Unfortunately, the militia making up his center routed in the face of a British charge, with the General and his staff following them in their flight. The professional units, including a regiment of German volunteers, held their ground and were almost all killed or captured.

The Continentals make a stand at Appomattox.​

When news arrived of the defeat at Appomattox, the Virginia state government fled north from Richmond in a panic. Clinton soon occupied the state capitol with much fanfare. Washington was reluctant to move south with a British army still in New York, so he sent his trusted aide Nathaniel Greene to organize an army to drive Clinton out of Virginia. Meanwhile, the Spanish had their eyes on Florida. Spain was not especially friendly towards Great Britain, but they hated the Freemen more, as the latter had taken more territory from them, including Cuba. The island was the main war goal, but Spain also wanted to retake Florida, and the peninsula was more sparsely inhabited than Cuba, with fewer fortified settlements. As Clinton marched through the Carolinas, Spain negotiated a treaty of alliance with Britain, and forces soon began assembling for deployment in the Americas. The invasion force set out from Cadiz in June of 1779, bound for Saint Augustine.

The Spanish force arrived off Saint Augustine on July 1 and bombarded the nearby Castillo de San Marcos while the army disembarked and occupied the town. The fort held out for another day before being stormed. Despite the easy capture of the Floridian capital, actually occupying the colony was easier said than done. The frontier settlements rallied their militia, and sent couriers to alert forces across the peninsula. The Anglo population had a sizeable population of Loyalists, but they were loyal to the British crown, not Spain, and were willing to fight against the invaders. The southern part of Florida was especially hostile to Spanish rule, as most of the population was of Haitian or Bahamian descent. Even more daunting was the environment. Away from the coast, infrastructure was poor, even by colonial standards, and the swamps were breeding grounds for disease. Supply lines quickly became targets for partisan raids, and any moves away from the coast were costly failures. Another amphibious force seized Miami, but the fleet was soon attacked by a Cuban-Bahamian force and driven off, leaving the troops in the city surrounded by militia on land and hostile ships at sea.

Spanish troops in a Floridian swamp.​

As the fighting in Florida ground on, Spain decided to shift its attention towards Cuba, the prize it had been seeking since it entered the war. This time, the Royal Navy would assist the Spanish in clearing away any hostile naval forces that might threaten the landing. The Cubans had been preparing for a possible invasion for some time, and now their defenses were about to be put to the test. On March 2, 1780, lookouts spotted sails on the horizon off Havana. The militia were mustered, and riders sent to spread word of the invasion to the rest of the island. Cuban naval forces, under Admiral Juan Alonzo Sanchez, set sail from Santiago upon receiving news of the Spanish approach. Before they could reach Havana, they encountered British ships patrolling the northern coast of the island. The British vessels, being only sloops, fled at the approach of the Cuban ships of the line, which promptly followed them. Sanchez soon came within sight of an Anglo-Spanish fleet and chose to offer battle. The fighting was bloody, and the Cubans ultimately withdrew, but British losses were slightly higher. To make matters worse, the Spanish had suffered heavy losses capturing Havana, and Cuban troops were converging on the town to lay siege. The Cuban navy was soon back with reinforcements from the Bahamas, along with a few Haitian ships, and this time the Royal Navy was forced to retreat from Havana, leaving the Spanish surrounded.

Meanwhile in Virginia, Clinton’s army, worn down from constant skirmishes with the Americans, withdrew down the Virginia peninsula to await reinforcements. George Washington seized the opportunity and marched the main Continental Army down to Virginia to join forces with Greene. Richmond was quickly reoccupied, and the combined force, supplemented by French troops, faced off against Clinton at Williamsburg. The general expected support from the Royal Navy, but a French fleet turned back the British reinforcements off the Virginia Capes, allowing the Franco-Americans to besiege Clinton. By April 19, supplies were running low, and the Americans were threatening to breach the outer defenses, leaving Clinton no choice but to surrender. When news of the disaster arrived in England, Lord North exclaimed “My God, it is all over!” Parliament soon agreed to a cease-fire and peace negotiations began with the United States.

Fighting in the Caribbean would last somewhat longer. The Spanish attempted to relieve the force in Havana, but were repulsed, and the beleaguered army surrendered on June 6. At this point, the British were willing to make peace with the Freemen as well, and Spain had little choice but to agree, as the fighting in Florida was still inconclusive and the Cuban invasion had been a bloody debacle. The United States received all British territory east of the Mississippi River and north of the Ohio, with North Carolina and Georgia retaining their western land claims. The status quo antebellum was restored in the Caribbean, with the Freemen’s Confederacy allied to the United States. Louisiana was returned to France. The Confederacy had come a long way in the past six decades, from a handful of outlaws to a force to be reckoned with. It had allies on the continent who shared its democratic ideals, and looked to expand south and westward. The future was uncertain, but the horizon looked bright.