Capture of Fort-Dauphin (1794)

Capture of Fort-Dauphin (1794)
Part of the Haitian Revolution and the War of the Pyrenees
A View from the north of Fort Liberte
Date 28–29 January 1794 Location Fort-Dauphin, Saint-Domingue Result Spanish victory
Belligerents
Spain	France
Commanders and leaders
Gabriel de Aristizábal	Candy Jean-François Papillon
Strength
3 ships of the line 1 frigate 400 men	1031 men
Casualties and losses
none	1031 captured 41 artillery guns taken

The Capture of Fort-Dauphin was a bloodless encounter of the French Revolutionary Wars on which a Spanish expedition under Gabriel de Aristizábal seized Fort-Liberté, then named Fort-Dauphin, from Revolutionary France. The French colonial garrisons, consisting of over a thousand men, surrendered without firing a single shot.

Capture

The French, blockaded by land and sea were forced to capitulate. When the Spanish seized the fort, Candy, the French commander, was arrested and sent to Mexico to do hard labour, whereas the rest of prisoners were sent to France as prisoners of war.

Aftermath

With the British having captured Pondicherry in Eastern India and Martinique, Guadeloupe, St. Lucia and other small islands in the West Indies, the capture of Fort Dauphin by the Spanish troops was an added blow to those who received France in its colonies.

References

• Madiou, Thomas (2010). Histoire d'Haïti (in French). Nabu Press. ISBN 978-1-142-83207-0.
• Marley, David (2008). Wars of the Americas: a chronology of armed conflict in the Western Hemisphere, 1492 to the present. Vol. 1. ABC-CLIO press. ISBN 978-1-59884-100-8.
• Warden, David Baillie; Courcelles, Jean Baptiste Pierre Jullien; Saint-Allais, Nicolas Vigton de. L'Art de vérifier les dates (in French). Vol. 26.