The Battle of Jersey took place on 6 January 1781 during the American War of Independence when French forces unsuccessfully invaded the British-ruled island of Jersey to remove the threat it posed to French and American shipping. Jersey provided a base for British privateers. The French expedition was defeated, losing nearly half its force, including its commander, Baron Philippe de Rullecourt, who died of wounds sustained in the fighting. The battle is often remembered for the death of the British commander, Major Francis Peirson, and a painting based on his final moments by John Singleton Copley.
Only 14 miles (23 km) off the coast of France, the Channel Islands, including Jersey, were a location of strategic importance during any war between Britain and France. Large numbers of privateers operated out of the islands, causing chaos amongst French merchant shipping. Jersey privateers even operated off the coast of America.
The French government decided to neutralise this threat. Furthermore, at the time, Gibraltar was in the midst of the Great Siege: contemporary British newspapers reported that the attack on Jersey was an attempt to distract British attention from Gibraltar and divert military resources away from the siege.
Aware of the military importance of Jersey, the British government had ordered that the island be heavily fortified. On 28 May 1778 the Governor of Jersey, Field Marshal Henry Seymour Conway, submitted plans to Lord Weymouth for the construction of 30 round towers to forestall, or at least impede French incursions on the island. King George III granted approval and funding on 5 July 1778. Perhaps four towers had been completed by the time of the Battle of Jersey, none where the French would land. Gun batteries, forts and redoubts already existed around the coast, and were being improved and rearmed. All adult males had for centuries been required by law to serve in the Jersey Militia which in 1780 comprised some 3,000 men in five regiments, including artillery and dragoons.
71st (Highland) Regiment of Foot (Fraser's Highlanders)
78th (Highland) Regiment of Foot (Seaforth Highland)
83rd Regiment of Foot (Royal Glasgow Volunteers)
95th Regiment of Foot (Reid's)
1st (Northwest) Regiment of Jersey Militia
3rd (East) Regiment of Jersey Militia
6th (South West) Regiment of Jersey Militia
700 "Invalids" (semi-retired reservists)
A total force amounting to about 6,250 troops of all types was available on Jersey. A naval force, the "Jersey Squadron", was also based in the island, but was on a cruise against the Dutch at the time of the invasion.
Previous Failed French attack (1779)
On 1 May 1779, during the Anglo-French War (1778–1783) a French force under the command of the French born Prince of Nassau-Siegen attempted a landing at St Ouen's Bay. Early that morning lookouts sighted five large vessels and a great number of boats some three leagues off the coast, proceeding towards the coast to effect a landing. Guns on the cutters and small craft supporting the landing fired grapeshot at the defenders on the coast.
The defenders, the half regiment of 78th Seaforth Highlanders and Jersey militia, together with some field artillery that they dragged through the sand of the beaches, had by fast marching arrived in time to oppose the landing. The defenders were able to prevent the landing, suffering only a few men wounded when a cannon burst. The French vessels withdrew, first holding off a league from the coast before leaving the area entirely.
Despite the misgivings of the French military, who believed that an attack on Jersey would be a futile waste of resources, with any success being short-lived, the government approved a plan put forward by Baron Philippe de Rullecourt, who had accompanied the Prince of Nassau-Siegen in 1779. De Rullecourt was an adventurer and a colonel in the French Army. King Louis XVI had promised de Rullecourt the rank of general and the Cordon rouge as soon as he had control of the town of Saint Helier, the island's capital.
The second commander was an Indian prince named Mir Sayyad, who had been an ally of France in the Seven Years' War and moved to Paris upon the war's conclusion. Sayyad participated in the invasion and advised Rullecourt to sack the town and massacre all the inhabitants. One British officer wrote of him: "If our fate has depended on him, it would not have been of the most pleasant; he advised the French General (Rullecourt) to ransack everything and to put the town to fire and to blood." Rullecourt ignored Sayyad's advice.