Battle of Baton Rouge (1779)

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Battle of Baton Rouge
Part of the American Revolutionary War
An artist's rendition of Fort New Richmond, captured by the Spaniards at Baton Rouge.
Date September 20 - September 21, 1779 Location Baton Rouge, Louisiana Result Spanish victory
Combatants
Spain	Britain
Commanders
Bernardo de Gálvez	Henry Dickson
Strength
398 regulars 400 militia	358 regulars 158 militia
Casualties
1 dead 2 wounded	50 dead or wounded 375 captured

Gulf Coast campaigns
Fort Bute – Baton Rouge – Fort Charlotte – San Fernando – Fort San Juan – St. Louis – Mobile – Pensacola

The Battle of Baton Rouge was decided on September 21, 1779 during the American Revolutionary War. Baton Rouge was the second British outpost to fall to Spanish arms during Bernardo de Gálvez' march into British West Florida.

Moving forward from Fort Bute, Gálvez arrived at Baton Rouge on September 20 and discovered a well-fortified town garrisoned by over 300 regulars. Outflanked by the guns on the fort and unable to advance his own artillery, Gálvez ordered a feint to the north through a forest ringing the town. The British turned and unleashed massed volleys at this body, but the Spaniards, shielded by substantial foliage, suffered only three casualties. Meanwhile, Gálvez' engineers and siege specialists created a line of trenches and established secure gunpits. Gálvez turned his guns on the fort.

The British endured three hours of vicious shelling and then capitulated. Gálvez' surrender terms included the capitulation of the 80 regular infantry in nearby Fort Panmure, present-day Natchez. This arrangement cleared the Mississippi River estuary entirely of British forces, putting the great waterway firmly under allied control. Within a few days of Gálvez' victory, American privateers slipped into Lake Pontchartrain with his blessing and drove British forces from its waters.