Background
Britain's numerous island colonies in the West Indies were politically divided with respect to the issues that eventually drove the Thirteen Colonies in North America to revolution. Some colonial assemblies expressed sympathy for the rebel movement, but the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War in April 1775 did not result in similar mobilizations in the Caribbean. British military authorities, in fact, drew resources from there to support their activities against the rebel colonies in the early years of the war.
The main impact on the British West Indies in those early years was economic. The islands were dependent on North America for a number of resources, including lumber for construction and food to feed the large slave population that worked on plantations producing sugar cane for export. This trade fell substantially after the Royal Navy began blockading major ports in North America. Some trade continued, but the Americans, desperate for supplies (particularly military supplies, like gunpowder) from Europe, engaged in trade with French and Dutch possessions in the Caribbean. The Dutch island of Sint Eustatius in particular became a major supply point where Dutch merchants and officially sanctioned French traders did business with American merchants.
The situation changed following the entry of France into the war as an American ally in early 1778.
Read more about this topic: Caribbean Theater Of The American Revolutionary War
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