Invasion of Cayenne (1809)

Invasion Of Cayenne (1809)

The Invasion of Cayenne was a combined military operation by an Anglo-Portuguese-Brazilian expeditionary force against Cayenne, capital of the French South American colony of French Guiana in 1809, during the Napoleonic Wars. The operation was part of a series of attacks on French held territory in the Americas during 1809 and due to commitments elsewhere, the British Royal Navy was unable to send substantial forces to attack the fortified river port. Instead, appeals were made to the Portuguese government, which had been driven out of Portugal the year before during the Peninsula War and was resident in Brazil. In exchange for providing troops and transports for the operation, the Portuguese were promised Guiana as an expansion of their holdings in Brazil for the duration of the conflict.

The British contribution was small, consisting solely of the minor warship HMS Confiance. Confiance however had a highly effective crew and an experienced captain in James Lucas Yeo, who was to command the entire expedition. The more substantial Portuguese contingent consisted of 700 regular Brazilian Colonial Army soldiers, led by Lieutenant Colonel Manuel Marques de Elva Portugal and 550 regular soldiers from the naval infantry of the Colonial Navy of Brazil and several warships to act as transports and provide offshore artillery support. The French defenders were weakened by years of Royal Navy blockade and could only muster 400 regular infantry and 800 unreliable militia, formed in part from the territory's free black population. As a result resistance was inconsistent and despite Cayenne's strong fortifications, the territory fell within a week.

It is considered to be the baptism of fire of the Brazilian Marine Corps.