page_title: Battle of Jersey
section_title: Battle
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Jersey / Battle
caption_attribution_description: V for Victory laid into paving during German occupation of Jersey during WWII, later amended to refer to Red Cross ship SS Vega, and subsequently restored as monument.
context_page_description: The Battle of Jersey was an attempt by French forces during the American Revolutionary War to invade Jersey and remove the threat the island posed to French and American shipping. Jersey provided a base for British privateers, and France, engaged in the war as an ally of the United States, sent an expedition to gain control of the island.
  The French expedition ultimately failed. Its commander, Baron Philippe de Rullecourt, died of wounds sustained in the fighting. The battle is often remembered for the death of the British officer Major Peirson, and a painting based on his final moments by John Singleton Copley.
context_section_description: The attack began. The British forces in the Grande Rue, now called Broad Street, included the 78th Regiment, the Battalion of Saint Lawrence, the South-East Regiment, and the Compagnies de Saint-Jean. The 95th Regiment of Foot, with the rest of the militia, advanced down the other avenues. The British had too many troops for the battle, a British soldier later saying that a third of the British troops would have been more than enough to destroy the French army. Many British soldiers, confused and having nothing to shoot at, fired most of their shots into the air.
  The French resistance was of short duration, most of the action lasting a quarter of an hour. The French only fired the cannons that they had at their disposal once or twice. The British had a howitzer placed directly opposite the market in the Grande Rue, which at each shot "cleaned all the surroundings of French" according to a member of the British service.
  Major Peirson and the 95th Regiment advanced towards the Avenue du Marché. Then, just as the British were about to win, a musket ball in the heart killed Major Peirson; his saddened troops, now led by a militia subaltern, Philip Dumaresq, rushed forward and continued the fight. When de Rullecourt fell wounded, many French soldiers gave up the fight, throwing down their weapons and fleeing. Others reached the market houses from where they continued to fire.
  De Rullecourt, through Corbet, told the British that the French had two battalions and an artillery company at La Rocque, which could be at the town within a quarter of an hour. The British were not intimidated, knowing that the number of French troops there was less than 200, they having landed that morning. A guard of 45 grenadiers of the 83rd Regiment, led by Captain Campbell, resisted 140 French soldiers until the arrival of a part of the East Regiment, whereupon the French were defeated, suffering 30 dead or wounded, with 70 men taken prisoner. Seven grenadiers were killed during this action. The remaining French soldiers dispersed themselves throughout the countryside to reach their boats; locals caught several trying to do so.
caption: The Royal Square, as seen here today, was the scene of the Battle of Jersey.
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