Battle of Jersey The Battle of Jersey ( 6 January 1781 ) was an attempt by French forces to invade Jersey and remove the threat the island posed to French and American shipping in the American War of Independence . Jersey was used as a base for privateer ing by the British , and France , engaged in the war as an ally of the United States , sent an expedition to gain control of the island . The expedition ultimately failed , and its commander , Baron Phillipe 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 . Causes . Only off the coast of France , and placed on the principal sea - borne supply route to the French naval base at Brest , Jersey was a location of strategic importance during any war between Britain and France . Large numbers of privateer s operated out of the island , causing chaos amongst French merchant shipping . Jersey privateers were even operating off the coast of America . The French government was determined to neutralize 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 . Defences in Jersey . Aware of the military importance of Jersey , the British government had ordered that the island be heavily fortified . Gun batteries , forts and redoubts had been constructed around the coast , and round towers were in the process of being erected as well . The Royal Militia of the Island of Jersey , comprised some 3000 men in five regiments , including artillery and dragoons . Regular army units — the entire 95th Regiment of Foot , five companies each of the 83rd Regiment of Foot ( Royal Glasgow Volunteers ) and 78th Highlanders , and around 700 " Invalids " ( semi - retired reservists ) — were also present . The total force amounted to about 9 , 250 troops of all types . 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 . Failed French attack . On 1 May 1779 , a Franco - Dutch force 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 78th Regiment 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 . The French plan . 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 . 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 Prince Emire , who had been taken by England in wars in India , had been sent to France with other French prisoners and whom the French had since retained in their service ; a member of the British force wrote of him : " He looked quite barbarian , as much as his discourse ; if our fate has depended on him , it would not have been of the most pleasant ; he advised the French General to ransack everything and to put the town to fire and to blood . " Officially the expedition was a private affair ; however , funding , equipment , transport and troops were provided by the government . In order to conceal their involvement , the government went so far as to order the ' desertion ' of several hundred regular troops to De Rullecourt ' s forces . On 5 January 1781 the expedition , consisting of some 2 , 000 soldiers in four divisions , set out . Jersey still celebrated 6 January as ' Old Christmas Night ' , and the French landed undetected . The 800 men of the first division landed at La Rocque , Grouville , and passed close by the guards without being noticed ; a French officer even said that he had slept beneath the guards , but that the guards had not heard the French . The guards were subsequently put on trial , where it was found they had abandoned their post to go drinking . The French first division stayed there most of the night . The 400 men of the French second division landed amongst rocks and was entirely lost . ( The initial British report was that a privateer and four transport vessels had been lost , together with " upwards of 200 men " . ) The boats that contained the third division , consisting of 600 men , were separated from the rest of the fleet and were unable to join it . The fourth division , consisting of 200 men , landed early in the next morning at La Rocque . The total of the French troops landed on the island was therefore about 1 , 000 , half the number of soldiers that France had expected to take into battle . Prelude . French troops in Saint Helier . Between six and seven in the morning on 6 January , the first division set up defensive positions in the market while most of the town was asleep . At about eight o ' clock a French patrol surprised the island ' s governor , Moses Corbet , in bed in Government House ( then situated at Le Manoir de La Motte ) . De Rullecourt convinced Corbet that thousands of French troops had already overwhelmed Jersey and threatened to burn the town and slaughter the inhabitants if Corbet did not sign a capitulation . Corbet replied that as he was a prisoner he had no authority and that anything he signed would " be of no avail " . De Rullecourt insisted and so Corbet , to avoid further harm to St Hellier , signed . The French took him to the Royal Court building in the Royal Square and ordered him to persuade the commanders at Elizabeth Castle , Captains Aylward and Mulcaster , to surrender . Aylward refused and the troops in the castle then peremptorily fired on the French troops , killing two or three men ; the French then withdrew . British preparations . With Corbet a prisoner , the next senior - most British commander was the 24 - year - old Major Francis Peirson ( in command of the troops at Saint Peter ' s Barracks ) . The British troops and militia assembled on the Mont ès Pendus ( now called Westmount ) and Peirson soon had 2 , 000 men at his disposal , with which he resolved to descend the hill and attack . The French , who were camped in the market , had seized the town ' s cannons and had placed them at the different openings to the market to fire on the British troops if they approached . However , the French did not find the howitzer s . The British learned through different people who had been to observe the French troops that the French numbers did not exceed 800 or 900 men . Major Peirson detached the 78th Regiment of Foot and sent them to take possession of the Mont de la Ville ( now the site of Fort Regent ) , to block any French retreat . Once Peirson believed that the 78th had reached their destination , he ordered his remaining troops to attack . However the British were stopped at the plain , where de Rullecourt sent Corbet to offer capitulation terms and to tell the British that if they did not sign , the French would ransack the town within half an hour . Peirson and Captain Campbell answered that the French had 20 minutes to surrender . The 83rd Regiment of Foot and the part of the East Regiment in Grouville also refused to surrender . When de Rullecourt received their answer he was heard to remark : " Since they do not want to surrender , I have come to die . " Battle . The attack began . The British forces in the " Grande Rue " 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 " ; just as the British were about to win , Major Peirson was killed by a musket ball in the heart , but his saddened troops continued to fight . When de Rullecourt fell wounded , many French soldiers gave up the fight , throwing their weapons and fleeing ; however , 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 . A guard of 45 grenadiers of the 83rd Regiment resisted against 140 French soldiers until the arrival of a part of the East Regiment , whereupon the French were defeated , with 70 prisoners taken and 30 dead or wounded . The remaining French soldiers dispersed themselves throughout the countryside to reach their boats , though several were caught while trying to do so . Conclusion . The British took 600 prisoners that day , who were subsequently sent to England . The British losses were 11 dead and 36 wounded among the regular troops , and four dead and 29 wounded among the militia . In addition , Captain Charlton , of the Royal Artillery , was wounded while a prisoner of the French . De Rullecourt was wounded and died the next day . Aftermath . It became notorious that there were traitors among the British . De Rullecourt possessed a plan of the fortifications , the towers , the cannons and so on , saying that without good friends in Jersey , he would not have come . The French knew the exact number of British troops and militia , the names of the officers commanding them , and more . In the papers found in the General ' s trunk was the name of one Mr . Le Geyt , a Jerseyman who was later seized , as was another suspect . Conway had proposed the construction of 30 coastal towers in 1778 , and four had been completed by the time of the battle , however they played no part in it . Between 1781 and 1814 , the government built nineteen more of Conway ' s round towers and three Martello tower s to improve the island ' s defences . This almost the last battle in the British Islands . The Battle of Culloden in 1746 was the last pitched battle on the British mainland ; the Battle of Fishguard involved a short - lived French invasion of Wales in February 1797 , and a French expeditionary force fought at the Battle of Ballinamuck in the Irish Rebellion of 1798 . Painting . John Singleton Copley painted a dramatized version of the death of Major Peirson . That painting , which hangs in the Tate Gallery , now appears on Jersey ' s £10 note .