Raid on Matina

The Raid on Matina or the Battle of Matina was a small but significant military engagement that took place on 13 August 1747 between British Baymen and Miskito Sambu from the Mosquito Coast and Spanish forces over the Spanish fortification at Matina in the Captaincy General of Guatemala.[5] The engagement was part of a larger conflict which was known as the War of Jenkins' Ear. The British and Sambus destroyed the fort after a short sharp fight before destroying the crops and taking away plunder from the surrounding Cacao rich area.[1][6]

Raid on Matina
Part of the War of Jenkins' Ear and the War of the Austrian Succession
Date13 August 1747
Location
Matina, Captaincy General of Guatemala present day Costa Rica
Result British victory[1]
Belligerents
Britain Spain
Commanders and leaders
Thomas Owen Francisco Rodriguez
Strength
45 British & Zambo Indians[2] 80 soldiers & militia[3]
Casualties and losses
Light All killed, wounded or captured[4]

Events

Background

At the mouth of the Río Matina in the Spanish colonial region of the Captaincy General of Guatemala lay Fuerte de San Fernando de Matina, a wooden blockhouse which had been built by the Spanish in 1741-42. It was garrisoned by thirty four soldiers and twenty local armed militia. Between 1742 and 1747 illegal trade between landowners in Costa Rica and with British Jamaica and the Bayman of the Mosquito coast (of present-day Nicaragua) were stopped as a result of the fort.[7]

In April 1747 a group of British baymen and Miskito's took about ten prisoners near Matina and threatened to burn the plantations and invade Cartago if trade was not resumed with them.[1] For this reason the Spanish governor sent a reinforcement of fifty soldiers in the area. The commander of the fort was Don Francisco Rodriguez, and together with the reinforcements ordered to put permanent lookouts in places where they could watch any approaching British troops to avoid surprise.[8]

Attack

In early August 1747, 45 British and a troop of "Sambo mosquitos" commanded by British Captain Thomas Owen was ordered to attack the fort, by order of the English governor of Jamaica Edward Trelawny.[5]

Transported by Pirogues from Jamaica they landed in Moin near Limón, which beyond had an extensive swamp - the Spanish thinking it was impassable had no lookouts in the area. After beaching the vessels the British were able to advance without being spotted and they walked through the jungle to the fort. The high Canebrake meant they were concealed and watched patiently for five days studying the defences and awaited for the right moment to attack.[2]

Finally on 13 August at 11 am the British attacked from the south west, and took the garrison by complete surprise.[8] The soldiers and militiamen had only just prepared a meal which meant that main door of the fort was wide open with only two soldiers guarding the barracks. In addition only four men were guarding the fort walls. When the assault began, only two of those four guards were able to enter before the fort door was closed. The English brought with them two hand grenades each, and used them to bomb the door but they could not break it. They then surrounded and attacked the wall where they fired through the gun holes inside. Quickly the British soon found weaknesses in the perimeter where they could fire their muskets at close range - this caused confusion inside the fort.[3]

A little more than fifteen minutes of since the start of the assault, the fort's commander Rodriguez decided he couldn't resist and therefore surrendered.[5]

Aftermath

In total there were four deaths and several wounded among the Spanish. Those who survived were taken prisoner.[3]

Subsequently, the British and misquitos ravaged the surrounding area; cocoa farms were looted; cannons, muskets and ammunition were taken.[2] Once this was done the barracks were burned and the fortress was destroyed. They then made a withdrawal to their beached pirogues Moin and sailed without further incident back to Jamaica.[5]

The fort thus failed to stop the attacks by filibusters and with the forts destruction smuggling continued well until Costa Rica's Independence the following century. San Fernando was the first and last stronghold built by the Spanish in the Costa Rican Caribbean and the fort was never rebuilt.[3] The Spanish in retaliation attempted to rout the British and Miskito's from the area but failed repeatedly.[6]

References
Citations
  1. Marley p 408
  2. Floyd, Troy S (1967). The Anglo-Spanish Struggle for Mosquitia. University of New Mexico Press. pp. 83–85.
  3. Guardia pp 170-72
  4. Black p 128
  5. Laycock
  6. Olsen & Shaddle p.762
  7. Jones, Chester Lloyd (1935). Costa Rica and Civilization in the Caribbean, Chester Lloyd Jones Issue 23 of University of Wisconsin studies in the social sciences and history. University of Wisconsin. p. 16.
  8. Creedman p 114
Bibliography
  • Black, Jeremy (2002). Britain As A Military Power, 1688-1815. Routledge. ISBN 9781135360801.
  • Creedman, Theodore S. (1991). Historical Dictionary of Costa Rica Volume 16 of Historical Dictionaries of Latin America. Scarecrow Pres. ISBN 9780810822153.
  • Guardia, Ricardo Fernández (2006). Crónicas Coloniales de Costa Rica Volume 9 of Obras completas. EUNED. ISBN 9789968314817. (Spanish)
  • Laycock, Stuart (2012). All the Countries We've Ever Invaded. The History Press. ISBN 9780752483351.
  • Marley, David (2008). Wars of the Americas: A Chronology of Armed Conflict in the Western Hemisphere. ABC CLIO. ISBN 978-1598841008.
  • Olson, James Stuart (1996). Historical Dictionary of the British Empire, Volume 2. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 9780313279171.
External links
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