By January 1810, Guadeloupe was the last French colony standing in the Americas. Every other foothold — Martinique, Cayenne, the Îles des Saintes — had fallen to British invasion forces during the previous year. The island's garrison was starving, riddled with disease, and watching its militia desert in droves. Napoleon's government had tried repeatedly to send supply ships across the Atlantic, but the Royal Navy's blockade intercepted nearly every one. When 6,700 British troops finally came ashore, the question was not whether Guadeloupe would fall, but how quickly.
The British strategy in the Caribbean during the Napoleonic Wars was methodical strangulation. Royal Navy squadrons patrolled the coasts of both France and its Caribbean colonies, intercepting communications, seizing trade vessels, and preventing reinforcement. For the French colonies, the effect was devastating. Food grew scarce, economies collapsed, and military morale eroded year by year. In the summer of 1808, the commanders of Martinique and Guadeloupe sent desperate messages to Paris begging for supplies and soldiers. France responded by dispatching frigates and smaller vessels, but most were captured by British blockade ships before they reached the Caribbean. Those few that slipped through found themselves trapped in port, unable to risk the return voyage. The British, having intercepted several of these pleas, decided to act before any substantial relief could arrive. Under Vice-Admiral Alexander Cochrane and Lieutenant General George Beckwith, forces gathered off Barbados in late 1808 and began the systematic conquest of the French West Indies.
Cayenne was the first to go, invaded and captured in early January 1809. Martinique followed later that month, falling after twenty-five days of fighting in the island's central highlands. Cochrane then dispatched ships to support the Spanish siege of Santo Domingo while maintaining the blockade around the Leeward Islands. In April 1809, a French reinforcement squadron — three ships of the line and two supply frigates — reached the Îles des Saintes south of Guadeloupe, only to find themselves immediately blockaded. When the British invaded the Saintes on April 14, the French squadron escaped under cover of darkness, but the effort unraveled quickly. One ship of the line, the D'Hautpoul, was captured near Puerto Rico after a three-day chase. The two frigates made it to Basse-Terre with supplies, but when they tried to run for France in June, both were eventually caught. A final resupply attempt in November 1809 ended when British warships destroyed two armed storeships off Guadeloupe's southern coast. The island was utterly alone.
Beckwith assembled his invasion force at Fort Royal, Martinique — 6,700 men drawn from West India Regiments, regular infantry battalions, garrison artillery, and militia units. The French defenders numbered between 3,000 and 4,000 on paper, but an epidemic had rendered much of the 66th Line Infantry Regiment unfit for duty. The militia, composed of local inhabitants demoralized by years of privation, was unreliable. Governor-General Jean Augustin Ernouf could not even garrison the island's full perimeter. On January 27, 1810, Cochrane and Beckwith sailed from Dominica. The main force landed at Sainte-Marie and split into two columns, one marching north and the other south toward Basse-Terre. Militia forces melted away as the British advanced, abandoning fortifications without a fight. By January 30, Ernouf had consolidated his remaining regulars on the Beaupère-St. Louis Ridge, the highland approaches to the capital. A second British division under Brigadier General Harcourt landed north of Basse-Terre, outflanking the strongest French positions at Trois-Rivières. While Ernouf retreated, Commodore Fahie seized his chance — landing Royal Marines in the undefended town of Basse-Terre itself, cutting off the governor's escape. Surrounded and outnumbered, Ernouf requested a truce on February 4 and formally surrendered the following day.
British casualties were remarkably light: 52 killed, 250 wounded, and seven missing. French losses were heavier — between 500 and 600 casualties across the campaign. Within weeks, the nearby Dutch colonies of Sint Maarten, Sint Eustatius, and Saba surrendered without a fight to ships from Cochrane's fleet. The fall of Guadeloupe marked the end of every French territory in the Caribbean. The entire region was now controlled by Britain or Spain, with the sole exception of independent Haiti. Guadeloupe remained a British colony until Napoleon's abdication in 1814, when it was restored to France under the Treaty of Paris. The arrangement lasted barely a year. During the Hundred Days in 1815, Guadeloupe's governor declared for the returning emperor, prompting yet another British invasion — though a much smaller one — to restore the Bourbon monarchy. Four decades later, in 1847, veterans of the 1810 campaign could still apply for a clasp on the Naval General Service Medal or Military General Service Medal recognizing their participation, a small piece of metal acknowledging nine cold, swift days in the Caribbean sun.
Guadeloupe is located at approximately 16.25°N, 61.58°W in the Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles. The butterfly-shaped island comprises Basse-Terre (mountainous, western wing) and Grande-Terre (flat, eastern wing). Key invasion sites include Sainte-Marie on the eastern coast, Trois-Rivières on the southern coast, and the capital Basse-Terre on the southwestern coast. The Beaupère-St. Louis Ridge is visible as highland terrain inland from Basse-Terre. Nearest major airport is Pointe-à-Pitre Le Raizet (TFFR) on Grande-Terre. The Îles des Saintes are visible to the south.