Attack on Saint Martin 1644
_Stuyvesant_portrait_c1660.jpg){kind=link}
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 20 March 1644 – 17 April 1644 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1644 | Wikidata P580 (start time) |
| Era | Early modern (1500–1799) | derived from year |
| Location | Sint Maarten | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | North America | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Eighty Years' War | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Dutch Republic, Hispanic Monarchy | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 18.0237, -63.0458 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Attack on Saint Martin was a failed attempt by the Dutch Republic to recapture the island and former base of the Dutch West India Company (WIC) from the Spanish. In 1633 the Spanish had invaded Saint-Martin (Sint Maarten) and Anguilla, driving off the French and Dutch inhabitants. The French and Dutch banded together to repel the Spanish and it in 1644 the Dutch commander Peter Stuyvesant, later the governor of New Amsterdam, unsuccessfully besieged Fort Amsterdam and was forced to retreat with the loss of hundreds of men. A stray Spanish cannonball shattered his leg, which had to be amputated. But luck was on the Dutch side, and when the Eighty Years' War between Spain and the Netherlands ended, the Spanish no longer needed a Caribbean base and just sailed away in 1648.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Attack on Saint Martin (revision 1370429554), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Battle of Anguilla 1745 · 18 km
- Capture of Sint Eustatius 1781 · 60 km
- Siege of Brimstone Hill 1782 · 109 km
- Battle of Saint Kitts 1782 · 109 km
- Battle of St. Kitts (1629) 1629 · 109 km
- Battle of Nevis 1667 · 114 km
Other battles of the Eighty Years' War
- Action of 18 February 1639 1639
- Battle of the Downs 1639
- Battle of Cape St. Vincent (1641) 1641
- Battle of San Salvador (1641) 1641
- Battle of San Salvador (1642) 1642
- Siege of Hulst (1645) 1645
- Siege of Dunkirk (1646) 1646
- Battle of Puerto de Cavite 1647
All 110 battles of the Eighty Years' War →
Browse more: battles in Sint Maarten · North America · Early modern battles