Way out among the Caribbean isles lies Sint Eustatius, known locally as Statia. This Dutch island was home to a small Jewish community that played an active role in the American Revolution.
Jews began settling on Eustatius in the late 1600s, and, by the 1750s, were sufficiently settled to build a synagogue, Chonen Dalim. Some Jews were plantation owners, but most were merchants and shopkeepers. On the whole, St. Eustatians were involved in commerce, and the island became a regional hub, with ships of various nations pulling into port to resupply and purchase goods. These Jews, with their business acumen, were able to fit right in.
The American Revolution
With the outbreak of the American Revolution, out-of-the-way Statia played a major logistical role for the Continental Army. Small American ships evading the British naval blockade on the colonies docked in Dutch St. Eustatius to stock up on much-needed military supplies and gunpowder.
It was the help of the Eustatius merchants—among them many Jews—that kept Washington’s cannons firing. In fact, the island was even the first to accord diplomatic status to the American flag on November 16, 1776, when the American naval ship, the Andrew Doria, fired an honorary 13-gun salute and received one in turn from the military fort guarding the island. Governor Johannes de Graff then hosted a dinner honoring his American guests.
This incident is recorded as the first diplomatic recognition of the United States as an independent country by a foreign power.
Admiral Rodney Comes to Town
Naturally, the British were not pleased about the munition smuggling, nor the honor accorded to an American naval vessel. They sent a protest to Holland and demanded that the island’s governor, Governor Johannes de Graff, be recalled.
While the governor was eventually recalled, smuggling at Eustatius continued at full force. American merchant ships were still supplied with gunpowder and munitions, and American privateering ships continued to be outfitted with cannons.
The British eventually decided that they had had enough.
Admiral George Rodney, a prestigious naval commander with decades of experience, was given secret orders to take the war to the Dutch and seize St. Eustatius. On February 3, 1781, Rodney sailed into the port with a massive fleet and thousands of soldiers. The Dutch, who had no idea that war had been declared between them and Great Britain, had only a tiny garrison on the island. They were in no shape to offer any resistance, and the island was taken without fight.
Once comfortably ensconced in the former Governor’s residence, Rodney ordered that the Dutch flag remain flying on the island to lure in any American and French ships in the region. Although this was contrary to the understood rules of war, Rodney viewed these American and French vessels as pirate ships, and he therefore felt justified in taking any action necessary.
Evidently, the ploy worked, as the admiral wrote to his wife in March, “Upwards of Fifty American vessels loaded with tobacco have been taken since the capture of this island.” He also wrote about the vast riches available for the taking: “The riches of St. Eustatius are beyond all comprehension … All the magazines and storehouses are filled, and even the beach covered with tobacco and sugar.”
Rodney was cashing in. But he was also determined to punish the residents of the island for their involvement in the munitions trade. Especially the Jews.
Persecution of the Jews
Determined to confiscate all hard cash from the “nest of vipers,” as Rodney termed the island, he ordered that all residents were to be treated as prisoners of war, and their property confiscated for the Crown. This was followed by the appropriation of all the warehouses on the island, and the expulsion of foreign merchants.
Rodney, however, had it in for the Jews the worst. Arresting 101 Jewish men (probably the entirety or at the very least the vast majority of the male Jewish population), Admiral Rodney had them locked in a warehouse and stripped, to ensure that no money was hidden in their clothes. While this was happening, soldiers ransacked their houses and stores, seizing any cash they could find. Convinced that the Jews were hiding money from him, Rodney even ordered that the cemetery be dug up!
After three days, they were released, but 30 Jews were expelled from the island. While Rodney allowed non–Jewish merchants he deported to depart with their families and belongings, he did not allow the same for the Jews, and they were exiled alone to nearby St. Kitts.
Reactions
Rodney’s brutal treatment of the Jews did not go unnoticed. Some of them were able to petition contacts in London, and Rodney’s conduct was attacked on the floor of Parliament by Lord Edmund Burke.
Additionally, Rodney was responsible for a significant military failure. While busy seizing the riches on the island, he allowed a large French fleet commanded by Admiral de Gras to slip past and continue heading towards the American coast. Had he been more responsible, he could have attempted to turn back the French.
So, while Rodney sailed home to defend his actions in parliament, the French continued their way up the Chesapeake.
Yorktown
While all of this was happening, the American Revolution was wrapping up. George Washington, having heard in the summer of 1781 that De Grass was heading for the Chesapeake Bay, marched south with a united French and American army, catching British General Charles Cornwallis off guard at Yorktown, Virginia.
At the same time, De Grasse led his fleet into the Chesapeake to cut off the British escape at sea, in the process defeating a British fleet at the Battle of the Chesapeake, which, because of Rodney’s absence, was left to the less experienced Thomas Graves.
With no opposition left at sea, De Grass moved to complete the encirclement of the British, and the combined artillery of the American and French militaries bombarded the British into surrender on October 17, 1781.
G‑d’s Hand
A large combination of factors had to coincide for the British encirclement and defeat at Yorktown, but among them was the fact that the highly experienced Admiral Rodney was not available to take on the approaching French fleet. He was busy gathering riches and persecuting the Jews.
In a way, Rodney’s actions at Statia were a cog in the wheel to American victory at Yorktown. As an isolated event, it does not appear to have much significance. But if viewed with a greater lens, we can see G‑d’s hand orchestrating events for America to become an independent country and a safe haven for millions of Jewish refugees in the future.
Oh, and Admiral Rodney? Well, he did continue to have a successful career, but a good part of the riches he seized from Eustacia was captured by the French while being shipped back to England, and the French ended up capturing the island not long after Washington’s victory at Yorktown.
Join the Discussion