San Juan Expedition (1780)

San Juan Expedition

Captain Horatio Nelson, painted by John Francis Rigaud in 1781, with Fort San Juan in the background.

Date	March 17 – November 8, 1780
Location	San Juan River, present-day Nicaragua
Result	Decisive Spanish victory

Belligerents

Spain

Great Britain

Commanders and leaders

Matías de Gálvez
Juan de Ayssa (POW)

John Polson †
Horatio Nelson

Strength

160 soldiers and militia (Fort San Juan),
500 militia (Granada's outskirts)

3,000 soldiers, militia, sailors, free blacks and miskito indians,
1 frigate,
2 brigs,
3 sloops,
1 tender,
1 transport

Casualties and losses

unknown killed or wounded,
45 captured

2,500 killed or died from disease
2 ships grounded

The San Juan Expedition took place between March and November 1780 during the American War of Independence when a British force under the command of John Polson and Captain Horatio Nelson landed on the coast of the present-day Nicaragua, with the aim of sailing up the San Juan River to capture the strategically crucial towns of Granada and León, located on the northwestern shore of Lake Nicaragua.

Despite an initial success in the capture of the Fortress of the Immaculate Conception, Polson's force never reached Lake Nicaragua and, decimated by yellow fever, was forced to return to Jamaica. The campaign ended in total failure and cost the lives of more than 2,500 men, making it the costliest British disaster of the entire war.

After Spain entered the American Revolutionary War in 1779, Major-General John Dalling, the governor of Jamaica, proposed a military expedition against the Spanish province of Nicaragua, belonging then to the Captaincy General of Guatemala, a dependency of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. The main objective of the expedition was to capture the town of Granada, effectively cutting Spanish America in half and giving Great Britain access to the Pacific Ocean. "The colours of England, were, in their imagination, already in the walls of Lima."

The expedition, consisting of the transport Penelope, two brigs, three sloops, and a tender, the Royal George, sailed from Jamaica on 3 February 1780, escorted by the 21-year-old Captain Horatio Nelson in the 28-gun HMS Hinchinbrook. Nelson was the highest-ranking officer present, but his authority was limited to naval operations. The overall commander was Captain (local rank of major) John Polson, who had at his disposal about 3,000 men, including 100 regulars of the 60th Royal American Regiment under himself, 140 of the 79th Liverpool Blues under Captain Richard Bulkeley, 240 Royal Jamaica Volunteers under Major James Macdonald, 250 members of the Jamaica Legion, and 125 of the Royal Batteaux Corps, plus an unspecified number of black volunteers.

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