The last invasion of Britain began on this day 213 years ago. 1,400 French Revolutionary Army troops from the Black Legion, under the command of the American Colonel William Tate, landed near Fishguard on the west coast of Wales. They seized a number of farmhouses and started moving inland, securing good vantage points and setting ambushes for an anticipated battle with the British defensive forces.
Thomas Knox was the commander of the Fishguard & Newport Volunteer Infantry. On hearing of the invasion, he valued discretion more highly than valour and instructed his men to retreat before they encountered the invaders. Meanwhile the invading forces had discovered a stash of wine from a Portuguese ship which had recently been shipwrecked, and they were soon in no condition to engage in vigorous battle.
Buoyed by Knox’s courageous retreat, Jemima Nicholas, a local lady in her mid forties, grabbed her pitchfork and went out into the fields, capturing 12 French prisoners and locking them inside St Mary’s Church. In the face of such formidable opposition, the French realised that their only hope was to surrender unconditionally on the afternoon of 24 February 1797. The captured French prisoners were sent home in a prisoner exchange the following year.