Qualla: Siege of Fort St Philip (1756)

Siege of Fort St Philip (1756): Introduction

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Artiste inconnu, édité à Paris., Public domain. The English, Voltaire wrote, "shoot an admiral from time to time, to encourage the others." He was talking about John Byng, executed in March 1757 for failing to relieve Fort St. Philip on Menorca -- a fortress whose fall the previous summer had triggered one of the great scandals of 18th-century British military history. The siege lasted seventy days. Its consequences lasted far longer.

Image: Artiste inconnu, édité à Paris. | Public domain

Siege of Fort St Philip (1756): An Island Already Lost

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Artiste inconnu, Public domain. By the time the French arrived in April 1756, Menorca was a fortress in name only. Britain had held the island since 1708, receiving it formally under the Treaty of Utrecht in 1714, and had treated it with the neglect that comes from assuming a possession is secure. A parliamenta...

Image: Artiste inconnu | Public domain

Siege of Fort St Philip (1756): Seventy Days

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit dbking, CC BY 2.0. The Duke de Richelieu sailed from Marseille on April 10 with 16,000 troops and seventeen warships. By April 18 he had landed on Menorca and occupied most of the island. The bombardment of Fort St. Philip began on May 8. Blakeney had used the warning time to strengthen his fortifi...

Image: dbking | CC BY 2.0

Siege of Fort St Philip (1756): The Cost of Failure

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Nicolas Ozanne, Public domain. The butcher's bill told different stories depending on which side you counted. The British garrison lost 59 killed and 149 wounded. French casualties were staggering by comparison: roughly 1,600 dead and 2,000 wounded, a testament to the ferocity of the defense even under despera...

Image: Nicolas Ozanne | Public domain

Siege of Fort St Philip (1756): Traded Like Currency

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Artiste inconnu, édité à Paris., Public domain. Menorca became a bargaining chip. France appointed Hyacinthe Gaetan de Lannion as governor and held the island until the Treaty of Paris in 1763, when Britain traded Guadeloupe to get it back. The exchange speaks volumes about 18th-century imperial priorities -- a Caribbean sugar...

Image: Artiste inconnu, édité à Paris. | Public domain