The Morning Star and the First Light of Conflict: Mosquitos' Introduction into the Revolutionary War

The Revolutionary War did not arrive on the Mosquito Coast in 1780 with the San Juan River expedition, but in April 1776. On the last day of that month, two sloops flying Dutch colours and manned by “North-American privateers” seized a 150-ton British trading vessel anchored offshore in Black River in sight of the Superintendent. The captured ship, The Morning Star, had just completed a 97-day voyage returning a delegation of Miskitu headmen from a year spent in London, during which one of them had become the de facto leader of his people. Having successfully brought the new “King George II” and his entourage back home, the vessel was boarded by raiders and transported to Cartagena, where its capture ignited a diplomatic maelstrom that shaped Anglo-Miskitu relations over the course of the ensuing conflict.

My paper juxtaposes firsthand accounts which attributed The Morning Star’s capture to “North American” rebels with those that said the privateers were unmistakably Spaniards in an effort at understanding why the latter gained acceptance in London by April 1777. It compares statements from the Governor of Jamaica and other officials that foregrounded the presence of Patriots with ones asserting the involvement of Spanish privateers to elucidate the Revolutionary War’s inaugural episode in Central America. Using newspaper accounts, archival records, and sworn affidavits, it places the seizure of The Morning Star in both hemispheric and transatlantic frames, showing how fears of a resurgent Spanish-Miskitu alliance after 1768 superseded concerns regarding colonial privateering on the eve of American Independence.