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Recapture of Bahia
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Recapture of Bahia
The recapture of Bahia (Portuguese: Jornada dos Vassalos; Spanish: Jornada del Brasil) was a Spanish–Portuguese military expedition in 1625 to retake the city of Bahia (now Salvador) in Brazil from the forces of the Dutch West India Company (WIC).
In May 1624, Dutch WIC forces under Jacob Willekens captured Salvador from the Portuguese. Philip IV, king of Spain and Portugal, ordered the assembly of a combined army and naval task force with the objective of recovering the city. The task force, consisting of Spanish and Italian tercios and Spanish and Portuguese naval units, was commanded by Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo y Mendoza, who was appointed Captain General of the Army of Brazil. The fleet crossed the Atlantic Ocean, and arrived at Salvador on 1 April 1625. The town was besieged for several weeks, after which it was recaptured. This resulted in the expulsion of the Dutch from the city and the nearby areas. The city was a strategically important Portuguese base in the struggle against the Dutch for control of Brazil.
On 22 December 1623, a Dutch fleet under the command of Admiral Jacob Willekens and Vice Admiral Pieter Heyn consisting of 35 ships, of which 13 were owned by the United Provinces, while the rest belonged to the WIC, sailed from Texel carrying 6,500 men en route to Cape Verde, where they arrived after being scattered by a storm. There Willekens revealed that his objective was the capture of the city of Salvador, on the coast of Brazil, in order to use its port as a commercial base to ensure the Dutch trade with the East Indies. In addition they would control much of the sugar production in the region, as Salvador was a major center of its production in the area. These intentions to invade Brazil were soon reported to the court of Madrid by the Spanish spies in the Netherlands, but Count-Duke of Olivares did not give them credit.
On 8 May, the Dutch fleet appeared off Salvador. The Portuguese governor of Salvador, Diogo de Mendonça Furtado, organized the defense of the town by hastily recruiting 3,000 men. This Portuguese militia was composed mainly of peasant levees and black slaves, many of whom were resentful of Spanish rule. The port was protected by sea by two forts: Fort Santo Antônio from the east and Fort São Filipe from the west. Additionally, a six-gun battery was erected on the beach and the streets were barricaded.
The Dutch fleet entered the bay divided into two squadrons. One sailed towards the beach of Santo António and disembarked the soldiers commanded by Colonel Johan van Dorth. The other anchored offshore and opened fire on the coastal defenses, which were quickly neutralized. At dawn the city was surrounded by more than 1,000 Dutch soldiers with 2 pieces of artillery. Intimidated, the Portuguese militia threw down their weapons and fled, leaving Mendonça with 60 loyal soldiers. Salvador had been captured at a cost of 50 casualties among the attackers.
Willekens and Heyn installed a garrison under the command of Dorth before departing on new missions, according to the orders they had received. Four ships were sent to Holland carrying booty and news back, and also instructions to call for reinforcements to secure Salvador. The defenses of the city were reinforced and expanded with moats and ramparts and the garrison was soon increased to up to 2,500 men with numerous slaves of the Portuguese seduced by promises of freedom and land.
However, the Dutch garrison soon began to be harassed by the local guerrilla organized by Bishop Dom Marcos Teixeira, who had escaped inland. He managed to assemble a force of 1,400 Portuguese and 250 Indian auxiliaries, who built fortifications and organized ambushes against the Dutch in the surrounding forests. Dorth was killed while attempting to drive off the attackers from the outskirts of town, and morale sagged. He was replaced by Albert Schoutens, who also perished in a later ambush and was replaced by his brother Willem Schoutens.
When news of the loss of Salvador arrived to Spain in August 1624, Philip IV ordered to assemble a joint Spanish-Portuguese fleet under Admiral Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo y Mendoza with the mission to retake the city. On 22 November, the Portuguese fleet under Manuel de Menezes, with Francisco de Almeida as second in command, left Lisbon. It was composed of 22 ships and about 4,000 men. The Spanish fleet left the port of Cádiz on 14 January after a delay caused by bad weather. It was composed by 38 ships belonging to the armadas of Castile, Biscay, Gibraltar, and Cuatro Villas, among them 21 galleons. It had 8,000 sailors and soldiers on board, being those latter divided in three tercios, of whom one was Italian and the other two Spanish. Its commanding officers were the maestros de campo Pedro Osorio, Juan de Orellana, and Carlo Andrea Caracciolo, Marquis of Torrecuso. The commander-in-chief of the joint army was Pedro Rodríguez de Sebastián, seconded by Sargento Mayor Diego Ruiz.
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Recapture of Bahia
The recapture of Bahia (Portuguese: Jornada dos Vassalos; Spanish: Jornada del Brasil) was a Spanish–Portuguese military expedition in 1625 to retake the city of Bahia (now Salvador) in Brazil from the forces of the Dutch West India Company (WIC).
In May 1624, Dutch WIC forces under Jacob Willekens captured Salvador from the Portuguese. Philip IV, king of Spain and Portugal, ordered the assembly of a combined army and naval task force with the objective of recovering the city. The task force, consisting of Spanish and Italian tercios and Spanish and Portuguese naval units, was commanded by Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo y Mendoza, who was appointed Captain General of the Army of Brazil. The fleet crossed the Atlantic Ocean, and arrived at Salvador on 1 April 1625. The town was besieged for several weeks, after which it was recaptured. This resulted in the expulsion of the Dutch from the city and the nearby areas. The city was a strategically important Portuguese base in the struggle against the Dutch for control of Brazil.
On 22 December 1623, a Dutch fleet under the command of Admiral Jacob Willekens and Vice Admiral Pieter Heyn consisting of 35 ships, of which 13 were owned by the United Provinces, while the rest belonged to the WIC, sailed from Texel carrying 6,500 men en route to Cape Verde, where they arrived after being scattered by a storm. There Willekens revealed that his objective was the capture of the city of Salvador, on the coast of Brazil, in order to use its port as a commercial base to ensure the Dutch trade with the East Indies. In addition they would control much of the sugar production in the region, as Salvador was a major center of its production in the area. These intentions to invade Brazil were soon reported to the court of Madrid by the Spanish spies in the Netherlands, but Count-Duke of Olivares did not give them credit.
On 8 May, the Dutch fleet appeared off Salvador. The Portuguese governor of Salvador, Diogo de Mendonça Furtado, organized the defense of the town by hastily recruiting 3,000 men. This Portuguese militia was composed mainly of peasant levees and black slaves, many of whom were resentful of Spanish rule. The port was protected by sea by two forts: Fort Santo Antônio from the east and Fort São Filipe from the west. Additionally, a six-gun battery was erected on the beach and the streets were barricaded.
The Dutch fleet entered the bay divided into two squadrons. One sailed towards the beach of Santo António and disembarked the soldiers commanded by Colonel Johan van Dorth. The other anchored offshore and opened fire on the coastal defenses, which were quickly neutralized. At dawn the city was surrounded by more than 1,000 Dutch soldiers with 2 pieces of artillery. Intimidated, the Portuguese militia threw down their weapons and fled, leaving Mendonça with 60 loyal soldiers. Salvador had been captured at a cost of 50 casualties among the attackers.
Willekens and Heyn installed a garrison under the command of Dorth before departing on new missions, according to the orders they had received. Four ships were sent to Holland carrying booty and news back, and also instructions to call for reinforcements to secure Salvador. The defenses of the city were reinforced and expanded with moats and ramparts and the garrison was soon increased to up to 2,500 men with numerous slaves of the Portuguese seduced by promises of freedom and land.
However, the Dutch garrison soon began to be harassed by the local guerrilla organized by Bishop Dom Marcos Teixeira, who had escaped inland. He managed to assemble a force of 1,400 Portuguese and 250 Indian auxiliaries, who built fortifications and organized ambushes against the Dutch in the surrounding forests. Dorth was killed while attempting to drive off the attackers from the outskirts of town, and morale sagged. He was replaced by Albert Schoutens, who also perished in a later ambush and was replaced by his brother Willem Schoutens.
When news of the loss of Salvador arrived to Spain in August 1624, Philip IV ordered to assemble a joint Spanish-Portuguese fleet under Admiral Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo y Mendoza with the mission to retake the city. On 22 November, the Portuguese fleet under Manuel de Menezes, with Francisco de Almeida as second in command, left Lisbon. It was composed of 22 ships and about 4,000 men. The Spanish fleet left the port of Cádiz on 14 January after a delay caused by bad weather. It was composed by 38 ships belonging to the armadas of Castile, Biscay, Gibraltar, and Cuatro Villas, among them 21 galleons. It had 8,000 sailors and soldiers on board, being those latter divided in three tercios, of whom one was Italian and the other two Spanish. Its commanding officers were the maestros de campo Pedro Osorio, Juan de Orellana, and Carlo Andrea Caracciolo, Marquis of Torrecuso. The commander-in-chief of the joint army was Pedro Rodríguez de Sebastián, seconded by Sargento Mayor Diego Ruiz.
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