324 ISLES OF stair 
During the war of the American revolution the island of New 
Providence was for a brief time a part of the young American 
republic, and the starry flag floated in triumph from all the forts 
and flag staffs of Nassau, and decorated the governor’s house 
on the crest of its hill. The bold and intrepid Commodore Hop- 
kins, with a small body of men, accomplished this result. The 
American commander very soon made up his mind, as did Col- 
umbus before him, that he could do much better elsewhere. In 
fact, there were no lofty mountain crags upon the Bahamas, 
where the great American eagle could build its nest, and no suffi- 
cient room upon the island of New Providence for the national 
bird to fully and comfortably spread its wings. The island 
seemed designed by Divine Providence for parrots and birds that 
were satisfied to spend their lives in the hot sun, admiring the 
beautiful plumage which the brackish waters of the still and 
shallow lagoons reflected. So the Commodore furled the stars 
and stripes, and abandoned as worthless the island he had so gal- 
lantly captured. 
In the year 1781, a Spanish force made up in part of some 
American voluntcers, took military possession of Nassau, and 
garrisoned it with six hundred troops. A short time previous 
to the notification of the treaty of peace, Lieut. Col. Deveaux, 
of the loyal militia of South Carolina, planned, organized and 
led an expedition against Nassau, in which great boldness, in- 
genuity, address and ability were displayed. With two armed 
brigantines and only fifty volunteers, he sailed from St. Augus- 
tine, and, after obtaining some recruits, (principally negroes, ) 
from Eleuthera and the neighboring islands, he landed with his 
little handful of adventurers upon the island of New Providence 
a little to the eastward of Fort Montague. The officers of that 
fort were completely taken unawares, and when the column of 
_ attack reached the ramparts, only one solitary sentinel was in 
