After the Jamaica Committee—that is, the army dispatched by Parliament—was defeated by the Jamaica Abolitionist Organization, the rebels had already formed an encirclement around the capital, Kingston.
Governor Lord Cumberland hurriedly appealed to the United Kingdom for aid.
Considering Jamaica's enormous economic value, Pitt the Younger dispatched an Expeditionary Force almost without hesitation.
General Brand strode onto the dock, turned to look at the soldiers disembarking from the transport ship Little Gray Elephant, and shouted, "Move faster, you worthless lot! Every extra minute you waste here, those Negroes may destroy another plantation!"
Taking the reins from his attendant, he said to a staff officer, "Send out scouts at once and confirm the Negro army's location. Oh, and contact Lord Cumberland as quickly as possible. Tell him to prepare a victory feast for the soldiers."
It was not that he was arrogant. The troops he had brought included elites such as the 2nd Regiment of Guards Grenadiers, the King's Attendant Infantry Regiment, and the 1st and 2nd Regiments of Carbine Dragoons.
According to the reports previously sent back by the Jamaica Committee, the island's "Mulattoes"—that is, the Mixed-Blood troops—numbered fewer than a thousand, and their military training was exceedingly mediocre.
As for the Black troops, there were more than three thousand of them, but they were mostly plantation slaves who had only learned to fire guns not long ago.
With his four thousand elite soldiers, dealing with these rebels would be as easy as turning over his hand.
But his time was also extremely tight. Once he had dealt with Jamaica's Negroes, he still had to hurry to the Bahamas Archipelago, where the Blacks had likewise erupted in Rebellion at the end of last year.
Brand swung up onto his horse and said to the staff officer, "Set up camp north