BATTLE OF ST GEORGE'S CAYE DAY

A Remembrance Ceremony is held at the Historic Cemetery each year and afterwards a celebration is held at the Sand Bar.  At the cemetery a wreath is displayed and the list or person interred or passed are read and a bell tolled for them.  On long weekends when residents decorate their homes and prizes have been awarded for the best decorated home.

Public Holiday Declared in 1898

In 1898, 100 years after the Battle, the Colonial Secretary declared September 9th and 10th public holidays in remembrance of this historic event. Today only one day is given as a public holiday. The photo below is from the Battle of St George's Caye Day parade in Belize City in 1923.

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The Battle of St. George's Caye

​Words by William Hemstead, music by Arther Baber
First sung at Patriotic meetings held in 1898 and for many years was the only patriotic song in Belize.

1. Twas a very dark, sultry and warm summers night, when
St. George’s Caye people saw a very strange sight.
A Bungie full of Soldiers, all armed for a fray;
Came sailing from Windward o’er Honduras Bay.

Chorus
Sing, turala, turala, turala rey.
And they drove all those Spaniards, so far, far away,
Sing Turala, Turala, Turala rey
And they made them all scamper from St. George’s Caye.

2. The battle was fierce, and the battle was long
The pork and dough sticks, were both sharp and strong
And each handy Bayman, grasped one in his hand
Saying we’ll chuck all those Spaniards, the moment they land.

3. As their hearts beat together, in battle affray,
Each Bayman grew happier as they fought on that day.
As they chuck them and speared them, there hearts then grew bold
And they made them all Scamper from St. George’s Caye.

4. As they beat them & poked them & drove them away like fleas,
Right into salt water, way up to their knees
Some poled to their bungies and sailed straight away
Saying Vamonos compadre from St. George’s Caye

5. The bungies got lost, was the general belief,
Way out on a spit, on a small bit of reef.
And nought was ere seen of their Kelson or keel
Likewise all those Spaniards, and General O’Niel.

6. The battle now over a hard victory brought,
Each Gallant old Bayman, like the devil had fought.
And this came their freedom, by sweat of their brow
And that was the end of St. George’s Caye row.

Presented in Stephen Fairweather's book 

How the Celebration Started

An Editorial appearing in the Colonial Guardian newspaper of 1898 mentioned in part that “the subject of the celebration of the Battle of St. George’s Caye is now occupying the public mind. That such an event ought to be celebrated by the inhabitants of British Honduras with some pomp and circumstance goes without saying; for not only is it by far the greatest and most glorious event in the annals of this portion of Central America, but it secured forever for the Baymen and their descendants and successors civil and religious liberty and good government…That we have not suffered during the last hundred years what all Latin America for long suffered… is due to the heroism of the victors of the Battle of St. George’s Caye on the 10th September, 1798, whose glorious deed of ‘derring-do’ may the inhabitants of British Honduras ever keep in grateful remembrance.”

On 6th April 1898 a public meeting was held at Riverside Hall on North Front Street in Belize City to consider the celebration and commemoration of the Centenary of the Battle. Addresses were delivered by Henry Charles Usher, J.P., Dr. Charles R. Eyles, R.H. Logan, Sydney Gower Woods, and Carl Metzgen. Some of the resolutions made were that a) the event be celebrated, commemorated and duly observed each year after this; b) that 10th September be declared a public holiday; c) a Committee of forty members be appointed with power to add to their number for the purpose of carrying out the objects of the resolutions.

Since 1898, the anniversary of the battle has been commemorated every year in the 10th September with various levels of festivities. One sad incident marred the celebrations in 1931 when the worst disaster to affect the country in the form of a hurricane devastated Belize on the 10th September and left 2,000 persons missing or dead.

There are several names that could be mentioned as playing significant roles in the Battle of St. George’s Caye and its aftermath, but there is one we would like to especially honor. He is remembered as, not as one who fought in the Battle, having been born 35 years later, but one who succeeded in preserving for us a significant yearly celebration of the Battle.

Simon Lamb, born in 1833 and died in 1913, was described as a man of vision, who succeeded in allowing generations of Belizean to recognize the 10th of September and celebrate accordingly every year.

Source: Vernon, L. (1994) I Love to Tell The Story. Heritage Printers, Belize City

10th Day of September Song

Fr. Bernard Abeling wrote the song: "It was the Tenth Day of September, the 98th Anno Domini". There have been many musical versions of the song, a march, but the words have remained the same. Fr. Abeling was the brother or Dr. Karl Heusner's wife Kate Abeling. Fr. Abeling was a Jesuit priest in Belize in the early 1900s. Courtesy Michael Heusner

By Father Bernard Abeling

It was the 10th day of September
In ninety-eight Anno Domini
when our fore-fathers
won the glorious fight
at Old St. George's Caye
Hip! Hip! Hurrah. Hip! Hip! Hurrah.

Then hail them - cheer them.
Let our grateful loyal hearts not fail them,
as we march and sing and shout in merry glee
The Battle of St. George's Caye.
Hip! Hip! Hurrah. Hip! Hip! Hurrah.

---

Matthew the Bayman

By John M Searle

In 1954 in celebration of the 156th anniversary of the Battle of St. George's Caye, the town board offered prizes for the best patriotic poem concerning the battle.  John M Searle was 17 years old and a student at the Technical High School, and submitted this poem which came in first place!  Here Mr Searle recites his poem in our virtual Battle of St George's Caye Day celebration in 2020.

MATTHEW WAS A BAYMAN
LIVING IN A SHACK
HIS HAIR WAS WHITE AND CURLY
HIS EYES WERE SHINING BLACK

EVERYBODY KNEW HIM
THIS NEGRO OLD AND GREY
FOR HE WENT ABOUT HIS BUSINESS
IN HIS OWN QUIET WAY

OLD MATTHEW LOVED THE CHILDREN
AND THOUGH HIS FRIENDS WERE FEW
EVERYONE THAT KNEW HIM
DEARLY LOVED HIM TOO

ALL THE CHILDREN LOVED HIM
FOR HE TOLD THEM STORIES BOLD
OF GREAT BLACK BEARDED PIRATES
AND SPANISH SHIPS OF OLD

BUT HIS GREATEST STORY EVER
WAS THE ONE HE TOLD TO ME
OF THE BAYMEN’S GLORIOUS ACTION
AT THE BATTLE OF THE CAYE

WORD WAS SENT TO MATTHEW
THAT THE SPANIARDS WOULD ATTACK
SO ALL TOOK ARMS TOGETHER
WHETHER WHITE OR BROWN OR BLACK

THE SPANIARDS WERE ATTACKING
THEY WERE COMING O’ER THE REEF
THIRTY STATELY GALLEONS
UNDER A SPANISH CHIEF

THEY CAME WITH STEADFAST ORDERS
TO TAKE OUR LAND SO DEAR
BUT MEN CAME FROM THE BORDERS
ON FIGHTING BENT, T’WAS CLEAR

THE ENEMY WERE FALLING
OUR WOUNDED, THEY WERE FEW
ERE TWO SHORT HOURS OF FIGHTING
THE ENEMY HOVE TO

THEY CAME TO DRIVE US OUT
THAT TENTH DAY OF SEPTEMBER
BUT OUR BAYMEN EARNED A NAME
IN THE BATTLE WE REMEMBER

THIS TALE OLD MATTHEW TOLD
THE ONE I THOUGHT SO GRAND
IT TELLS HOW WELL THE BAYMEN
FOUGHT TO SAVE THIS LAND

ALL THE BAYMEN IN THAT FIGHT
WERE TURNED AWAY QUITE FREE
AND THAT IS HOW THIS FREEDOM
IS PASSED TO YOU AND ME

THERE ARE NO LONGER SLAVEMEN
CROSSING O’ER THE SEA
AND ALL THE SLAVES THAT DID EXIST
ARE ROAMING NOW QUITE FREE

ALAS, OLD MATTHEW’S DEAD
BUT ON THE DAY HE DIED
MANY FOLK WERE SAD
AND MANY CHILDREN CRIED

AND IN YON GRAVE QUITE SHALLOW
WHERE NOW HIS BODY LIES
HIS EYES, NO LONGER SHINING
FACE TOWARDS THE SKIES

HIS SOUL NO LONGER LINGERS
AROUND THE GRASSY SOD
IT’S ROAMING THERE IN HEAVEN
WITH OUR ALMIGHTY GOD