Thomas Cumming was an American merchant of the 18th century who built up a large commercial empire in West Africa.
He is best known for the role he played in the 1758 Capture of Senegal in which he submitted a plan to the British war leader William Pitt which advocated an attack on France's valuable but ill-defended African colonies.
[2] Cumming had travelled to West Africa extensively, and was aware of the enormous wealth and future potential of the French colonies along the Sénégal and Gambia rivers.
He was successful, and a number of African troops assisted the British in capturing the settlement of Saint Louis which fell without firing a shot.
Pitt was impressed enough to send two further expeditions which led to the capture of the island of Gorée and the French trading station on the Gambia.