| Show AMERICANS CAPYURED i1A V ANA How Israel Putnam and His Gallant Soldiers Stormed I Moro Castle Stephen Bonsai in the Sew York 1 Herald I So entirely forgotten is one1 chapter 1 of our colonial history that 90 put of1 every 100 readcrs whose eyes fall upon the foregoing headlines will imagine not that he is about to read a veraci j uus < hipt r of our history but aj sketch ur pUJ e imagination like the battle of Perking in which some military mili-tary se > r tYi c the story of how John Bull John bhtrmnn and John Hay combined together and made war upon the dons in Cuba Such is not the case The Anglo American conquest of Cuba which I am about to relate is tli < account of a long forgotten expedition of English troops and an American contingent requisitioned re-quisitioned from the then loyal colonists colon-ists by the home government of the day This interesting episode of the last century phase of the Cuban question ques-tion took place in the summer of 17C2 To avoid tli2 possibility of any misapprehension misap-prehension on the part of my readers t I would like to say that I was not present during this campaign and that th < details of the narrative which follow unless expressly credited to othfet sources are drawn from the colonial histories of Trumbull and Hol lister From this terrible lesson of past ex ppriencp we should draw wisdom by which we may profit in the near future F S Xo American government should ever rermit the landing of a Dingle American Ameri-can ailor or soldier at > or > Cuban soil Whether the season was > > t or dry the mortality from disease anong the troops landed would be terrible Should it ever become necessary for this government 2t gov-ernment to intervene in the Cuban war it should confine itself to a rigid iockad > of the Cuban coast All Spanish Span-ish supplies of food as nell as munitions mu-nitions o wa are received from ayroad and tney would be in a starv nR condition within a month and compelled com-pelled to consent to evacuate the island The AnglnAmerican conquest nf Cuba tf > k place 135 years ao and 14 years Before the declaration jf our Independence Lord Alb mar mailed for Cuba with a great squadron ships of the line six frigates and nearly near-ly 200 transports and slave liipsaiid i landed about a mile from Havana on June 17 1762 The city was immediately immedi-ately tiesiegeil but the rcFBtainf oft of-t w Spaniard was well mjintainfl and the mortality among th British troops who had alk been serving in cold countries was terrible Toward I the end ofJuly indeed 8000 British soldiers andsailors were in the hospitals r hos-pitals and hundreds and indeed thousands had been buried in the enehes of what is now the Cabana fortress When in Havana with the aid of several local historians and antiquarians ireddocuniehijri of the municipality relating 19 this epoch in Havana history I endeavored to locate lo-cate the exact burying place of our colonial trooys but was unsuccessful btt I fu1 I can however be said with certainty that thej are sleeping in unmarked un-marked graves in pne iOf the lower I trenches of this fortress So little headway was being made in I the siege that at one time it was j j seriously considered to eiVe it up and withdraw About this time however I very welcome reinforcenveats reached the bpsiegiiig army in the shape of ofJOOineii from the loyal colonies and tlie siege was prosecuted with re neVed vigor The colonial troops or American contingent were apparently under the command of General Ly man Connecticut and onethird of the troops came from that state In the list of the officers and men we read the familiar names of the Lymans the Whitings the Parsons the Dyers the Spencers the Hinmans the Colts I the Fitches the Durkees the Woos ters and the Wolcotts Lieutenant Lieuttnant I Colonel Putnam who became kijown in the revolution as Old Put was colonel of the Connecticut regiment As the Connecticut contingent approached ap-proached the Cuban coast a terrible storm arose arid the transport that bore Putnam with 500 of his men was driven upon a rift of craggy rocks and wrecked Thus separated from the rest of the fleet so that he could hope for no aid from any external source the surf J rolling mountain high and dashing I against the sides of the ship with such force that she threatened t part her timbers at every stroke of the sea this brave officer looking calmly in the face of death maintained above the noise of the waves a discipline that enabled j him to issue l his orders interruption in-terruption and secured an obedience to them a perfect as if the bold hearted mpn whom he mmmanded had stood upon the ridges of their own cornfields corn-fields I I I In this appalling situation every man who could iidd a uiw or a hammer i I vas empiiycMl in making rafts from spars nl < uiks and the scanty and scattered scat-tered materials that came to hand In I this way a part of the men were landed at the great risk of being drifted far I out into the sea After a few of the I men had been safely disembarked I ropes were lashed to the rafts and those who had thus gained the shore aided in pulling their companions to the beach Such was the address and I caution exercised by Putnam in this most critical of all conditions that not a than was lost Colonel Putnam now Ta pitched his camp and remained several days within 24 miles of the enemy at Carthagena At last the storm abated and the convoy soon after took them aboard and carried them to Havana I These reinforcements put new heart into the British and correspondingly I discouraged the Spaniards The siege was prosecuted with renewed vigor 1 and on Aug 13 Havana surrendered j not however until there had been a i I week of r fierce fighting The English I Eng-lish fleet attempted to sup rt the siege I of the Moro but were roughly received i by the Spaniaras and lost 182 men besides being greatly damaged in hull j mast and rigging so that they were I forced to abandon the conflict The 1 Spaniards who fought throughout with II great vigor and tenacity made one desperate sally and had it succeeded the siege would have been abandoned I but they were beaten back with heavy loss and in this action the historians acton I agreed that a battalion of North Americans I Amer-icans bore a prominent part aiding to II drive the first Spanish column to the I water where 150 men were drowned I The Moro was subsequently stormed I and the Spanish commanqer who refused I re-fused to retreat was killed By thia I I I time the Spaniards were evidently discouraged I I dis-couraged and the AngloAmerican I storming party only suffered a loss of I two officers and 30 men Without I counting the hundreds of the garris j I I who endeavored to escape from the I castle by swimming and were for the mostpart drowned the Spaniards lost i I 530 men killed otttrisht Then the batteries tj bat-teries of the for es were turned upon the city and Havana surrendered the I I terms of the gurrerider placing in the i hands of the English as much 6f the I island of Cubaas extends ISO miles to the west i I II One O the most vivid accounts of tnts i the suffering and the disease that ravaged rav-aged the ales is given by Slarite a i historian who published an accoxint of i the siege in London in the year 1772 i i In the course of his interesting narrative narra-tive lie says i In the acquisition of the Havana i 1 were combined all the advantages that I could be procured in war I was a military victory of the first magnitude I I it was equal to the greatest naval victory I vic-tory by its effects on the marine of I the Spaniards who lost on that occasion I occa-sion a whole fleet The vast quantity of tobaccO and sugar collected at the II I Havana on the Spanish monarchs account count sold on the spot exclusive of t the ships and merchandise sent to and I fold in England for 700000 which I was divided among the conquerors S I L Though a great part of the provisions i brought from England had been spoiled by the heat of the climate the most I distressing circumstances of the campaign cam-paign was the scarcity of water Of the vast catalogue human ills thirst is the most intolerable On this occasion oc-casion it soon caused the tongue to swell extend itself without the lips and become black as in a state of mortification then the whole frame became a prey to the most excruciating excruciat-ing agonies till death at length intervened inter-vened and gave the unhappy sufferer relief In this way hundreds resigned themselves to eternity A greater number fell victims to a putrid fever From the appearance of perfect health three or four short hours robbed them of existence Many tlre were who endured a loathsome disease for days nay weeks together Hying in a state of putrefication their bodies full of vermin and alhiost eaten away before the spark of life extinguished The carrion crows of the country kept constantly stantly hovering over the grayes which rather hid than buried the dead and frequently scratched away the scanty earth leaving in everymangled corpse a spectacle of unspeakable loathsomeness loathsome-ness and terror to those who by being engaged in the same enterprise were exposed to the same fate Hundreds of carcasses were seen floating on the ocean The Earl of Albemarle being expressly express-ly ordered when the Havana service should be over to return the same number of troops to North America that he might receive from thence he embarked the Fifth brigade for that continent but most of them died on the passage OJ in the hospitals immediately immedi-ately on their arrival l and the artil lery sent with them was entirely lost at sea The troops which remained were not much more fortunate being by this time sp reduced by sickness thaUeven 700 could not be mustered in ajcondition to do d ityW I IV f i The following very quaint acbount of thb terrible sufferings of the American can contingent Is f from tle Journal of the Rev John Graham of Connecticut I a part pf which has recently been pub Iished4 by the American Society of Colonial II Co-lonial Wars I TuesdaY Sept 2 1762But turn my thoughts an4 who are thesesbehold i I a lumber straggling along the road I I awful how they look What appearance I appear-ance dothey make Not unlike walkI ink ghosts just come from the shares but viewing more narrowly find them to be men crawled out of their tent wasted with sickness their flesh all consumed their bones looking through the skin a njangie and pale countenance counte-nance eyes almost sunk into their heads with a dead and downcast look hands weak knees feeble joints trembling 1nees bUng leaning upon staves like men bowed and overloaded with old age and as they slowly j move along stagger I stag-ger and reel Hkg1 drunken men pitfy ful objects Passing by these there lyes one fallen fal-len down thrQ weakness by the wayside way-side there another and another yea sundry more in the same condition unable to help themselves there two or three fainted away others crawling according to their strength not unlike the snail in motion with a little water to revive them the as best cordial that can be produced There sets a number that walked a few rods and there strength is exhausted and are seated on the ground to recruit that they may return to there tents Yon der goes four of the stouter sort lugging lug-ging their captain that stept a little from his tent fainted away back to his tent again There goes one sup ported by one under each armgoes did I say Rather he is in this manner man-ner carried for scarce has he power to set one foot before the other nor cal his feeble trembling knees one half support his frame tho but a shadow There another and another in like manner convey along from one tent to another Just behind is brot along another in his blanket strung upon two poles 1 carried by four Just by six soldiers take up there captain upon their shoul I ders as he lies pale and helpless in his i bed his bedstead serves as a byer and his curtains waving in the wind asa I pawl in this manner conveying from his > tent in camp to a neighbouring I room if possible to prevent the ex i I tinction of the remaining sparks of lfe Thr is one two three craves opend here thy came with as many corps there blankets both there wind ing sheet and coffins scarce have they finished the interment of these but a messenger comes in haste to tel them they must open a grave for two more for such a one is dead and another is dying Spme there rage and fury seems to be turnd against God himself and will knaw their tongues for anguish and pain and blaspheme the god heaven because of their pain and distress and repent not of their eedsyea curse their king and God looking backward at 3 little distance another lies < a murmur heard from his mouth but seems to be thankful for everything he receives and thinks every favor tf be more than he dosevves another a little revived feels some appetite for food and h complains he shall be starved to deathanother without compliment com-pliment lays hold of anything that comes in his way and with his teeth soon puts a period to life another groans under a load of sickness and is ready to curse the day that he engaged en-gaged in the service calling himself fool madman and worse than distracted distract-ed for coming to this place but still ran the tents along here a number recruited I I re-cruited somewhatand there cry is home home when shall we go abroad when shall we go home V This seems to be a clear and a so ocr statement of what war was in I Cuba despite the verbose style of the I writer and it would seem to be what I we should expect as a result of a war waged in Cuba by inhabitants of the temperate zone who easily succumb to the insidious diseases of the tropics I These are the results of an invasion of the island from the north by unaccli mated troops under conditions which so far as are known were normally I healthy From these horrible statistics we can estimate what would be the losses that would result from an invasion inva-sion of the island in force of the fertile island which has been converted by three years of barbarous war into a pla e of pestilence where even the acclimated ac-climated inhabitants are being wiped out of existence by three distinct plagues plagues which are usually usualy passing epidemic but which owing to the sanitary condition of the island have become endemic in Cuba J island menthe men-the yellow fever the smallpox and the still more horrible hunger typhus While no one can foretell the future or draw aside the veij with which a merciful providence keeps concealed from us the things that are to come yet from the story of the AngloAmeri can expedition of 1763 and from a view of the scattered and struggling bat talons which are all that remain aboveground above-ground in Cuba today of that great geat I armada which Spain in her pride sent to the devoted isle we can make a very fair estimate of the losses and the fate of any troops which we might send to the island when exposed similar dangers and the same diseases |
