Captain William Kidd and Others of the Buccaneers

by John S. C. Abbott

The plain was rough with ravines and quagmires, so that the cavalry could not operate to advantage. The desperate pirates were all reckless in their courage, and nearly all unerring in their aim. The Spaniards were also men of war and blood, who had been guilty of the greatest atrocities as they had cut down and robbed the native tribes. They fought with ferocity equal to that of the pirates. In this battle it was, in reality, fiend against fiend. The Spaniards were as bad as the pirates.

For two hours the battle raged with intensest fury. There was neither tree, stump, nor rock to protect either party from the bullets which with deadly velocity swept the plain. On the one side there were eleven hundred pirates. Esquemeling estimated the force of the Spaniards at four hundred cavalry and two thousand four hundred infantry. There were also one or two hundred Indians and negroes to drive the wild bulls through the English camp, hoping thus to break their lines and throw them into confusion. The Spaniards had also dug trenches and raised batteries to arrest the advance of their foes.

Morgan, as usual, ordered his men to approach the city by a circuitous route, so as to avoid the batteries. In preparation for this movement he ordered a review of the troops. He concealed from his troops the number of pirates who had fallen, but announced, probably with some exaggeration, that six hundred of the Spaniards lay dead upon the field.

It would seem that the Spaniards had not been very sanguine as to the result of the battle; for they had shipped to the Island of Tavoga much of their portable wealth and all of their women. In the battle thus far, the Spaniards had been so decidedly beaten that they had abandoned the field, and horse and foot had taken a new stand behind the ramparts. Many prisoners had been taken, including quite a number of Catholic priests. Morgan, not wishing to be encumbered with prisoners, ordered them all to be pistolled. The pirates had lost heavily, but their loss exasperated instead of disheartening them.

Esquemeling writes: “The pirates were nothing discouraged, seeing their numbers so much diminished, but rather filled with greater pride than before, perceiving what huge advantage they had obtained against their enemies. Thus, having rested themselves some while, they prepared to march courageously towards the city, plighting their oaths to one another that they would fight till never a man were left alive. With this courage they recommenced their march either to conquer or to be conquered.

“They found much difficulty in their approach unto the city. For within the town the Spaniards had placed many great guns at several quarters thereof, some of which were charged with small pieces of iron and others with musket bullets. With all these they saluted the pirates at their drawing nigh unto the place, and gave them full and frequent broadsides, firing at them incessantly. From whence it happened that they lost, at every step they advanced, great numbers of men.

“But neither these manifest dangers of their lives, nor the sight of so many of their own dropping down continually at their sides, could deter them from advancing farther and gaining ground every moment upon the enemy. Thus, although the Spaniards never ceased to fire and act the best they could for their defence, yet, notwithstanding, they were forced to deliver the city after the space of three hours’ combat. And the pirates, having now possessed themselves thereof, both killed and destroyed as many as attempted to make the least opposition against them.

“The inhabitants had caused the best of their goods to be transported unto more remote and occult places. Howbeit, they found within the city, as yet, several warehouses well stocked with all sorts of merchandise, as well silks and cloths as linen and other things of considerable value. As soon as the first fury of their entrance into the city was over, Captain Morgan assembled all his men, at a certain place which he assigned, and there commanded them, under very great penalties, that none of them should dare to drink or taste any wine.

“The reason he gave for this injunction was because he had received private intelligence that it had been all poisoned by the Spaniards. Howbeit it was the opinion of many that he gave those prudent orders to prevent the debauchery of his people, which he foresaw would be very great at the beginning, after so much hunger sustained by the way; fearing withal lest the Spaniards, seeing them in wine, should rally their forces, and use them as inhumanly as they had used the inhabitants before.”

Morgan was now master of Panama. The city, with nearly all of its wealth, had fallen into his hands. And still the vanquished Spaniards could rally a force greatly outnumbering his own. The Bay of Panama is one of peculiar beauty. At that time its shores were fringed with luxuriant groves of oranges, figs, and limes. The feathery tops of the cocoanut trees towered over all the rest, rivalled only by the lofty tamarinds. Through the rich foliage there peeped, in much picturesque beauty, numerous cane-built huts. Indian children, entirely unclothed, were running about upon the beach, while birch canoes, light as bubbles, were skimming the placid waves.