These repeated efforts much aided the operations of the Army now employed in the reduction of the Castle of Bocca Chica. Upon the 25th of March, a practicable breach having been made in it, the general communicated his determination to storm it. Accordingly Admiral Vernon assembled all the boats, in order to co-operate, having landed their men within view of the enemy, where the fascine battery was fixed. This was a well-judged diversion; for when the grenadiers advanced to storm, at the hour appointed, they met no resistance, as the Spaniards fled without firing a shot.
A panic had now seized the enemy, who set fire to one of their ships. Taking advantage of this state, the boats resolved to attempt the fort of St. Joseph, which was immediately evacuated.
Being now within the boom thrown across the harbour, and the Dons, seeming determined to sink their ships, they judged it proper to row on, and soon boarded the Galicia, carrying the flag of the Spanish Admiral.—These obstructions being removed, the Admiral and the squadron, still with much difficulty, moved into the harbour.
After various services, the Castle of Grande Castillo having been gained, and the enemy sunk all their men of war, farther preparations were made for landing the troops nearer the town, in order to cut off all communication with the main land. Our loss, up to the beginning of April, was two Colonels of Foot, one of Marines, with one Captain of the Royal Navy, besides other Officers slain, and upwards of four hundred of different descriptions killed and wounded.
That mortality, which is the never-failing result of protracted operations in this inhospitable clime, now began its ravages. Matters were pushed on—the bomb-ketches on the 2d of April began to play upon the town, and the other passages of approach cleared from the ships sunk by the enemy, as being necessary for the disembarkation of the forces near the city. After these difficulties were removed, they were landed at the dawn of the 5th, under the command of General Wentworth, who, after a spirited contest, established his encampment within a mile of the fort of St. Lazar.—Things now drawing to extremities, it became necessary to forego the ceremonies of a regular siege, and, however hazardous, to rest the issue upon a storm.
Accordingly, before day-break on the 9th, five hundred Grenadiers, supported by a thousand Marines, and some Jamaican levies, advanced against the enemy's lines in front of the fort. These were distantly followed by a body of Americans, with wool-packs, scaling ladders, and hand grenades.
The Spaniards were entrenched to the shoulders, and their works over-awed by St. Lazar; but neither intimidated the gallant progress of our men, who, led by Brigadier General Guise, were much annoyed, suffering extremely from flanking fires, which they had not foreseen, and enduring a heavy loss before they could reach the object of their attack. The persevering and undaunted bravery of British Soldiers was never more displayed than on this day. They at last gained their point by intrepidly leaping into the entrenchments, and driving their enemies into the fort, which communicated by a draw-bridge with the lines.
It was now those gallant fellows felt the precipitate errors of their superiors. The unarmed Americans in their rear, many of whom were killed without possessing the powers of resistance, dispersed, and threw away the charges committed to them. Three only did their duty, and with these scanty supplies, a bold effort to scale the walls of St. Lazar, was made by ten grenadiers, headed by a serjeant.—They mounted them, but being unsupported, were all cut to pieces, except him who saved himself by trusting his destinies to a headlong adventure.
Cooped up within a narrow spot, exposed to the grapeshot and marksmen of the enemy above them, the situation of these brave remnants became desperate after the break of day.