A vivid account of a dramatic episode in British imperial history, written with great verve.
Jeremy Black, author of The British Seaborne Empire
This work is a splendid operational history, drawing on both traditional narratives and the latest research in English and Spanish. Chapman has provided a riveting study of a sadly neglected episode.
Richard Harding, author of The Emergence of Britains Global Naval Supremacy: The War of 17391748
A well-researched, expertly written narrative history of the first military campaign in which American soldiers fought for empire in a distant land, and which until now has remained relatively unknown.
Glenn F. Williams, author of Dunmores War: The Last Conflict of Americas Colonial Era
Disaster on the Spanish Main will compel every reader to confront matters as vital today as they were three centuries ago: the folly of imperial ambition and the tragedy of war.
Fred Anderson, author of Crucible of War: The Seven Years War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 17541766
Soldier wearing the uniform of Goochs 43rd Regiment of Foot, from the 1742 Cloathing Book. Courtesy of the author.
Disaster on the Spanish Main
The Tragic British-American Expedition to the West Indies during the War of Jenkins Ear
Craig S. Chapman
Potomac Books
An imprint of the University of Nebraska Press
2021 by Craig S. Chapman
Cover designed by University of Nebraska Press; cover image National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London; map image iStockphoto / y-studio.
All rights reserved. Potomac Books is an imprint of the University of Nebraska Press.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Chapman, Craig S., author.
Title: Disaster on the Spanish Main: the tragic British-American Expedition to the West Indies during the War of Jenkins Ear / Craig S. Chapman.
Other titles: Tragic British-American Expedition to the West Indies during the War of Jenkins Ear
Description: Lincoln: Potomac Books, An imprint of the University of Nebraska Press, [2021] | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020057442
ISBN 9781640124318 (paperback)
ISBN 9781640124912 (epub)
ISBN 9781640124929 (pdf)
Subjects: LCSH : English West Indian Expedition, 17391742. | Anglo-Spanish War, 17391748Participation, American. | Anglo-Spanish War, 17391748. Panama Expedition, 1741. | Great BritainHistory, Naval18th century. | SpainHistory, Naval18th century. | Great Britain. Army. Goochs Regiment of FootHistory.
Classification: LLC F2272.5 .C43 2021 | DDC 946/.055dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020057442
The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
To my loving and patient wife, Mary, who makes it all worthwhile
Contents
Frontispiece: Uniform of Goochs 43rd Regiment of Foot
After researching events dating back over 275 years, I must pay homage to the many archivists and librarians who retained, cataloged, preserved, or made available the documents that enable historians like me to reconstruct what happened in distant times. This project drew critical primary source information from archives housed in four separate nations. Laudable digitization efforts at these institutions have made long-buried journals, musters, letters, council minutes, sketches, reports, diaries, and maps easily available to researchers working from their desks. With a few clicks of the computer I was able to access firsthand accounts that not only explained what transpired but also revealed the emotions of the people who determined the path of history: the frustration of a Spanish engineer over the shoddy construction of a fortification; the anguish of a British soldier recording the names of friends who died by disease; the excitement of a grenadier about to enter his first battle; the bitterness of a key leader while contending with his counterpart.
Richard Harding deserves special mention for writing the only other complete English-language history of the West Indies expedition published within the last one hundred years, Amphibious Warfare in the Eighteenth Century. Hardings extensive research and in-depth look at the decision-making process of the British leaders makes a valuable contribution to modern understanding of the campaign. Two other historians have earned my respect and gratitude for their monumental work transcribing vital handwritten documents. Bryan Ranfts The Vernon Papers compresses into a single volume the hundreds of letters, orders, and reports issued by Vice Admiral Edward Vernon and, by itself, provides an excellent account of the expedition from the perspective of the campaigns most dominant figure. On the Spanish side, Francisco Hernando Munoz Atuesta published a five-volume set of Spanish letters and diaries drawn mostly from the Archivo General de Indias, the Archivo Historico Nacional, and the Archivo General de Nacin Colombia. I cannot imagine how this project would have been possible without having ready transcriptions of the ornately scrawled documents found in these archives.
Studying the causes and effects of diseases, I soon found myself in over my head from a medical perspective. Dr. Stephen Meshnick of the University of North Carolina helped me analyze the data and overturn many assumptions made by past historians about which diseases undermined the British forces.
My daughter, Jennifer, applied her fluency in Spanish to help me translate documents into sensible English, not an easy task given the changes in style and usage over nearly three centuries. My brother, Dean, took time out of his schedule to copy important archival documents for me. I must tip my hat to Jared Frederick for his fine work on the maps. Several people helped me draft the narrative: Tom Burns, Ilya Davidovitch, Samuel Leeman-Munk, Paul Crockett, and Skip Dyer provided critiques of my prose that improved its clarity and readability.
Most of all I want to thank my family, who stood by me while I labored for endless hours pulling together the elements of an obscure war and presenting them in a meaningful form to modern readers.
One of the Spanish cannonballs fired at HMS Prince Frederick during the bombardment of March 24 [ OS ], 1741, smashed through the ships wooden hull, sending a fusillade of splinters across its gun deck. Either the impact of the shot or the flying debris cut down Pvt. John Hitchburn, a native of Boston in the Colony of Massachusetts. Hitchburn had enlisted eight months earlier in Capt. George Stewarts Company of Col. William Goochs 43rd Regiment of Foot in the hope of improving his familys circumstances. The ships crew later buried his remains at sea off the coast of Cartagena de Indias, New Granada (present-day Colombia). Hitchburn left no enduring legacy. His widow remarried the next January. Thereafter his name slips from history. His death only seems relevant because it raises the question, How did an American colonist come to die fighting aboard a British warship off the Spanish Main while serving in the British Army during an obscure war with a ridiculous name? The answer takes us into a seldom-visited corner of American, British, and Spanish history.
