Battle of Cartagena de Indias (1741)
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View of Cartagena de Indias 1741
(with the various positions of the British)
| date | March 13 to May 20, 1741 |
|---|---|
| place | Cartagena de Indias (now Cartagena , Colombia ) |
| output | Spanish victory |
| consequences | For the time being, Spain is maintaining its colonial possession in the West Indies |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
|
Edward Vernon , |
Sebastián de Eslava , |
| Troop strength | |
| 8 large and 28 smaller ships of the line, 12 frigates, 2 bombards, 130 landing and transport ships, 12,600 men |
6 ships of the line, 3,000 men, 600 Indians |
| losses | |
|
at least 5,000 men, |
200 men, |
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As Battle for Cartagena which is the siege of Cartagena de Indias (now Cartagena, Colombia ) in spring 1741 , respectively. Spaniards and locals defended the Caribbean port city for two months, the attacking British had to withdraw with heavy losses.
initial situation
Through the Asiento de Negros and other Asientos (contracts) imposed on Spain , Great Britain already controlled the Spanish slave trade to America and 80 percent of all Spanish American trade. British pirates and smugglers damaged the rest. In the Asiento War (Spanish Guerra del Asiento , English War of Jenkins' Ear ) Great Britain then tried to usurp the entire Spanish maritime trade. To this end, the Spanish colonies in the Caribbean were to be conquered. In a surprise attack in 1739 , the British Vice Admiral Edward Vernon first succeeded in capturing the Spanish silver port of Portobelo in Panama. Vernon's next destination was Cartagena de Indias, a key position in the viceroyalty of New Granada (Colombia). The city was protected by four forts, heavily reinforced with artillery, which were built or reinforced by the fortress builder Carlos des Naux (Desnaux). The most important of these forts was San Felipe de Barajas (which in some sources is also referred to as Fort San Lazaro).
Siege of Cartagena
With a fleet of 150 or 180 war and transport ships, including 36 ships of the line, the Royal Navy blocked Cartagena on March 13, 1741 and landed 12,600 marines and North American militiamen from the New England colony of Virginia in front of the city. Cartagena was defended by only 3,000 Spanish and Creole soldiers and militiamen and 600 Indian archers. Six Spanish ships of the line were moored in the port under the command of Vice Admiral Blas de Lezo . While trying to break through the blockade, his admiral ship Galicia fell into British hands and was then destroyed by Spanish port batteries. De Lezo had the other ships sunk in the two narrow entrances into the Bay of Cartagena . With this, he could not prevent the British from entering the bay, but made it difficult and delayed, while the Spanish reinforced the forts with the men and cannons of the abandoned ships.
First, the British under Commodore Lestock shelled Fort San Luis de Bocachica, which was defended by 500 Creoles under Colonel Des Naux and, even after 16 days of bombardment, still fended off several attacks by outnumbered British landing forces. When the British were finally able to force entry into the bay, the defenders of San Luis gave up and retreated to the Fort San Felipe de Barajas, which was defended by de Lezo. After a unit of North American militiamen commanded by Lawrence Washington was able to occupy the strategically important hill La Colina de La Popa, which had been cleared by the Spanish, Vernon began to bombard the city and the fortress from there. He even prematurely had the capture of the city or the supposedly imminent victory announced to London and commemorative coins minted. The besiegers got stuck in the surrounding swamps, where marsh fever and cholera quickly spread among them. In addition, the British were massively decimated by defenders failing and constant guerrilla attacks by the local population. Finally, on May 8th, the British fleet began to retreat, the last ships left Cartagena Bay on May 20th.
losses
The British had received supplies and reinforcements during the two-month battle, so the figures on their strength vary between 8,000 men (apparently not counting the 4,000 North American militiamen) and 27,600 men. The figures for British casualties also vary between 5,000 and 18,000 men. Of the North American militiamen, only one in six returned to Virginia alive. While Anglo-American historiography ascribes the great losses primarily to the swamps and epidemics, the Spanish-Ibero-American reading puts the Spanish artillery or guerrilla attacks first and classifies the British defeat as an example of underestimating an opponent. The naval historian Alexander Meurer saw the reasons for the failure of the British primarily in the "incompetence and disagreement of their naval and army commanders", while the Spanish commanders were effectively and ultimately successfully coordinated by Viceroy Sebastián de Eslava .
epilogue
The British, beaten off Cartagena, sailed back to Jamaica. There they were reinforced by some auxiliary troops and set sail again in July 1741. This time the destination was the Cuban port city of Santiago de Cuba , but like before Cartagena, the British failed before Santiago because of the Spanish resistance and tropical diseases or differences between Admiral Vernon and General Wentworth. During the more than four months in which the British were decimated by the Spaniards off Santiago and carried away by disease, Blas de Lezo also died in Cartagena. The hero of Cartagena died in September 1741 of a gunshot wound from fighting in the swamp that became infected.
Thomas Wentworth
Vernon prematurely minted commemorative coins that represented a surrender of the Spaniards under "Dom Blass"
Blas de Lezo († 1741)
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Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l Giorgio Bergamino, Gianni Palitta: Desastres Militares , p. 130f. Tikal, Madrid 2018
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Michael Greshko: Did This Spanish Shipwreck Change the Course of History? In: National Geographic of November 2, 2015
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Dolores Luna Guinot: From Al-Andalus to Monte Sacro , pp. 285–290. Trafford Publishing, Bloomington 2014
- ↑ a b c D. Francisco de Paula Pavía y Pavía: Galeria biografica de los generales de marina, jefes y personajes notables que figuraron en la misma corporacion desde 1700 á 1868 , part 2 (G-Na), page 374. Impr. Á cargo de J. Lopez, Madrid 1873
- ↑ a b Alexander Meurer : Maritime War History in Outlines , pp. 258–263. Hase & Koehler, Leipzig 1943
- ↑ a b c d Tony Jaques: Dictionary of Battles and Sieges , Part 1 (AE). Greenwood Publishing Group, Westport / London 2007, p. 205.
- ^ William Stewart: Admirals of the World - A Biographical Dictionary, 1500 to the Present , p. 34. McFarland, Jefferson 2009
