Henry Morgan's Panama Expedition (Sack of Panama)

Overview

Henry Morgan's Panama expedition, also called the Sack of Panama, was a military campaign carried out between 16 December 1670 and 5 March 1671 during the later stage of the Anglo-Spanish War. English privateers under Welsh-born commander Henry Morgan, joined by French and Dutch volunteers, assembled a force of roughly 1,400 men with the goal of capturing the wealthy Spanish city of Panama on the Pacific coast.

Planning and Approach

Planning began in April 1670. The expedition set out from Tortuga in December, first capturing Old Providence Island and the fortified Santa Catalina through a ruse that secured a bloodless surrender. A detachment then captured Fort San Lorenzo at the mouth of the Río Chagres after a costly assault in which the fort's Spanish commander, Don Pedro de Lisardo, was killed; of 314 Spanish defenders, only 14 survived as prisoners, while the privateers suffered roughly 30 killed and 160 wounded, including Captain Joseph Bradley, who later died of his wounds.

From the fort, Morgan's force marched roughly fifty miles across the isthmus over about a week, facing starvation, difficult terrain, and repeated Spanish ambushes organized under Panama's governor, Don Juan Pérez de Guzmán y Gonzaga, who employed scorched-earth tactics to deny the privateers food and shelter.

Battle and Sack

Outside Panama, on 28 January 1671, Morgan's force met a larger but less experienced Spanish militia and cavalry force at the Battle of Mata Asnillos. Spanish attempts to disrupt the privateers using stampeding cattle failed, and after roughly two hours the Spanish line collapsed, with an estimated 400 to 600 Spanish dead and wounded. Morgan's forces then swept into Panama, where fires (reportedly set on the governor's orders) spread through the city as looting began. Over the following weeks, privateers searched the city and swept nearby islands in the Gulf of Panama for hidden wealth and fleeing residents, reportedly taking as many as 3,000 prisoners in total, many later ransomed. Panama's fleet surgeon Richard Browne wrote that Morgan "was noble enough to the vanquished enemy," although Vice Admiral Edward Collier is described as having supervised the torture of some residents to locate hidden valuables.

Return and Aftermath

The privateers withdrew in late February 1671, destroying Fort San Lorenzo on their way back before returning to Jamaica. Total plunder was estimated between 140,000 and 400,000 pesos, but with so large a force the payout per man was comparatively low, causing discontent among the privateers. On arrival in Jamaica, Morgan learned that England and Spain had signed the Treaty of Madrid the previous July, ending the war; he maintained he had been unaware of it. Morgan and Jamaica's governor, Thomas Modyford, were subsequently ordered arrested and sent to London. Morgan was not formally charged with an offense, was received favorably in London, was later knighted, and became Deputy Governor of Jamaica in 1675. Guzmán, blamed by Spanish authorities for the defeat, was imprisoned in Lima, later exonerated, and died in Madrid three years afterward. The original city of Panama was never rebuilt; a new settlement was constructed several miles away in 1673, an area now known as Casco Viejo, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997.