Battle for Panama - Henry Morgan and His Buccaneers
Although Henry Morgan received the ransom he demanded for the town of Porto Bello, Panama - in 1668 - he was not content to leave that part of the Spanish Main alone.
He and his men returned to the country in 1671. This time he would fight for the city of Panama itself. We learn more from Alexander O. Exquemelin's The American Buccaneers:
The Battle Between the Spaniards and the Pirates for the City of Panama
To the beat of drums his men fell in, and their casualties were reported. The buccaneers’ losses proved to have been light, and there were but few wounded.
Apart from dead and prisoners, all the Spaniards had by now disappeared. At least 600 Spaniards lay dead on the plain, in addition to the wounded who had managed to drag themselves off.
The smallness of their own casualties raised the buccaneers’ spirits enormously. After resting, they made ready for the attack on the city, taking an oath to stand by each other, shoulder to shoulder, and fight to the last man.
This image - depicting the battle for Panama - is from the original version of The American Buccaneers, written by Alexander O. Exquemelin and published, in the Dutch language, as De Americaensche Zee-rovers during 1678.
Click on the image for a much-better view.
Media Credits
From De Americaensche Zee-rovers ("The American Buccaneers"), by Alexander O. Exquemelin, published by J. Ten Hoorn in Amsterdam (1678). The first edition of this work was written in Dutch.
This image is from the 1678 Dutch version of Exquemelin’s book. It is maintained by the Library of Congress. Image online, courtesy Library of Congress.
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