The times., 1898-07-31
HAvANA's SIEGE.
How the City Was Taken by the
Ea<iish in the Last Century.

Enssiish in the Lasf Century.
(From the New York Commercial Adyertiser.)
Although the capture of Havana has
been left for the last no doubt an Ameri-
can army will have to besiege the capital
of Cuba before the war is over. The wis
dom of leaving It till the last and occupy
ing the time until the rainy season is past
In reducing Porto Rico is not doubted by
anyone But a striking Confirmation of its
wisdom is afforded by the experience of
the English army that took Havana in
ll62- An interesting resume of the mill
tary history of the expedition Is contrib
uted by Col. John Ayde, OF the British Ar
tillery, to the Nineteenth Century. from
which we learn that there were several
curious condolences between that expedi-
ton and the present war in Cu.a.
Recognizing all allowances for she mod
ern improvements which distinguish the
Qualifications of Havana today from those
OF 1162. Ut is, nevertheless. interesting to
See how similar they are in their general
outline. Moro Castle was then. as now.
the main defense Of the city. II was then,
as now, inaccessible from the sea. lit was
strongly secured on the land side. and the
Siege which lasted from June TO July 90
was ractioaily occupied entirely with the
destruction of MORO Castle The expedi-
| ton, which was under the command OF
Admiral Sir George Bocock and General
| the f1arl aEDSnllrlc. cDiiiftiiSed an
army Of 1le96 men and twenty sail of the
line, with an equal number of smaller
warships. Arriving off Havana in June,
1762 the fleet found a Spanish fleet with
in Havana Harbor where IL stayed. like
Admiral Ceryera in Santiago, and. unlike
Ceryera, never ATTEMPTED to come out. Not
only did the Spanish fleet not come out of
the harbor. but the Spnniards sank three
ships within boom at the mouth of the
r. C
sinking of the Merrimac in its purpose.
These ships were sunk to keep the ene-
my from getting in. instead of to keep
the beleaguered fleet from getting out.
Lord Aibemarle recognized the need
of energy as the rainy season was about
beginning and began disembaTising be-
fore he had been near Havana twenty
four hours He landed his main body a
few miles to the eastward of MORO Cas-
tie. at a place where Capt. Gen. Blanco
has recently erected earthworks and
mounted cannon as If to guard against
a similar landing. When the whole army
was safely Oh shore at this point, heights
were seized from which Moro Castle
could be cannonaded. Then the siege
began in earnest and a protracted, ardu
Gus siege it was, attended by fever, toll
and suffering. The ground was so rocky
and the soil so scanty tlsat the army
was put to great straits for the means
of making roads and raising earthworks.
The batteries were constructed slowly
and with sreat difficulty, and il a
long and toilsome task TO drag the
guns to them and mount them Fever
ragged. and at one time 5000 sailors
and 400 soldiers were prostrated. The
fleet was anchored in an exposed spot off
a rocky coast, daily expecting the hurri-
cane season to break upon IL. The
Spaniards made Il bold defense, and oc-
casionally took the offensive with great
success. The ships took part in the cam
paign against Morro, but without success.
The conditions were similar to those at
Santiago, the batteries being too high
To afford the ships a good target, and
the ships suffering from the plunging fire
OF the forts. exactly as Admiral Sampson
apprehended his ships would suffer if he
undertook to run the gantlet of the San
tiago forts.
Finally, however, battery after battery
having been built. and some of them de-
molished the English had drawn close
enough to Morro's frowning ramparts to
effect a breach. and though il was so mar
row as To admit only one man at a time.
the English swarmed through it. and.
after murderous hand-to-hand combat
captured the fort. Its capture determined
the fate of the city. When the guns of
the fort were turned upon the town 1t
fell. after three days bombardment.
The British lost $50 killed or died from
wounds. and 4.79S perished from sickness.
AS the sanitary state of the country
around Havana is now probably worse
than In 1852 worse because the country is
more populous. this fact alone is signifi-
cant to the perils to be most avoided
in besieging Havana