The Sack Of Panama

Captain Henry Morgan's capture of the city of Panamá in 1671 is seen as one of the most audacious military operations in history. In The Sack of Panamá , Peter Earle masterfully retells this classic story, combining thorough research with an emphasis on the battles that made Morgan a pirate legend. Morgan's raid was the last in a series of brutal attacks on Spanish possessions in the Caribbean, all sanctioned by the British crown. Earle recounts the five violent years leading up to the raid, then delivers a detailed account of Morgan's march across enemy territory, as his soldiers contended with hunger, tropical diseases, and possible ambushes from locals. He brings a unique dimension to the story by devoting nearly as much space to the Spanish victims as to the Jamican privateers who were the aggressors. The book covers not only the scandalous events in the Colonial West Indies, but also the alarmed reactions of diplomats and statesmen in Madrid and London. While Morgan and his men were laying siege to Panamá , the simmering hostilities between the two nations resulted in vicious political infighting that rivaled the military battles in intensity. With a wealth of colorful characters and international intrigue, The Sack of Panamá is a painstaking history that doubles as a rip-roaring adventure tale.

Henry Morgan and his band of English commission buccaneers went on a raid of reprisal against he Spanish, looting Panama and ultimatly destroying the city. They also nearly managed to ruin the diplomatic plans between England and Spain. As a result of this King Charles II created a colonial policy for the Carribean, something the British had lacked for half a century.

This study reviews Sir Henry Morgan's attack on Panama City in 1671. Henry Morgan was successful because he applied combat power correctly. Morgan faced an enemy of superior numbers, yet he was successful. Morgan chose an objective that was thought to be unobtainable, yet he won. Morgan received no formal education in the art of war; he learned from his own experience and the experience of the pirates before him. In his last great exploit Morgan chose the famous city of Panama for his objective. This study shows how Morgan applied the elements of combat power in capturing Panama City, a city never before conquered. This study concludes by showing how the tactics of Henry Morgan are important to the military leader today. Morgan serves as an example of how to apply the elements of combat power. Morgan's use of maneuver is a text book example for young leaders to study today. Perhaps most important is Morgan's example of how leadership is vital to every military operation. The study of Morgan's leadership and how he was able to achieve what others thought could not be done is an example for all leaders.

Fascinating chronicle of the bands of plundering sea rovers who roamed the Caribbean and coastlines of Central America in the 17th century. Includes exploits of the infamous Henry Morgan and his burning of Panama City.

In 1674, it is three years since Henry Morgan’s pirates sacked Panama. England is now at peace with Spain, and soon France, Holland, and Spain will briefly be at peace among themselves. But soon buccaneers and their French counterparts, the filibusters, will seize the opportunity of material gain presented by the far-flung and failing Spanish Empire. And Spain will produce its own notorious pirates, whose depredations against the English and French will become legend. These men of opportunistic calculation and desperate courage live in a wilder, larger, and richer time and place than any other frontier in modern history—the Spanish Main. Unflinchingly, unhesitatingly, unabashedly, they will take to the peaceful seas for riches by force of arms. The world will witness piracy on a grand scale. While Benerson Little’s previous work showed brilliantly how pirates actually plied their trade, The Buccaneer’s Realm focuses on their cultural and physical environments. It describes not merely their deeds but their world—the New World of the Spanish Main and its many peoples, freedoms, dangers, and exploits that are the foundation of the Americas. A detailed and lively description of pirate life, it will especially appeal to readers with an interest in maritime, naval, military, and colonial history, as well as sociologists, anthropologists, and armchair adventurers.

Investigating the fascination pirates hold over the popular imagination, Peter Earle takes the fable of ocean-going Robin Hoods sailing under the "banner of King Death" and contrasts it with the murderous reality of robbery, torture and death and the freedom of a short, violent life on the high seas. The Pirate Wars charts 250 years of piracy, from Cornwall to the Caribbean, from the 16th century to the hanging of the last pirate captain in Boston in 1835. Along the way, we meet characters like Captain Thomas Cocklyn, chosen as commander of his ship "on account of his brutality and ignorance," and Edward Teach, the notorious "Blackbeard," who felt of his crew "that if he did not now and then kill one of them they would forget who he was." Using material from British Admiralty records, this is an account of the Golden Age of pirates and of the men of the legitimate navies of the world charged with the task of finally bringing these cutthroats to justice.