ap. XXXIV. from the I, of James Ijo the Revolution.

56;

'655.

It I? s Pani-r forlorn.

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tie n s t( >>A‘for

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bour, that so they might be furnishedwith Provisions und Ammunitions fromthe Ships; But they were altogetherStrangers to the Way,, neither had theyany Water to drink.

At Length, Colonel Buffer, andCox the Guide, joined them, and promi-sed to conduct them to a Place, wherethey might be supplied with Water;But some of the Colonel’s Men, havingrambled about for Pillage, encouragedthe Enemy to lay Ambuscades for themin their March, who, falling upon theForlorn, routed them, and killed seve-ral Officers. They were, however, soonafter, driven back with Loss, and pur-sued within Cannon-shot of the Town;Not but that, when the Action was o-ver, many Men, as well as Horses, pe-rished with Thirst.

A Council of War being called, toconsider the Condition of the Army, itwas found, that many of the Men hadeat nothing, for four Days together, un-less it were some Fruit they gathered inthe Woods, and that they were withoutWater, the Spaniards having stop’d upall their Wells, within several Miles ofthe Town; Neither knew they theCountry, nor how to get at their Ships ;For Cox their Guide was stain, in thelate Skirmish. However, after matureConsideration, it was resolved to marchto the Harbour, in the best Manner theycould ; And, at Length, arriving therethey stay’d three or four Days, to furnishthemselves with Provisions and otherNecessaries, and then advanced with aMortar-Piece, in Order to reduce theFort; But the Enemy having laid anAmbuscade (£) they charged the Van,(which was to have been led by Adju-tant General Jackson ) very vigorously,and were answered in like Manner,whereas Jackson's Party running away,and the Passage thro’ the Woods beingvery narrow, they fell upon the Gene-ral’s own Regiment, who, to no Pur-pose, endeavoured to stop them withtheir Pikes, for they first disordered thatRegiment, and soon after Major Gene-

1655.

raf Haynes' s. In the mean Time, theEnemy followed very 1 eagerly, and giv-ing no Quarter, the Major General, andthe best of the Officers, who preferredDeath, before Flight, fell in the Ac-tion. (/) i:

At Length,, the General’s own Regi-ment making Head against them, as al-so that of the. Seamen, commanded byVice-Amiral Goodson, they, with their y^g pan j_Swords, forced the Runaways into the ar d s retreat.Woods, rather chusing to kill them,then they should disorder the Rest,which the Enemy perceiving, they re-treated , and our Men kept theirGround, tho’ the Shot from the Fortkilled many of them.

The Troops, nevertheless, were so \sf%pvery weak and disheartened, that not heartned.any of them could be brought to playthe Mortar against the Fort; And tho’the General was reduced to a very lowCondition, by Reason of the Flux, hecaused himself to be led, from Place toPlace, to encourage them; But, faint-ing at last, was forced to leave the Careto Major General Fortescue , who soonfound that he could prevail no morethan the General himself.

It was resolved, soon after, at aCouncil of War, that since the Enemyhad guarded every Pass, and that theArmy was under very great Neceffities,for Want of Water, they should marchto a Place where they hacl been informeda Supply of that, and other Necessaries,had been put on Shoar for them, from The Soldiersthe Ships; But, in that March, the desert theirSoldiers accompanied their Officers no G -s cer *farther than ’till they found them ing er .Danger, and then left them; Insomuchthat the Commissioners owned, by aLetter they wrote to the Governour ofBarbadoes , that had not the Enemy beenas fearful as our own Men were, theymight, in a few Days, have destroyedthe whole Army; And withal, they lethim know, that those who had occasion-ed the greatest Disorder, were those ofBarbadoes arid St, Christopher's ; Inso-much that the Commissioners, who were

7 D Penne,

' m °ck.

{k) Whitlock fays; The ill Success and Miscar-riage of Venables was ill-resented by all, and theProtector was much offended at it; And indeed(continues he) it was indiscreetly managed by Ve-cables, who might have landed his Men near St.Eomingo, from whence the Inhabitants fled intothe Woods, and left a great Booty in the Town.

But Venables landed his Men ten LeaguesWestward, who were so tired with a long andhot March, and so sick with it, that the Enemy

turned upon them, and slew Major-GeneralHaynes , who fought stoutly, and fix HundredEnglish, besides those who were slain straggling,and this was done by about sixty of the Enemy,who chased the Englijh to their Ships.

(/) Basnage fays, (but I do not find uponBasnage An-what Authority) that they were betrayed into nales desthis Ambuscade by some Negroes, whom they hadProv. Unies,employed as their Guides.