The English troops were landed on the 7th of June, and Colonel Carleton—­the Sir Guy Carleton of our Revolutionary history—­repulsed a cavalry attack that was made upon a detachment under his command.  This so disheartened the Spaniards, that they abandoned the position which they had taken up at Guanabacoa for the purpose of impeding the advance of the invaders, and fell back on the Havana.  The women and children, with the monks and nuns, were all sent out of the town, and the suburbs destroyed.  On the 11th, the Cabana fortress, which commands the Morro, was taken by Colonel Carleton.  The Spaniards also abandoned the Chorrera fort, on the other side.  Operations against the Morro were then begun.  The English suffered much from the heat, and a little from the assaults of the defenders; and, though greatly aided by the fleet, it was not until the 1st of July that they were able to open fire on the Morro.  Among their laborers were five hundred black slaves, purchased at Antigua and Martinique.  Fatigue and sickness had reduced the army’s strength more than one-third, without counting the soldiers who had died, or been slain by the Spanish fire; and three thousand seamen also were unfit for duty.  Water was procured with difficulty, and fresh provisions were almost unknown.

The land-batteries opened on the Morro July 1st, and were supported by a fire from several ships.  The latter were roughly received by the Spaniards, and lost one hundred and eighty-two men, besides being greatly damaged in hull, masts, and rigging, so that they were forced to abandon the conflict, without having made any impression on the fortress, though they had effected an important diversion in favor of the land-batteries, the fire from which had proved most injurious.  On the 2d there were but two guns in condition to bear upon the besiegers.  The latter, however, had a worse enemy than the Spaniards to contend against, the heat causing fires in their works that neither earth nor water could extinguish; and they had to remove their mortars from the left parallel, and substitute cannon.  This was the crisis of the siege; and had a hurricane occurred, as was expected, the fleet would have been driven off, and the army probably captured.  But no storm came, and the English, with characteristic stubbornness, repaired their damaged works, and erected others.  On the 9th they renewed their fire, having twelve guns, and the Spaniards but nine.  The English increased the strength of their batteries, while the Spanish guns were reduced to two by the 16th; and on the 17th the castle made no reply to the fire of the Valiant, a line-of-battle ship.  Sapping-operations began that evening, and on the 18th a small lodgment was effected.  The Spanish commander made a morning sally against the besiegers in three columns, which, if successful, would have necessitated the abandonment of the siege; but the first and second columns were driven back with heavy loss, and the third retreated without firing a shot.  In this action a battalion of North Americans bore a prominent part, aiding to drive the first Spanish column to the water, where one hundred and fifty men were drowned.  The total loss of the assailants was four hundred, besides those wounded who returned into the town.