After the capture of Habana by the English in 1762 much apprehension was felt as to the safety of Vera Cruz.[1] The defences of the city and of San Juan de Ulúa were strengthened, and new ones erected on other portions of the coast. The island fortress was ordered to be repaired at a cost of over a million and a half, and the port of Anton Lizardo was to be fortified at an expense of a million and a quarter pesos. A fort was also begun at San Cárlos de Perote, this point being intended for an arsenal and as a storing place for treasure, Jalapa being now considered unsafe. Additional troops were despatched from Spain, and in December 1774 a military commission met at Vera Cruz to consider such further measures as might be necessary for defence. The result was very unfavorable. It was reported that the city was untenable, and that Ulúa, which was supposed to he impregnable, could only be held for a few days, and would require a garrison of 1,700 infantry and 300 artillerymen, together with a force of sailors sufficient to man a number of armed boats.[2] It was even recommended that on the approach of an enemy the bastions should be blown up and the inhabitants sent into the interior, taking with them their effects. The report of the commissioners does not appear to have been heeded, and at the close of the century, when Europe was at war and the Spanish American possessions were at any time liable to attack, the garrisons of the city and fortress were even smaller than those stationed there sixty years before.[3]
- ↑ When intelligence arrived of the capture, the viceroy ordered that munitions of war be at once forwarded to Vera Cruz, and that all available troops be immediately put in motion for that point. When it was known that there was no imminent danger of attack, he withdrew his forces to Jalapa and Perote where the climate was more healthy. The next year peace was declared.
- ↑ De Menonville says that at the time of his visit in 1777 the fortress was mounted with 300 guns of from 12 to 36 pound calibre, and that it was exposed to attack on the south-east corner, where was a landing-place much nearer the fort than the principal one, and where vessels might anchor under the curtain, the fire from which would be of no avail. Pinkerton's Col. Voy., xiii. 779. In 1780 Viceroy Mayorga inspected the defences of the city and fortress, and changed the plan of defence adopted by his predecessor.
- ↑ At the beginning of the 19th century the combined garrisons of the city
