Mount Vernon and its associations, historical, biographical and pictorial . LAWRENCE WASHINGTON. Lawrence, who seems to have inherited the military spiritof liis family, had lately been to the wars. Admiral Vernon,commander-in-chief of Englands navy in the West Indies, hadlately chastised the Spaniards for their depredations nponBritish commerce, by capturing Porto Bello, on the isthmusof Darien. Tlie Spaniards prepared to strike an avengingblow, and the French determined to help them. Englandand her colonies were aroused. Four regiments, for servicein the AVest Indies, were to be raised in th
Mount Vernon and its associations, historical, biographical and pictorial . LAWRENCE WASHINGTON. Lawrence, who seems to have inherited the military spiritof liis family, had lately been to the wars. Admiral Vernon,commander-in-chief of Englands navy in the West Indies, hadlately chastised the Spaniards for their depredations nponBritish commerce, by capturing Porto Bello, on the isthmusof Darien. Tlie Spaniards prepared to strike an avengingblow, and the French determined to help them. Englandand her colonies were aroused. Four regiments, for servicein the AVest Indies, were to be raised in the American col- 26 M 0 u N T V i<: R X o:; uiiies; and from Massacliiisetts to tlie Carolinas, the fife anddrum of the recruiting sergeant were heard. Lawrence, tliena spirited young man of twenty-two, was among tlie thou-sands who caui!:ht the infection, and obtaining a captains. i ,^6 \ ADMIRAL VKUXON. commission, lie embarked for the West Indies in 1741, withbetween tln-ee and four thousand men under General Went-worth. That ofhcer and Admiral Vernon commanded a jointexpedition against Carthagena, in South America, which re- AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 27 suited in disaster. According to the best authorities not lessthan twenty thousand British soldiers and seamen perished,chiefly from a fatal sickness that prevailed, especially amongthe troops who were commanded by General Wentworth,To that scourge Thompson, in his Summer, thus touchinglyalludes: You, gallant Vernon, sawThe miserable scene; you, pitying, saw-To infant weakness sunk the v^arriors arm;Saw the deep-racking pang, the ghastly lip pale-quivering, and the beamless eyeNo more with ardor briglit; you heard tlie groansOf agonizing ships, from shore to shore;Heard, nightly plungd amid the sullen waves,The frequent corse—while on each other sad presage, the blank assistants ,
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Keywords: ., bookauthorlossingb, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1850, bookyear1859
