Disaster on the Spanish Main: The Tragic British-American Expedition to the West Indies During the War of Jenkins' Ear

2023 Silver Medal in History from the Military Writers Society of America

Disaster on the Spanish Main unveils and illuminates an overlooked yet remarkable episode of European and American military history and a land-sea venture to seize control of the Spanish West Indies that ended in ghastly failure. Thirty-four years before the Battles of Lexington and Concord, a significant force of American soldiers deployed overseas for the first time in history. Colonial volunteers, 4,000 strong, joined 9,000 British soldiers and 15,000 British sailors in a bold amphibious campaign against the key port of Cartagena de Indias. From its first chapter, Disaster on the Spanish Main reveals a virtually unknown adventure, engrosses with the escalating conflict, and leaves the reader with an appreciation for the struggles and sacrifices of the 13,000 soldiers, sailors, and marines who died trying to conquer part of Spain's New World empire.

Disaster on the Spanish Main breaks new ground on the West Indies expedition in style, scope, and perspective and uncovers the largely untold American side of the story.


About the Author
Craig S. Chapman spent thirty years managing dual careers in telecom network sales and the U.S. Army and National Guard. He is the author of Battle Hardened: An Infantry Officer's Harrowing Journey from D-Day to VE Day and More Terrible Than Victory: North Carolina's Bloody Bethel Regiment, 1861-65. Chapman lives and writes in Raleigh, North Carolina.