After leaving a small garrison, a part of Morgan's force then sailed to the Panama Isthmus where Fort San Lorenzo on the mouth of the Río Chagres stood.

The Caribbean in effect thus remained in a state of war, and as far as the governor of Jamaica, Thomas Modyford was concerned, Spain had to acknowledge England's possession of the island, and in a treaty.

[15] Mansvelt had died by the end of 1666, which meant that Henry Morgan, who had been in charge of the Port Royal militia and the defence of Jamaica, took over further privateering expeditions as Admiral in Chief of the Confederacy of Buccaneers.

The first actions took place in March 1670 when Spanish privateers, which included Manuel Ribeiro Pardal under a letter of marque, attacked English trade ships.

[22] As the expedition was being prepared and more privateers arrived, Collier was ordered to sail with six ships to Rio de la Hacha and obtain provisions and other supplies as well as to gather information from locals.

[24] Morgan planned to lead over 1,000 men along the Chagres River along part of the old 'Camino de Cruces' (Way of the Crosses), one of the Spanish routes used to transport heavy cargo on the isthmus of Panama that connected the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean.

[29] Morgan had been given the captured fourteen gun French ship Satisfaction, formally the Le Cerf Volant, a prize from the Second Anglo-Dutch War.

[42] Around this time, Morgan had received a letter from Modyford declaring that peace had been signed between England and Spain back in July but was awaiting ratification.

[43] In addition other parts of the Spanish Main were on the alert including the Chagres River defences organised by the Real Audiencia of Panama governor Don Juan Pérez de Guzmán y Gonzaga.

With some 400 men, four strong points of high stockades were prepared by Francisco Gonzalez de Salado, Captain of the river, some twenty miles upriver, along with lookouts and canoe patrols.

He then ordered four ships and a boat, with four hundred men under the command of Captain Joseph Bradley, to go and take Fort San Lorenzo on the Río Chagres.

This fort located at the mouth of the Río Chagres was built on a tall, broad mountain, with a rock escarpment all around, and is only accessible from the land side.

[52] Not giving up, Bradley ordered another attack at dusk, and as darkness set in, the privateers moved forward again receiving heavy fire and were unable to get any further.

They walked the rest of the day hacking through the jungle and arrived in the evening at a place called Torna Munni, where they met another ambush, but the Spanish too also abandoned this.

[68] There were several dwellings, which the English searched everywhere and managed to find two sacks of flour buried in the ground with fruits called plantanos, but that was all, some were even reduced to eating leather bags the Spanish had left behind.

[78] At noon they arrived at a place called Quebrada Obscural, and here Salado had set up his last ditch ambush point – he sent some 300 native archers and 100 Spanish musketeers under the command of a negro captain Joseph de Prado, one of the few survivors from San Lorenzo fort.

Nevertheless, the privateers' tactics worked and the ambushers were driven off with some loss – one band of natives stood their ground and fought until their chief was severely wounded forcing them to withdraw.

[81] In the morning, a scout party ascended Ancon Hill – when they reached the top they could the see the Pacific Ocean and observed a ship with five boats having left Panama.

[83] Morgan then encamped his 1,200 men for the night – the Spanish led by the governor Don Guzmán was alerted by the Privateer arrival and soon prepared for Panama's defence.

Guzman hoped to allow the buccaneers to pass through his lines, setting the herds against the attackers to presumably disrupt and disorganize them just before the Spanish foot made contact with the privateers.

[88] Morgan drew up his army in battle just outside of cannon range, on a plain that lay behind the Matasnillo River a mile outside the city with the Spanish on the other side.

[92] When the left flank of the privateers under Laurence Prince came into view at the end of the ravine, they were charged by the Spanish cavalry led by Francisco Haro.

[106] Morgan learnt that the Spanish had sent most of the treasure on to the ships, the Santisima Trinidad under Captain Francisco de Peralta and the San Felipe Neri but it had already sailed off two days before.

Each company was to bring a number of mules, to load the plunder, and take it to "Venta de Cruces", with the aim of returning on the Río Chagres.

[121] Morgan was not aware that England and Spain had signed a peace treaty in September the previous year; he only received news from the Governor of Cartagena.

[125] Morgan was never charged with an offence – he gave informal evidence to the Lords of Trade and Plantations and proved he had no knowledge of the Treaty of Madrid prior to his attack on Panama, and was found not guilty.

Even then they did not stay long, the vast majority wanted to carry on their piratical lifestyle but instead ended up on the Mosquito Coast to take up the cutting of logwood for dye.

[130] Later in 1670 rumours of a foreign invasion prompted the viceroy of Peru, De Castro to order all Pacific ports to be put in a thorough state of preparedness.

Don Pérez de Guzmán would be dismissed for the second time by the viceroy and was imprisoned in Lima for the defeat as well as being held responsible for the destruction.

Panama, however, was never rebuilt, so a new settlement instead was to be built under the supervision of new Governor Antonio Fernández de Córdoba, in a location approximately 5 miles (8 km) southwest of the original in 1673.