British Capture Havana

August 13, 1762

After a two-month siege in tropical heat, British forces stormed Morro Castle and took Havana - along with a fifth of Spain's entire navy. Yellow fever killed more redcoats than Spanish muskets did. The conquest lasted less than a year; it was traded back for Florida. The brief British occupation opened Havana to unrestricted slave imports that would transform Cuba's sugar economy for a century.