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British Major General [[John Campbell]] clung tenaciously to the sturdy defenses of [[Fort George]] until Spanish artillery fire struck close to the door of the British powder magazine and set fire to it on [[May 8]] at 9:30 in the morning. When the smoke cleared away, over 100 British casualties could be seen strewn about the emplacement, most of them fatalities. The Spaniards then took possession of the [[Queen's Redoubt]], entering through a yawning breach caused by the explosion. Just before three o'clock, Campbell raised a white flag.
Campbell described the events in a letter to [[Wikipedia:George Germain, 1st Viscount Sackville|George Germain, 1st Viscount Sackville]]:
{{cquote|When I wrote your Lordship on the 7th instant, although I then foresaw the probable Fate of Pensacola, yet I did not apprehend that the Decision of the Contest was quite so near at Hand as it has since proved to have been; An unfortunate Shell from the Enemy, on the Morning of the 8th, precipitated its Destiny, and occasioned its falling under the Dominion of Spain at least some Days sooner than it otherwise would have happened. On the morning of the 8th a Shell, that accidentally burst by the Door of the Magazine of the Advanced Redoubt, set Fire to the Powder within, and in an Instant the Body of the Redoubt was a Heap of Rubbish, depriving no less than 48 Military, 27 Seaman, and one Negro of Life by the Explosion, besides 24 Men wounded, most of them dangerously. Two Flank Works, that had been added to the Redoubt since the Commencement of the Siege, still remained entire, the Fire from which (owing to the intrepid Coolness of the Artillery, particularly of Captain Johnstone, who commanded them) repulsed the Enemy in their first Attempt to advance to the Storm, and gave Time to carry off the Wounded, two Five and half Inch Howitzers, and three Field Pieces; but the Enemy having by this Time brought up their whole Army, there was a Necessity of abandoning these Works, after first spiking up the Pieces of Artillery in the Flank Works, viz. 2 Ten and 2 Eight-Inch Mortars, 3 Eight and 1 Five and half Inch Howitzers, and 1 Field Piece, a Three Pounder, and 1 Twenty-four-Pounder, 6 Twelve-Pounders, and 1 Nine-Pounder, were lost in the Redoubt.|20px|20px|''The London Gazette'', October 9, 1781.<ref>[http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/12232/pages/1 Letter from General John Campbell to Lord Germain, ''London Gazette'', October 9, 1781.]</ref>}}
==Timeline==
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*David Marley. ''Wars of the Americas: A Chronology of Armed Conflict in the New World, 1492 to the Present''. ABC-CLIO, 1998.
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[[Category:Battles]]
