Torreón de la Chorrera: Difference between revisions

The fort of Santa Dorotea de la Luna de la Chorrera was completed in May 1646. Along with the Torreón de Cojimar, this fortress was part of the defense of Havana. Part of that defense was to protect the mouth of the Almendares and prevent that enemy ships from the Spanish Crown obtain supplies of fresh water in that locality.

During the capture of Havana by the English, this torreón suffered major damage. The artillery of the English ships destroyed it mostly. The torreón it see today was built immediately after the Seven Years' War.

The Torreón de la Chorrera was due to Juan Bautista Antonelli, the son of the builder of the Morro and the Punta . Originally it was round, like the towers was on the coast of Spain to repel the attacks of the Moors, was artillery and had capacity for 50 men. Served its protective mission until the capture of Havana by the British was shot by Lord Albemarle squad. In early 1762, Charles III had declared war on England, and on June 6 it was off the port of Havana an English squadron formed by numerous warships, some 150 transport ships and several thousand men. The major attack was in the east, near Cojímar, but in La Chorrera also landed 2000 soldiers, to be destroyed by gunfire the torreón. British troops crossed the "Vedado" mountain, were located near the city, on the hill Aróstegui, which then built the castle del Príncipe and, with the taking of Guanabacoa and the bombing of the Morro fortress, the Havana had to surrender. In less than a year was the English occupation, which ended with the signing in Fontainebleau, and Paris peace between the two nations, with the agreement that England gave back the city to the Spanish in exchange for Florida peninsula. A gain so Mount "Vedado" to be returned, and the island where was the Torreón de la Chorrera was built a small castle in a rectangle whose roof is placed in several guns.