Now trouble was renewed with France, the sixth war between Henry II, who had succeeded Francis, and Charles beginning in 1552 and continuing until 1559, Charles meanwhile abdicating in favor of Philip II in 1556. The French navy was more potent than ever, and French privateers swarmed the Spanish Main. Every Cuban port was warned to be on its guard against attack, Havana most of all, since it was now the richest and was in the most exposed situation. It was not until the fall of 1553 that the official news of the renewal of hostilities reached Cuba, and great was the consternation which it caused.
Juan de Lobera was at that time the commander of the fortifications of Havana, to wit, La Fuerza. He appears to have been a man of strangely mingled temperament, at times fearful and timorous, at others resolute and valiant. At the beginning the former characteristics prevailed. He realized, only too truly, that the fortifications and petty garrison would be entirely insufficient for the protection of the place against any considerable force, such as even a single French ship might bring against it, and he fell into something like a panic. Happily, however, he did not desert his post, but made passionate demands upon the governor and the town council for additional guards. Happily, too, in the presence of menace the animosities of faction were stilled, and the council cooperated heartily with the governor whom it had just been trying to depose and whom only a little later it denounced to the court as worthy of investigation and indictment.
New guards were supplied. Day and night the beach was patrolled. Watchmen were stationed on the Morro headland to espy approaching vessels and to signal the tidings to the fort and city. At the mouth of the Almendares River, where it was supposed that invaders were likely to land, horsemen were stationed, to hasten back to the city with news of any such landing or of the appearance of a hostile vessel. Twelve men, expert in arms, were held in readiness day and night to man the fort the moment a strange vessel was reported; La Fuerza being otherwise without a garrison—which amply justified the commander's lack of faith in its defensive efficiency. In case of an attack, all able-bodied citizens were to present themselves in a massed levy under command of the governor. Every man was to be armed, at least with a sword, day and night, and none was to absent himself from the city without the permission of the governor. Every vessel of any kind that approached the harbor was signalled to stop outside until it could be visited and its identity be established; though if any refused thus to halt there was no adequate power to compel it to do so. However, refusal to stop would of course be regarded as proof of hostile character.
With all these preparations the defensive ability of Havana was pitifully if not ludicrously slight. Three small cannon manned by twelve volunteers constituted the armament of a fort which might be attacked by a ship of twenty guns and two hundred men. The "army" of the place comprised sixteen horsemen and less than seventy footmen, scarcely any two of them armed alike. The chief commander under the governor was Juan de Rojas, who was the governor's bitterest political enemy, though he had once been his close friend and deputy. He was a brother of the former governor, Manuel de Rojas. In these circumstances the commander of the fort awaited with unspeakable trepidation the anticipated approach of the enemy.
His fears were presently realized in the coming of perhaps the most formidable of all the Frenchmen then scouring the seas; the famous Jacques Sores. This daring captain was not only a Frenchman and therefore hostile to Spaniards on racial and political grounds, but he was also a Huguenot, like many other French seamen of that day, and therefore hostile to them on religious grounds. He was supposed to be under the patronage of the great Condé, and also at one time to have received material aid from Queen Elizabeth of England. Indeed, he was at this time regarded as the foremost champion of the Protestant cause at sea. Although a privateer, he commanded not a single vessel but a squadron of three, which he handled with the skill of a master mariner.
Sores did not, however, deem it needful to bring his whole array against Havana. A single vessel, a brigantine, would be sufficient. So it came to pass that in the early morning of July 10, 1554, a signal came from the watchers on the Morro headland, that a strange sail, probably French, was approaching. A shot was fired from La Fuerza, to summon the men of Havana to arms. Lobera led his garrison of twelve men to their places within the fort. Angulo took command outside. For an hour or two there was uncertainty as to the identity of the vessel, and horsemen were dispatched to the beach to watch its movements. They presently hastened back with the news that the brigantine had cast anchor off what is now San Lazaro and had sent ashore two boatloads of armed men, who were now approaching the city through the jungle. This indicated treachery, for the jungle was impenetrable save by a certain secret path which no strangers could know, and indeed it was presently disclosed that the invaders were guided by two men who had formerly lived in Havana, one of whom had been a harbor pilot.
The governor unhesitatingly considered discretion to be the better part of valor, and betook himself to instant flight, conveying his family and such of his property as he could carry to the native village of Guanabacoa, at the other side of the bay, where he was joined during the day by a majority of the residents of Havana. Lobera, on the other hand, now that he was face to face with a great crisis, forgot his fears and acquitted himself as a man of valor. With his little garrison, half of whom were negro slaves, and with a score of refugees, old men, women and children, he shut himself within the fort, with its walls of stone and gates of timber, and prepared to fight to the death. He had found three more cannon and had taken them into the fort, thus totalling six, with a good supply of ammunition and provisions. He dispatched a message to Angulo, reproaching him for his cowardly flight and imploring him to send all able bodied men to the aid of the garrison, for the honor of Spain. This the governor promised to do at or before nightfall; a promise which was not kept.
The invaders were commanded by Captain Sores in person. They took possession of the town without resistance, and then summoned the fort to surrender; expecting to find in it much treasure from Spanish vessels which had recently been wrecked on the Florida coast, though in fact no such treasure was there. Lobera unhesitatingly refused to surrender, and the fight began. The first assault upon the fort, from the landward side, was repulsed. Then the brigantine was seen to be approaching at the other side, accompanied by another and larger vessel of Sores's squadron, which had just arrived; wherefore Lobera had to transfer two of his cannon to that side of the fort to prevent a landing of more troops. A second assault was repulsed, during which a Spanish gunner shot down the French flag from the staff on which Sores had raised it at the stone house of Juan de Rojas, which the French had occupied as headquarters. A third assault, near nightfall, was also repulsed, but the two wooden gates of La Fuerza were burned with nearly all the contents of the tower. The little garrison and the refugees spent the night on an open terrace, with only a little powder and shot and not a day's food left. Hoping for help from the governor and citizens, Lobera fired his largest gun at intervals during the night, beat the drums and sounded bugle calls; but all in vain. "The darkness gave no token."
The French demanded his surrender, promising good treatment, but threatening a ruthless assault which would mean death if he persisted in trying to hold his indefensible position. Lobera refused, until the break of day. Then he saw that no help was approaching from Angulo, that an overwhelming force of French soldiers surrounded him on all sides, and that successful defence was impossible. His ammunition was all but gone. The cords of the crossbows with which his men were armed were frayed and broken. Some of his men were slain, while some of the survivors, especially one German gunner, mutinously held converse with the enemy. The refugees fell on their knees before him bidding him die fighting if he would, but to let their lives be spared. In this desperate plight Lobera yielded, offering to surrender on honorable terms, if the lives of his men were spared and the women were protected from dishonor. To this Sores gave his word, and the fort capitulated. The flag of France was raised over La Fuerza, and twenty-odd Spanish subjects were prisoners.
The women and children were quickly released, but all the men were locked up in the house of Juan de Rojas, which was the strongest stone building in the city. About a score more were added to their number, of Spaniards and Portuguese whom Sores had captured elsewhere.
A few hours after the surrender, word was received from Angulo. He had at