Lezo's plan depended on holding long enough for tropical rain and disease to devastate the attackers. Vernon and Wentworth's hostility and unresolved command arrangements gave the defenders more time. By the withdrawal in early May, no more than about 1,000 land troops were described as able to fight, and another 1,100 men reportedly died within a month of leaving. Around 50 ships were lost, damaged, disabled, or abandoned, with shortages of surviving crews contributing to the destruction of the force. Only about 300 American soldiers returned home, including Lawrence Washington, who renamed his Virginia plantation Mount Vernon after the admiral. The account also links Lezo's own death soon after the victory to illness amid unburied bodies.
Chapter · 2:04:55-2:08:03
Lezo lets time and disease finish the campaign
Delay carried the British into the disease season, leaving at most about 1,000 land troops able to fight and crippling ships through crew losses.