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Admiral Edward Vernon recruited some 3,500 American Colonists for these attacks, enticing them with dreams of capturing mountains of Spanish Silver and Gold . But the Spanish withstood attacks against St. Augustine in Florida ; Havana, Cuba , Cartagena , and Colombia ; and Panama . Most of the American Colonists died of Yellow Fever , Dysentery , and outright Starvation , and those who limped home, including George Washington 's half-brother, Lawrence Washington , who renamed his Virginia Plantation after Admiral Vernon , had little to show for their efforts. From 1744 to 1748 , the Anglo-Spanish War merged into a much larger Anglo-French conflict, called King George's War in North America and the War Of Austrian Succession in Europe . Its scale far exceeded that of previous conflicts. As Military priorities became Paramount , the need increased for discipline within the Empire . In addition, unprecedented Military expenditures led Britain to ask its West Indian and American Colonies to share in the costs of defending and extending the empire and to tailor their behavior to home country needs. But for American Colonists , except for war contractors such as Boston 's Thomas Hancock , the war was, costly. All New Englanders swelled with pride in June 1745 after Massachusetts volunteers, coordinating their attacks with British Naval forces, captured the massive French Fortress of Louisbourg , on Cape Breton Island , guarding the approach to the St. Lawrence River , after a six-week siege. But the losses were staggering. "One half of our Militia {Link without Title} like rotten Sheep ," reported one Boston leader, who believed that one-fifth of all Massachusetts adult males had perished, leaving thousands of widows and orphaned children. New Englanders were bitter when, at war's end in 1748 , the British government handed the prized Fort Louisbourg back to France in exchange for French withdrawal from conquests in parts of British-controlled India and an agreement to spare the British army trapped in Europe . SOURCE
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