Battle of Palo Hincado

Part of the War of Reconquest and the Napoleonic Wars

Date	7 November 1808
Location	Palo Hincado savanna, near El Seibo (present-day Dominican Republic)
Result	Santo Domingo victory

Belligerents

Santo Domingo

France

Commanders and leaders

Gen. Juan Sánchez Ramírez

Capt. Tomas Ramirez Carvajal

Antonio Sosa

Vicente Mercedes

Manuel Carvajal

Gen. Marie-Louis Ferrand

Strength

1,700 regulars and militia
300 Puerto Rican tercios

600 regulars

Casualties and losses

7 dead
45 wounded

315 dead
100+ prisoners

The Battle of Palo Hincado was the first major battle of the Spanish reconquest of Santo Domingo of the Spanish colonial Captaincy General of Santo Domingo, that was occupied by the French in the Spanish West Indies. The site is in the present-day Dominican Republic, on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean.

The battle was fought on November 7, 1808, at Palo Hincado savanna, near El Seibo in the colony of Santo Domingo. A force of 2,000 Spanish Dominican and Puerto Rican troops, led by General Juan Sánchez Ramírez, defeated a force of 600 troops of French Army of Napoleon, led by Governor General .

In 1808 General Ramírez was in southwestern Hispaniola, operating with the support of the Haitian independence ringleaders, and , and backed by the Spanish Royal Governor of colonial Puerto Rico, General Toribio Montes. Ramírez sent a letter via a Spanish ship anchored in Samana on September 17 to Governor Montes. On November 28 the Spanish schooner "Monserrate" arrived in Puerto Rico from Macao with the news that the supply aid requested by Ramírez would soon reach Montes.

With this encouragement General Ramírez redoubled efforts — while French Governor General Ferrand was preparing to quell the impending rebellion. It was easy for Ramírez take possession of the town of El Seibo on Oct. 26, 1808. Won by the fervor of the Reconquista, as some Haitian French forces were serving in the Napoleonic Wars in eastern France.

With their positions quickly forming, twenty nine soldiers, including General Ramírez, reached the port at the mouth of the river at Boca de Yuma to receive the military aid sent from Puerto Rico by Governor Montes. The war materials had been shipped in a brig and a schooner — and consisted of a gunboat, four rifles with bayonets, a hundred sabers, and corresponding ammunition. In addition, two hundred volunteers arrived, mostly Creole emigrants. The brig, named "Frederick", and the schooner, named "Render", then left the Port of Higuey to return to Puerto Rico.

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Wikipedia