Siege of Santo Domingo (1655)

The Siege of Santo Domingo of 1655, was fought between April 23, 1655 to April 30, 1655 at the Spanish Colony of Santo Domingo. A force of 2,400 Spanish troops led by Governor Don Bernardino Meneses y Bracamonte, Count of Peñalba, successfully resisted a force of 13,120 troops and 34 ships of the English Commonwealth Navy led by Admiral Sir William Penn.

The English force landed some thirty miles from their objective, the city of Santo Domingo. After a march of four days through heavy rough country with little water, the column was routed in an ambush by a few hundred vaqueros. The English fleet ineffectually tried to bombard the city into submission and the army re-embarked its survivors.

The British naval historian, N.A.M. Rodger, notes that, "In one afternoon the invincible reputation of the New Model Army had been thrown away."

Due to the valor of Don Bernardino de Meneses y Bracamonte, the site of the victory was named in his honor; La Puerta del Conde.