This Day in Military History · October 30

1657 Anglo-Spanish War: Spanish forces fail to retake Jamaica at the Battle of Ocho Rios.

The Battle of Ocho Rios also known as Battle of Las Chorreras was a military action which took place on the island of Jamaica on 30 October 1657 where a Spanish force under Cristóbal Arnaldo Isasi hoping to take back the island was defeated by the English occupying force under the acting governor Colonel Edward D'Oyley. The English had captured Jamaica in 1655 but had been reduced significantly by disease in the aftermath. They ran through governors at a rapid rate: General Robert Sedgwick arrived and died in 1655, General William Brayne replaced him and died in 1656, and then General Edward D'Oyley who had already been on the island took over as Governor being acclimatised to the island's harsh tropical conditions. Two years after the English invasion, Cristóbal Arnaldo Isasi, the former Spanish governor, had been hiding in the hills with the runaway slaves (later known as maroons).

Read more: Battle of Ocho Rios Text and image from Wikipedia