The Cruz del Inglés / Battle of El Batán

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria · Category: Memory · Subcategory: Historic sites · Year: 1599

[...] at eleven o'clock in the morning on Saturday 3rd July 1599, the sentinels raised the alarm; some riders had come out to check out the enemy just to make sure. What they saw looming was the powerful Dutch forces, made up of some 4,000 men, with fourteen or fifteen flags, set out in five squadrons. The invaders were driven by the lure of the city's wealth, supposedly hidden away in La Vega, so they poured into the middle of the island in an attempt to get their hands on it. 

On that July morning, the suffocating heat and burning sun were taking their toll. The Dutch troops were more used to the cool fog to the north, and marched along weary and thirsty, dreaming about the lushness of Monte Lentiscal, promising shade, rest and water. When arriving at Tafira Baja, Commander Gerardt Storm van Weenen ordered the company to stop, and divided them up into five squadrons, putting a line of 300 musketeers out in front with another identical amount at the back, to prevent any sudden surprises. 

Up to that point, the Dutch had marched along in quite a disorderly fashion, some of them keeping themselves entertained by burning the harvest yield and country houses in their wake; but now that they were getting ready to go into the lush woods at El Lentiscal, populated by majestic wild olive trees, lentiscos and mocanes, commander Strom thought it was necessary to stick together, and be alert to any sudden ambush by the Spanish. 

Indeed, the Spanish, having cut off the only water channel running into the hill entrance there, crouched in wait on either side of the pathway, measuring the distance between themselves and their enemy. These, meanwhile, were overcome with thirst, and were only able to get the odd drop from muddy puddles along the foothills. 

Two pathways converged at this point, at La Atalaya and La Vega, and Gerardt Storm chose the latter, instructed by some of the prisoners, who knew the local land well, decided to make his way into Monte Lentiscal in order to reach the village of Santa Brígida via Tafira Alta.

[...] Pamochamoso, with the small nucleus of soldiers who followed him, struggled along to a small hill called "el batán", where the great forest they had just passed through stretched out at its feet. At this point he ordered everyone to stop. 

His purpose was firm and unshakable: the enemy had to be stopped without giving an inch, as they threatened to run amok in La Vega, moving ahead into the middle of the island. 

When the moment arrived for the attack, interim governor Pamochamoso tried to surprise the enemy with all the apparatus of a full scale battle, although he was short of forces, ordering captain Juan Martel Peraza de Ayala to bang out the drums for a long period, while the company's second lieutenant, Agustín de Herrera y Rojas, was to repeatedly hoist the flag in full view of the enemy.

These military battle cries drifted over to the Dutch just as they were about to set foot in this densely forested area. They were at the spot later known as «la cruz del inglés», or English cross [...]

The lieutenant then ordered captain Pedro de Torres Santiago and his men, along with another group numbering twenty, making a total of thirty, all armed with spears, to skirmish the enemy from their wooded hiding place, while more help was on the way. Captain Torres distributed his men along both sides of the pathway, and upset the Dutch so skilfully, that the frontline soldiers jumped back causing panic among the rest of the enemy lines and forced them all to disband down the hillside. 

Violent efforts were made by captain Diricksen to contain his indisciplined subordinates, while his obstination to hold the islanders foraging attack back would ultimately cost him his life. The latter had been joined by reinforcements by sargeant major Heredia, and continued to attack along the flanks and around the back of the Dutch squadron, which was now scattering around the countryside, in the face of the armed onslaught.

[...] in their hurried fleeing, the Dutch had to abandon their own company, who had gone down to the ravine at El Dragonal with the intention of pillaging, along with odd groups of soldiers, who had also split up around the neighbouring hills. They were soon all rounded up by the locals [...]

That is how the famous expedition finally ended, following continual threats banded about by Van der Does to the island's authorities, having promised them «blood and fire» to capture the local inhabitants.

[...] It can be said that the island of Gran Canaria saved itself for Spain in those decisive moments, on that glorious day. Never in its history, either before or after, had it been that close to its having its links with the fatherland ripped apart.

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