Drake's Attack upon San Domingo

In 1585, the naval commander Francis Drake was directed by Queen Elizabeth I to break Spanish domination in the Caribbean. Drake and his fleet attacked the major city on the island of Hispaniola, capturing all property and burning the city to the ground. Pyle portrays the city's Spanish defenders and victims, as described by an English narrator of the period: “We still spent the early morning in firing the outmost houses; but they being built very magnificently of stone, with very high lofts, gave us no small travail to ruin them.”