Spanish occupation of the Dominican Republic

Spanish occupation of the Dominican Republic
The Spanish occupation of the Dominican Republic (Spanish: Ocupación Español de la República Dominicana) was a brief period of Spanish recolonization of the Dominican Republic. In 1861, Dominican general Pedro Santana suggested retaking control of the Dominican Republic to Queen Isabella II of Spain, after a period of 17 years of Dominican sovereignty. The newly independent Dominican Republic was recovering economically from the recently ended Dominican War of Independence (1844–1856), when the Dominican Republic had won its independence against Haiti. The Spanish Crown and authorities, which scorned and rejected the peace treaties signed after the dismantling of some of its colonies in the Spanish West Indies some 50 years prior, welcomed his proposal and set to reestablish the colony.
The end of the American Civil War in 1865 and the re-assertion of the Monroe Doctrine by the United States, which was no longer involved in internal conflict and which possessed enormously expanded and modernized military forces as a result of the war, prompted the evacuation of Spanish forces back to Cuba that same year.
Occupation
Spanish troops poured into Santo Domingo to support the "army" of Spanish bureaucrats and priests who displaced Dominicans as civil and religious servants. Within a few months, 6,000 Spanish troops occupied the island. Soon the number swelled to 30,000 soldiers supported by twenty-two warships. These were supplemented by battalions of Cuban and Puerto Rican volunteers. Additionally, more than 12,000 Dominicans, principally from the provinces of Azua, Santo Domingo, El Seibo, and the town of Baní, served the Spanish queen.
At first, only a few Dominicans opposed the Spaniards. This was more a result of the shortage of weapons than the will to fight. On May 2, 1861, Colonel José Contreras led a group of Dominicans against the barracks at fortress Moca. Santana, leading his cowboys, captured the ringleaders and executed them. Soon, Dominicans, who had fled to Haiti from Spanish rule, began raiding across the border. In June, General Francisco del Rosario Sánchez and José María Cabral began a better organized rebellion; however, Santana enticed Sánchez into a trap at El Cercado where Sánchez was captured. He and twenty-one followers were executed. A Spanish fleet was dispatched to Port-au-Prince and extracted an indemnity in retaliation for Haiti's meddling and a promise from the Haitians to prevent further crossings.
Before long, tactics settled into a pattern. The Spanish, having superior artillery and rifles, preferred fighting at a distance. The Dominicans, knowing the terrain, preferred close quarters where they could employ lances and edged weapons.
Santana, believing that his services and those of his followers were not adequately rewarded, resigned on March 28, 1862, as Spanish rule became increasingly unpopular. Santana was replaced as captain-general by the Spaniard Felipe Ribero y Lemoine, an incredibly inept administrator. Compounding the problems of Spain, yellow fever broke out in the summer of 1862.
By 1863, uprisings spread throughout Santo Domingo, and guerrilla warfare erupted. In February, the Spanish authorities declared Santo Domingo under a state of siege. In April, the Spanish Army defeated the Dominicans led by General Lucas de Peña at Cibao. In August, Dominican dissidents in collaboration with the Haitian rebel Sylvain Salnave established sanctuaries along the Haitian-Dominican border to their mutual advantage. On August 16, fourteen dissidents led by Santiago Rodríquez, Benito Morción, and José Cabrera crossed the northeast frontier into Santo Domingo and called for the nation to rise up against the invaders. On that day, they routed a small Spanish detachment. Soon the insurrection had spread to the outskirts of the capital. On September 9, Spanish reinforcements of two battalions arrived at Puerto Plata on board the Isabel la Católica and the El Pájaro del Océano. Spain, believing it had no choice, once again turned to Santana to salvage the situation.
Santana led an army composed mostly of mercenaries against his countrymen at Cibao. When he reached Monte Plata, Santana discovered that the rebels had seized 6,000 rifles at Santiago. The rebels burned Santiago and Puerto Plata to delay his advance. On September 14, the insurgents established a provisional government led by General José Antonio Salcedo in Santiago de los Caballeros. It declared Santana a traitor and ordered that he be shot on sight. Santana's march stalled at Monte Plata. Rebel forces led by General Gregorio Luperón harassed his troops and depleted his strength. The Dominicans captured Santana's entire supply train along with two Spanish generals and some one hundred Spanish soldiers at Yamasá. Many deserted Santana's army and the Spanish authorities refused to send reinforcements. Frustrated, Santana retired to El Seibo. Yellow fever continued to take a heavy toll. By March 1864, of the 21,000 troops sent to the island, 9,000 had died from the fever or were incapacitated, and another 1,000 men had been killed in combat.
In May 1864, the Spanish Captain-General ordered Santana to face court-martial. However, on June 14, 1864, he probably died from a stroke. The Captain-General of Santo Domingo, now the Spaniard José de la Gándara y Navarro, embraced a strategy of occupying the northern ports, thus cutting off the dissident Dominican government in Santiago from outside support. La Gándara pulled together some men, which included Dominicans, and joined a force of 6,000 men who sailed from Santiago de Cuba to Manzanillo Bay on board fourteen ships. The Spanish attacked and captured Monte Cristi, but sustained heavy losses, including the wounding of Field Marshal Primo de Rivera. Next, La Gándara attempted to subdue the rebels between Monte Cristi and Santiago. This played into the hands of the Dominicans. They resorted to hit-and-run tactics and intercepted many of the supplies intended for La Gándara. The only victory in the campaign was the capture of Monte Cristi, and that at great cost.
By 1865, the Dominican forces confined the Spaniards to the capital and they were afraid to venture out. Realizing that the reconquest of Santo Domingo would be costly and complicated due to the ending of the U.S. Civil War, the Queen authorized the abandonment of the colony on May 3, 1865. The last Spanish troops withdrew on July 11.
During the War of Restoration, Spain lost some 18,000 men. This number does not include the Dominicans, Cubans, and Puerto Ricans fighting on its side. The Dominicans fighting for independence against Spain lost more than 4,000 men. The Dominicans were better acclimated to local diseases, this explaining the large difference between the losses on the two sides.
Governors
1861–1865
1861–1862: Pedro Santana
1862–1863: Felipe Ribero y Lemoine
1863–1864: Carlos de Vargas
1864–1865: José de la Gándara
See also
History of the Dominican Republic
First Republic
Second Republic
Third Republic
References
1865 disestablishments
1860s in the Dominican Republic
Colonial government in the West Indies
Dominican Republic–Spain relations
Santo Domingo, Spanish occupation of
Spanish West Indies
States and territories established in 1861
1861 establishments in the Spanish Empire
Military occupation