Early conspiracies in Santo Domingo Apparently in Santo Domingo, more or less simultaneously, a series of conspiratorial movements against France took place, among which the efforts in Cuba by Leonardo Pichardo and Cereceda, those sent by the governor of Puerto Rico, Salvador Félix and Cristóbal Huber Franco, who added
Ciriaco Ramírez, stood out, in addition to the activities headed by Antonio Rendón Sarmiento and Juan Sánchez Ramírez. Of these four, historiographical primacy rests on the fourth, for being the figure who managed to bring together the largest number of people, lead decisive actions and, above all, rally the support of Puerto Rico and Spain as leader of the process. The action of Leonardo Pichardo y Cereceda was limited to lobbying the Captain General of Havana to receive support that would allow him to return to Santo Domingo to expel the French, but this initiative failed to mobilize the Havana colonial government. A second conspirator of the that we know of was Antonio Rendón Sarmiento, who traveled to Puerto Rico to make contacts and find support. On July 29, 1808, Rendón was in
Mayagüez, where he learned of events in Spain. He obtained several copies of the Seville Manifesto, the
Diario de Valencia and other news to bring to Santo Domingo. On August 9, he landed in El Jobero, in the east of the island, where he took refuge in the house of Sánchez Ramírez, for whom he had a letter of recommendation from the priest Juan Pichardo in which he presented him "as a subject who had a lot of knowledge in the Department of the North" and "to direct it under the protection of the neighbors who seem more on purpose." The dates of Rendón's initial movements are not clear, but it is known that on September 1, 1808, he wrote to the vicar of
Santiago de los Caballeros, Vicente Luna, updating him on his steps and affairs. The vicar responded on October 9, in a letter that shows that at that time Sánchez Ramírez was a recognized figure in the conspiracy against the French. Luna complained about "the lack of correspondence that Don Juan Sánchez, who has taken charge of these matters, should send us." Even so, at all times the letter hints at the existence of two prominent and close figures: Sánchez and Rendón. "And I charge you and Sánchez not to have us more time in confusion." The prelate explains that in Santiago they were only waiting for a signal to displace the French authorities. "In this We are not careful about Santiago, since there are not even eight Frenchmen, and the Commander General seems to resist nothing: we are now putting in an express that is of our trust and well trained, so that you and Sánchez impose them on the things that happen here, which are all good." According to the
Diario de la Reconquista, in
Higüey, Juan Sánchez Ramírez found Rendón on September 5, learning that he had burned the letters he brought for fear of being apprehended with them. For Utrera, "having changed the errands until he lost his pursuers with the loss of his flight, he finally found the darkest of all fortunes, because whoever saved his life, taking him to a remote place, took from him the flag of the foreign liberation of the Homeland." According to this approach, Juan Sánchez Ramírez retained Rendón Sarmiento in El Seibo and this caused his leadership to be broken, being the one who assumed the decisive command in the process. He used the contacts created by Rendón Sarmiento to receive and send information to Puerto Rico. Although it is known that since August, Sánchez Ramírez was moving in search of support for his cause, for Utrera he was the last to formally request Spanish help for the expulsion of the French. While the siege lasted, Rendón had roles of responsibility. For example, Sánchez Ramírez entrusted him with taking prisoners to Puerto Rico, which occurred on May 2, 1809. But at the end of that year, Rendón denounced Sánchez Ramírez for "having been viewed with the greatest contempt, trying to obscure his merit that he has so notoriously acquired." Rendón fought for his primacy as leader of the Reconquista and revealed the tricks used by Sánchez Ramírez to displace him. Certainly, Sánchez Ramírez used the strategy of accusing his political opponents of intrigue—as he did with Ciriaco Ramírez and Cristóbal Huber—including Rendón in the investigations of the conspiracy of 1810, known as that of the Italians. (
José Núñez de Cáceres would later dismiss the charges only after the death of Sánchez Ramírez).
The uprising of the south Cristóbal Huber Franco and Salvador Félix, with the support of the governor of Puerto Rico, arrived on the coast of Barahona on September 23, 1808, and began the agitation of the South of the Spanish Part, where they established contact with Ciriaco Ramírez, a key figure of the Reconquista process. There are several elements of confusion about this faction. For example, historian
José Gabriel García believed that only Félix was the one sent by Montes to Santo Domingo and that it was once on the island when he became involved with Huber Franco. Seemingly, Huber, a native of Madrid, did arrive from Puerto Rico, where he was a resident, working as a merchant and squad corporal in the Fixed Regiment there. His affiliation to the Dominican cause against the French was explained because his second intention was to be appointed, through Montes' efforts, private secretary in the
Viceroyalty of Peru. But if there is someone with a dubious role in this situation, it was Salvador Félix, since he was not There is evidence that he was an agent of Montes, since the official documents of Puerto Rico do not mention him. As far as we know, Félix was one of the Dominicans who joined the conspiracy against the French in Puerto Rico and in that situation he associated himself with Huber and traveled to Santo Domingo. Two days after his arrival, in Fundación, Neiba's jurisdiction, the rebellion began. Del Monte grants both characters that primacy and affirms that once the uprising was done, Ciriaco Ramírez and Manuel Jiménez joined them. Utrera criticized the proceed from the governor of Puerto Rico, Toribio Montes, because "he undertook the undertaking without having foreseen the unity of action of well-known individuals familiar with the country, placing his trust in men absolutely unknown as Dominican patriots, such as Huber, who had never been in Santo Domingo, Salvador Félix, a resident without social quality, and Ciriaco Ramírez, a newcomer in the South dedicated to working in his farms." A week after the landing, the first contacts were established with Ciriaco Ramírez, landowner or commoner. He was described as a "white, strong man, a native of Cádiz, a resident of Azua, married, farmer, 38 years old" and owner of coffee plantations. There is evidence that in 1804 he appeared as a commander in Azua. On October 2, he accepted to join the rebellion "and made disbursements to obtain weapons and ammunition in Haiti." Ramírez was a key piece, as he managed to recruit sectors from Cibao and the South, along with his brother-in-law Manuel Jiménez. As will be seen later, his figure was later eclipsed by the leadership by Sánchez Ramírez. Later, (as part of the case that was pursued against him in 1810 for his alleged involvement in the so-called Conspiracy of the Italians), Sánchez Ramírez described the process that led him to join the Reconquista struggle. He stated that he was contacted on September 30, 1808, by Antonio Félix with a message from Cristóbal Huber and Salvador Félix informing him of the war between Spain and France and inviting him to "get ready to break the war against the French." Ramírez responded that, as a landowner, he could not take that risk without certain data, so he was offered to present documents, which was fulfilled the next day when they brought him several "forms from Seville relating to the revolution in Spain, a document that proved that a ship had been chartered to carry said Félix and others, a passport and an instruction in a copy of those given by the governor and captain general of Puerto Rico, Don Toribio Montes, and signed by Huber and Félix." Here the importance of information management becomes evident, since at that time, with little access to written documents, when the misinformation played a determining role. The sectors favorable to French domination circulated denials regarding what happened in Spain or simply resorted to intimidation. Ramírez pointed out that a series of people received letters in which they were persuaded to "desist from the enterprise" and to "submit to the French Government, that what was said about Spain was false, that all things were compounded." Apparently, with the documents that Ciriaco Ramírez saw, he felt convinced that they were true and realized the magnitude of the matter. He had been persuaded with the power of the printed letter, which in that context was decisive, added to the project, Ramírez dedicated himself to looking for allies, he came into contact with other figures from Santiago such as Diego Polanco, Miguel Álvarez and Miguel de los Santos. On October 5, Ciriaco Ramírez "declared war, with no weapons other than eleven rifles and a blunderbuss and a hundred men, more or less, and on other days more than two hundred, remaining camped a league away from the town of Azua occupied by the enemies." Six days later, he met Huber for the first time, after the defeat of the French at Malpaso, and it was there that the alliance was formally established. According to Ramírez's own account, on October 19 he participated in a skirmish in which he had to retreat due to the superiority of the Gauls. Toribio Montes wrote on October 15 to
Francisco Saavedra, president of the Central Board in Spain, to request help for the Dominicans. On October 18, the schooner Monserrate arrived on the island from Puerto Rico with the notice from Baltazar Paniagua and other emigrants that in a few days the requested aid would set sail for Santo Domingo. Since the end of September,
Huber Matos had written to
Alexandre Pétion requesting weapons and ammunition, supplies that were delivered to Manuel Jiménez. In addition to the collaboration of the Republic of Southern Haiti, the triumvirate (Huber, Ramírez and Félix) had had contact with the president of the Northern part, Henri Christophe, from whom they had also received a favorable response. Toribio Montes, however, expressed concern about this association. In a letter dated October 15, 1808 to Francisco Saavedra, president of the Central Board of Regency, Spanish Government in the absence of the king, explained Haiti's support for the cause of reconquest. "The blacks who occupy the French part are addicted to the Spaniards, and they claim not to have the slightest mistrust of them." But Montes showed misgivings and ordered his agents "not to admit or use their persons in any way." On October 28, Montes wrote to Christophe in the following terms: "[...] that as far as people are concerned to drive out and destroy the French, they have more than enough; but they are in the mood to admit the weapons and ammunition that they lack, which Your Excellency's generosity has offered them." Consequently, the orders were not to allow the involvement of Haitians but to receive weapons and ammunition. He later took credit for the success of obtaining the support of the Haitian rulers by saying: "I availed myself through friendly messages and proclamations from the black general Henri Christophe, and from the mulatto general, Alexandre Pétion, and both of them not only answered me attentively, but due to my influence They franked some weapons, ammunition and other effects of war." The triumvirate faced the French in three important battles: Malpaso, Los Conucos and Sabana Mula. On October 23, Colonel Aussenac, attacked the rebels of Ciriaco Ramírez located in Sabana Mula with 150 men. This attack was successful for the French, as it forced the rebels to disperse. But having received aid in arms from the Haitian government of Pétion, through the efforts of Manuel Jiménez, the panorama changed. With this help, and managing to gather around a thousand men, including two hundred mounted, the Creoles were able to take over Tábara and forced the French to retreat to Sabanabuey. According to Ciriaco Ramírez, his troops prepared to attack the town of Azua. The French, informed by Agustín Batista of the upcoming attack, abandoned the town after burning 24 houses, so on November 5, Ramírez and Huber's troops were able to enter it.
Conspiracy of the east The rebellion in the Eastern region was led by Juan Sánchez Ramírez, a native of Cotuí, but with economic interests in Samaná, El Seibo and Higüey. Antonio del Monte Tejada attributed him to having held important positions, including the role of magistrate of his native town, but Utrera ruled it out. It seems that he briefly held the position of commander of arms in his native Cotuí. Owner of land in the East, he is entitled to the title of landowner. Lemonnier-Delafosse called him a "rich landowner." Defining him as a landowner would limit the diversity of roles he played according to documentation. He is shown buying and selling land and slaves, as an official of the Spanish colonial government and as a figure of local prestige. In December 1795 he appeared supervising the inventory of the jewelry of the church of Cotuí by appointment of Governor Joaquín García, regarding the cession to France. He emigrated to Puerto Rico in 1803 and while there, in 1806, the military commander of Higüey appointed him to look after his affairs in Mayagüez. He returned to the island in 1807 and a year later, on the eve of initiating his conspiratorial actions, he appeared as an accountant in the will of Sebastián Rijo in Higüey. According to Del Monte and Tejada, in the context of the
French Revolution and the slave rebellion in Saint-Domingue had already begun, Juan Sánchez Ramírez fought with the Spanish troops against the French together with the battalion of auxiliary blacks led by Jean François and
Georges Biassou in which he was credited with being "an astute, knowledgeable and brave guerrilla." The subsequent events were of great drama and complexity: the years of lack of definition, with a France that did not immediately occupy its newly obtained colony, the unilateral action of Toussaint Louverture in 1801,
Leclerc's expedition in 1802 and the consequent second phase of the French Government. When referring to Juan Sánchez Ramírez, José Gabriel García described him as an "honored natural owner of Cotuí, who, having emigrated in 1803, he had to return after four years, to recover from the losses he had experienced during his trip, working a wood cut that he had in Macao." While for García, Sánchez Ramírez's trip was related to the need to recover lost property, which can be interpreted from Sánchez's own words in the
Diario, for Del Monte and Tejada the move to Puerto Rico was directly related to the subversive plans. This author attributes all the preponderance of the action to Sánchez Ramírez, putting him in contact with key figures in the process of Reconquista like Andrés Muñoz in Santiago, Ciriaco Ramírez in the South and "a certain Sarmiento" in El Seibo, whose relevance has already been described. The events of Bayonne, in May 1808, generated a sudden Hispanic fervor among some sectors that contributed to strengthening support for the idea of removing the French from the Caribbean and made it easier to gain followers for the conspiracy. Between August and September 1808, Juan Sánchez Ramírez moved through Cotuí, La Vega, Santiago,
Bayaguana, El Seibo and Higüey to motivate the uprising. Upon arriving in Santo Domingo on August 9, Ferrand invited him to a meeting. In the Diario, this meeting appeared as a lunch in which the French general sought to attract to its administration a man considered until then "a friend of the French." Gilbert Guillermin, for his part, He described him as "intriguing and audacious, he dared to sit at General Ferrand's table at the same time when he had just completed his crime and spread the ferment of rebellion in the Eastern part." And he was certainly very right. Sánchez Ramírez had been stirring up spirits in different towns, but Santo Domingo proved not to be the space with the greatest roots for the Reconquista movement: "From eight to eleven I tried to fathom the spirits of some Spaniards who had influence in the city, with whom I insinuated myself, and, finding them too lukewarm, I forced them by representing my ideas to them." That same day Ferrand made a proclamation to the Dominicans. In it, he sought to control the unrest or the "hurricane" that was already in the Caribbean. He recognized that Puerto Rico was in a "political fermentation" that, according to him, "seems to be born from some movements of discord and disagreement between the French and Spanish in Europe." He supported the natural weaknesses of the circulation of information: "The different relationships that have reached our news about those events, present so many contradictions of incoherence and implausibility that even their existence is still, for our eyes, full of darkness, almost impenetrable." In this way he sought to question the reliability of the existing information that could then be considered rumors. His proclamation appealed to unity: "French and Spanish, all together we are nothing more than a single people of brothers and friends." He called on them to repudiate "the instigations, whether from outside or from within, that would lead to sowing disastrous seeds of distrust, discord and disorder." In reality for this date, and through correspondence that Ferrand writes to Puerto Rico, everything seems to indicate that he was truly unaware of the latest events that occurred in Spain. As already noted, the governor of Puerto Rico had taken diligent activism, and sent to Santo Domingo, through Captain Bracetti, a proclamation addressed to its inhabitants in which he made a call to fight: "Arm yourselves against our oppressors, join us, destroy for yourselves. Go away and break the chains that oppress you." According to
Diario, in mid-August Sánchez Ramírez was looking for a way to communicate with Toribio Montes in Puerto Rico. After several failed attempts, it was around September 17 when he obtained a boat with which he was able to send a communication to the neighboring island. It is known that Sánchez Ramírez wrote to the governor and Mayagüez official Baltazar Paniagua. Only the second letter was preserved, in which light is shed on the state of the movement. Sánchez Ramírez expressed his dismay at his inability to communicate with the nearest Spanish authority, in this case Puerto Rico, "because the correspondence that has come, some have been reported and burned before reaching my hands, and others intercepted by the Government itself." Sánchez Ramírez complained, saying that "lately they have not stopped, taking measures and pretending that they receive correspondence from Europe." Once again, the power of information to manage the political situation to one's advantage is perceived. Being credible often had to do with possess a written or, better yet, printed document. The schemers surely played a fundamental role in generating doubt, where the legitimizing did not appear. Sánchez Ramírez considered that the confirmation of Puerto Rico's support was essential to give strength to the movement and authority to his figure. He said: "I have offered to those of this that we will obtain it, and if they do not see it verified, they will distrust, they will faint and the French deceptions will come to achieve the ruin of many." In the letter Sánchez Ramírez stated that based on information from José Moreno —captain of the boat with which he finally managed to write to Montes—that in the South "the spirits are ready and measures are taken." He explained that he was heading there to unify the movement when he learned of the arrest warrant issued by Ferrand against Rendón Sarmiento, Manuel Carvajal and himself, so the meeting and unification with the southern conspirators could not be verified. This had medium-term consequences, generating tensions that were not fully resolved until the Bondillo Board. Despite that, he gave the Southerners his vote of confidence: "I have never doubted those people." At this time, September 1808, the larger, stronger, and more unified movement it seemed would find supporters with more ease. He asked Puerto Rico to send 200 sabers, firearms, spark stones, among other resources. But he also requested troops and for them to come accompanied by their military commander. Perhaps understanding the social context and issues such as status, ranks and the rigid Spanish social ladder, he humbly stated: It is notable that by the time Sánchez Ramírez managed to send the communication, there were only a few days left before the arrival of the envoys of Montes, Huber and Félix to the island. This meant that the governor of Puerto Rico was already determined to support the cause of the anti-French Creoles of Santo Domingo.
Leadership of Juan Sánchez Ramírez Faced with a new rebel scenario in the East, Ferrand ordered his troops located in the South to concentrate on Santo Domingo. Without knowing it, the conditions were created to facilitate the siege that the Creoles could place on the capital, after the
Battle of Palo Hincado, the next military challenge that the French had to take on, just a few days after the withdrawal from Azua. At first it seemed that the Southern group was the one leading the vanguard in the fight against the French. Their military actions precede which Sánchez Ramírez led in the East. Initially it was the South that had the strongest connections with the Spanish Government and that had enlisted the help of the two Haitian governments. But starting on October 26, the correlation of forces began to shift from the South to the East, where it began the offensive led by Sánchez Ramírez and a group of twenty-one men who entered El Seibo: The next step was the arrest of the French representative, Lieutenant Colonel Manuel Peralta, carried out by Manuel Carvajal, an event that generated a confrontation between French and Creoles in Higüey. In El Seibo, Sánchez Ramírez gathered people from Neiba, Azua, San Juan and Las Matas, managing to bring together, according to José Gabriel García, six companies under the command by Vicente Mercedes. The figure is far from the thirty horsemen with whom Sánchez Ramírez entered El Seibo. The control over this town allowed him to establish a military point in San Gerónimo, on the outskirts of the capital, and from there cut off communication between Santo Domingo and Samaná, a key place for the French. From this moment, it was clear to the French that they faced two more or less well-defined rebel centers: in the South the triumvirate of Félix, Huber and Ramírez, and in the East the movement led by Juan Sánchez Ramírez. Then the strategic movements began that allowed the locals to triumph in Palo Hincado. The necessary baggage was prepared to transport aid from Puerto Rico from Yuma, which arrived on October 29. Four hundred rifles and cartridges were received, which came in four ships and a schooner that were to return loaded with mahogany. In those days Sánchez Ramírez wrote to other commanders of the towns of the South and the North, of which there was already news of small portions of Spaniards having revolted, demanding that they speed up the shipment of patriots. On October 30, Ferrand made a new proclamation, with "a thousand promises and as many threats." This was very different from the one he had made on August 9, which only sought to exhort tranquility. He lamented that, despite his exhortations, many were deaf to them and had joined the conspiracy. He used all kinds of expletives and accused those involved of being "evil, vagabonds, lazy people, bandits;" and he called those who had traveled from Puerto Rico a "filthy mob of robbers who have vomited on our shores." Although no leader was mentioned in the document, there was recognition of the landing from Puerto Rico of 200 to 300 people, which made the magnitude of the movement evident to the entire population. Once again the misinformation card was played, under the argument that there would be no reintegration to Spain without an agreement between both powers, subtracting quality from the developing movement. He reported on the next march of the line troops and the National Guard, at the head of which he would personally go. They threatened the towns of the East, particularly El Seibo and Higüey, telling them that "the days of clemency have passed" since "orders have been given for them to suffer a punishment that will serve as an example forever." Once the announcement was made, preparations began for the launch that took place a week later. As the vicar Vicente Luna had very well pointed out in September, regarding the little French presence in Santiago and the willingness of the people of Santiago to displace the authorities at the first sign, they did so. Del Monte y Tejada tells that they "organized their columns, arrested Don Agustín Franco de Medina and in number of six hundred set off to meet Juan Sánchez in El Seibo." ==War of Reconquest==