Dominican War of Independence

The Dominican War of Independence (Spanish: Guerra de Independencia Dominicana) made the Dominican Republic a sovereign state on February 27, 1844. Before the war, the island of Hispaniola had been united for 22 years when the newly independent nation, previously known as the Captaincy General of Santo Domingo, was unified with the Republic of Haiti in 1822. The criollo class within the country overthrew the Spanish crown in 1821 before unifying with Haiti a year later.

Dominican War of Independence
Date1844–1856
  • 1st campaign:
    10 March – 5 May 1844
    (1 month, 3 weeks and 2 days)
  • 2nd campaign:
    6 August 1845 – 27 February 1846
    (6 months, 1 week and 4 days)
  • 3rd campaign:
    9 March – 22 April 1849
    (1 month, 1 week and 6 days)
  • 4th campaign:
    November 1855 – January 1856
    (2 months)
Location
Result

Dominican victory

  • Expulsion of Haitians
  • Dominican independence
Territorial
changes

Separation of the Santo Domingo territory from Haiti

  • Establishment of the First Republic
  • Dominican control of the larger east side of Hispaniola
Belligerents
Dominican Republic Republic of Haiti (1844–1849)
Second Empire of Haiti (1854–1856)
Commanders and leaders
Pedro Santana
Antonio Duvergé
Buenaventura Báez
Juan B. Cambiaso
Juan B. Maggiolo
Juan Acosta
Manuel Mota
José Mª. Cabral
Lucas Peña
José Mª. Imbert
J. J. Puello
Pedro E. Pelletier
Juan Pablo Duarte
Matías Ramón Mella
Francisco del Rosario Sánchez
Haiti Charles Hérard
Haiti Jean-Louis Pierrot
Haiti Faustin Soulouque
Haiti Vicent Jean Degales 
Haiti Pierre Paul
Haiti Auguste Brouard
Haiti Gen. Souffrand
Haiti Gen. St.-Louis
Haiti Jean Francois
Haiti Gen. Seraphin 
Haiti Gen. Garat 
Antoine Pierrot 
Pierre Rivere Garat 
Strength
40,000+ regulars
Casualties and losses
The exact number of casualties is unknown;
however, Haiti is estimated to have lost three times more troops than Dominican Republic[1]

After the struggles that were made by Dominican patriots to free the country from Haitian control, they had to withstand and fight against a series of incursions that served to consolidate their independence. Haitian soldiers would make incessant attacks to try to gain back control of the nation, but these efforts were to no avail, as the Dominicans would go on to win every battle.

In March 1844, 30,000 Haitian soldiers invaded the Dominican Republic at the behest of their president Charles Rivière-Hérard but were defeated within a month and forced to retreat back into Haiti. Four years later, the emperor of Haiti launched his first invasion of the Dominican Republic, but his 18,000-strong army fled after 400 Dominicans put up resistance in the south. In 1855–56, saber-wielding Dominicans sent Haitian troops into flight on all three fronts.

Background

In the late 18th century, the island of Hispaniola had been divided into two European colonies: Saint-Domingue in the west, governed by France; and Santo Domingo in the east, governed by Spain, occupying two-thirds of Hispaniola. By the 1790s, large-scale slave rebellions erupted in the western portion of the island, which led to the eventual removal of the French and the independence of Haiti in 1804. Following the independence of Haiti, massive portions of the remaining French population were murdered. The eastern portion of the island was preparing itself for an eventual separation from Spain.

Map of the island of Hispaniola published by John Stockdale in 1800 showing the line of demarcation between French and Spanish portions of the island as defined in 1776. These divisions would later evolve into Haiti and the Dominican Republic as we know them today. Edwards further identifies the Mountains of Cibao, where Columbus famously sought for gold.

At the beginning of the 1800s, the colony of Santo Domingo, which had once been the headquarters of Spanish power in the New World centuries prior, was suffering an economic decline. Spain during this time was embroiled in the Peninsular War in Europe, and other various wars to maintain control of the Americas. With Spain's resources spread among its larger colonies, its Caribbean territories became relatively neglected. This period is referred to as the España Boba era.

The Captaincy General of Santo Domingo had approximately 80,000 inhabitants, with the majority being European descendants and mulattos. For most of its history Santo Domingo was used as a military base for the further expansion into the Americas and had an economy based on mining and cattle ranching. The population in the Spanish colony was significantly lower than the French side of the island, which had a population of nearly one million slaves before the Haitian Revolution.

First independence movement

José Núñez de Cáceres

Santo Domingo was regionally divided with many rival and competing provincial leaders. During this period in time the Spanish crown wielded little to no influence in the colony. Some wealthy cattle ranchers had become rulers, and sought to bring control and order in the southeast of the colony where the "law of machete" ruled the land. On November 9, 1821 the former Captain general in charge of the colony, José Núñez de Cáceres, influenced by all the Revolutions that were going on around him, finally decided to overthrow the Spanish government and declared independence from Spanish rule, this would usher in an Ephemeral Independence.

Unification of Hispaniola (1822–1844)

Jean-Pierre Boyer, the mulatto ruler of Haiti from 1818 to 1843

A group of Dominican politicians and military officers in the frontier region had expressed interest in uniting the entire island, while they sought for power with the military support from Haitian officials against their enemies.

Haiti's president, Jean-Pierre Boyer, a mulatto who was seen as an ally promised his full support to the frontier governors, and thus he ceremoniously entered the country with around 10,000 soldiers in February 1822, after most of the cities and towns proclaimed their allegiance to Boyer between November 1821 and January 1822. On February 9, 1822, Boyer formally entered the capital city, Santo Domingo, where he was received by Núñez who offered to him the keys of the Palace. Boyer rejected the offer, while saying: "I have not come into this city as a conqueror but by the will of its inhabitants". The island was thus united from "Cape Tiburon to Cape Samana in possession of one government."

Eventually, the Haitian government became extremely unpopular throughout the country. The Dominican population grew increasingly impatient with Haiti's poor management and perceived incompetence, and the heavy taxation that was imposed on their side. The country was hit with a severe economic crisis after having been forced to pay a huge indemnity to France. A debt was accrued by Haiti in order to pay for their own independence from the European nation; this would give rise to many anti-Haitian plots.

Resistance

An assembly of the Trinitarios

In 1838, Juan Pablo Duarte, an educated nationalist, founded a resistance movement called La Trinitaria ("The Trinity") along with Ramón Matías Mella and Francisco del Rosario Sánchez. It was so named because its original nine members had organized themselves into cells of three. The cells went on to recruit as separate organizations, maintaining strict secrecy, with little or no direct contact among themselves, in order to minimize the possibility of detection by the Haitian authorities. Many recruits quickly came to the group, but it was discovered and forced to change its name to La Filantrópica ("The Philanthropic"). The Trinitarios won the loyalty of two Dominican-manned Haitian regiments.[2]

In 1843, the revolution made a breakthrough: they worked with a liberal Haitian party that overthrew President Jean-Pierre Boyer. However, the Trinitarios'[3] work in the overthrow gained the attention of Boyer's replacement, Charles Rivière-Hérard. Rivière-Hérard imprisoned some Trinitarios and forced Duarte to leave the island. While gone, Duarte searched for support in Colombia and Venezuela, but was unsuccessful. Upon returning to Haiti, Hérard, a mulatto, faced a rebellion by blacks in Port-au-Prince. The two regiments of Dominicans were among those used by Hérard to suppress the uprising.[2]

In December 1843, the rebels told Duarte to return since they had to act quickly because they were afraid the Haitians had learned of their insurrection plans. When Duarte had not returned by February, because of illness, the rebels decided to take action anyway with the leadership of Francisco del Rosario Sánchez, Ramón Matías Mella, and Pedro Santana, a wealthy cattle-rancher from El Seibo who commanded a private army of peons who worked on his estates.

On February 27, 1844, some 100 Dominicans seized the fortress of Puerta del Conde in the city of Santo Domingo, and the following day the Haitian garrison surrendered.[2] As these Haitian troops withdrew to the west side of the island, they pillaged and burned.[2] In retaliation, Dominican gunboats bombarded Haitian ports.[4]

Mella headed the provisional governing junta of the new Dominican Republic. On March 14, Duarte finally returned after recovering from his illness and was greeted in celebration.

The population of the new republic stood at approximately 5,200 whites, 135,000 mulattoes, and 34,000 blacks.[5]

War of Independence

General Pedro Santana

Haitian Commander, Charles Rivière-Hérard, sent three columns totaling 30,000 men to try and stop the Dominican uprising.[6] The Battle of Fuente del Rodeo was the first major armed encounter against Haiti in the war. It was fought on March 13, 1844, in the southwest province of Bahoruco. A force of Dominican troops, a portion of the Army of the South, led by General Fernando Taveras, defeated an outnumbering force of the Haitian Army led by Hérard. The Dominicans fought with stones, knives, machetes, lances, clubs, and rifles.[7][8]

The Battle of Azua was fought on March 19, 1844. A force of some 2,200 Dominican troops led by General Pedro Santana defeated an outnumbering force of 10,000 troops of the Haitian Army led by General Souffrand.[9] The Dominicans killed over 1,000 Haitians while only suffering 2 dead and 3 wounded. After this victory, the Dominicans withdrew their headquarters to the Ocoa River, and the valleys of Baní, where their cavalry and lancers could operate; and in this way, they restrained the march of the Haitians, who could not advance beyond Azua; and having then attempted to open a way through the passes of the Maniel, they were in every re-encounter driven back with loss. Meanwhile, in the northern region, the Battle of Santiago was fought on March 30, 1844, at Santiago de los Caballeros, Santiago Province. Although heavily outnumbered, the Dominican troops, led by General José María Imbert, defeated Haitian Army troops led by General Jean-Louis Pierrot.[9]

Schooner "Separación Dominicana" during the Battle of Tortuguero

At sea, the Dominican schooners Maria Chica (3 guns), commanded by Juan Bautista Maggiolo, and the Separación Dominicana (5 guns), commanded by Juan Bautista Cambiaso, defeated a Haitian brigantine Pandora plus schooners Le signifie and La Mouche off the coast of Azua on April 15,[2] sinking all three enemy ships and killing all the Haitian sailors without losing any of their own ships.

On June 17, 1845, the Dominicans, under the command of General Antonio Duvergé, invaded Haiti in retaliation for Haitian border raids. The invaders captured two towns on the Plateau du Centre and established a bastion at Cachimán.[6] Haitian President Jean-Louis Pierrot quickly mobilized his army and counterattacked on July 22, driving the invaders from Cachimán and back across the frontier.[1] On August 6, Pierrot ordered his army to invade the Dominican Republic. A member of La Trinitaria, José María Serra, claimed that over 3,000 Haitian soldiers and less than 20 Dominican militias had been killed at this point.[10]

On September 17, 1845, the Dominicans defeated the Haitian vanguard near the frontier at Estrelleta where the Dominican "square" repulsed, with the use of bayonets, a Haitian cavalry charge.[2] On September 27, 1845, Dominican Gen. Francisco Antonio Salcedo defeated a Haitian army at the battle of "Beler," a frontier fortification.[2] Salcedo was supported by Adm. Juan Bautista Cambiaso's squadron of three schooners, which blockaded the Haitian port of Cap-Haïtien.[9] Among the dead were three Haitian generals. On October 28, other Haitian armies attacked the frontier fort "El Invencible" and were repulsed after five hours of hard fighting.[2][1] In a significant naval action between the Hispaniolan rivals, a Dominican squadron captured 3 small Haitian warships and 149 seamen off Puerto Plata on December 21.[1]

Battle of Las Carreras (April 21, 1849)

On March 9, 1849, President Faustin Soulouque of Haiti led 18,000 troops in an invasion of the Dominican Republic. Dominican General (and presidential contender) Santana raised 400 soldiers and, with the help of several gunboats, routed the Haitian invaders at the Battle of Las Carreras on April 21–22. The battle opened with a cannon barrage and devolved into hand-to-hand combat.[2] Three Haitian generals were killed. As the remnants of the Haitian army retreated along the southern coastal road, they were under fire from a small Dominican squadron.[2] Haitian strategy was ridiculed by the American press:

[At the first encounter] ... a division of negro troops of Faustin ran, and their commander, Gen. Garat, was killed. The main body, eighteen thousand troops, under the Emperor, encountered four hundred Dominicans with a field piece, and notwithstanding the disparity of force, the latter charged and caused the Haytiens to flee in every direction ... Faustin came very near falling into the enemy's hands. They were once within a few feet of him, and he was only saved by Thirlonge and other officers of his staff, several of whom lost their lives. The Dominicans pursued the retreating Haytiens some miles until they were checked and driven back by the Garde Nationale of Port-au-Prince, commanded by Robert Gateau, the auctioneer.[11]

In November 1849, a small naval campaign was undertaken in which Dominican government schooners captured Anse-à-Pitres and one or two other villages on the southern coast of Haiti, which were sacked and burned by the Dominicans.[12] The Dominicans also captured Dame-Marie, which they plundered and set on fire.[13] The Dominican forces managed to sink some enemy ships as they made their way back to Santo Domingo. In 1851, a truce was mediated by the United Kingdom, France, and the United States.[5]

Photograph of General José María Cabral

By late 1854, the Hispaniolan nations were at war again. In November, 2 Dominican ships captured a Haitian warship and bombarded two Haitian ports.[1] In November 1855, Soulouque, having proclaimed himself Emperor Faustin I of a Haitian empire which he hoped to expand to include the Dominican Republic, invaded his neighbor again, this time with an army of 30,000 men marching in three columns.[1][5] But again the Dominicans proved to be superior soldiers, defeating Soulouque's army, which vastly outnumbered them.

In the south, 4,500 Dominicans led by José María Cabral defeated 12,000 Haitian troops on December 22, 1855, at the Battle of Santomé, killing 695 enemy troops.[1] During the battle, Cabral defeated the Haitian General Antoine Pierrot in single combat. On the same day another force of 400 Dominicans defeated 6,000 Haitian troops at the Battle of Cambronal. In the north, 6,500–7,000 Dominicans defeated 8,000–9,000 Haitians on January 24, 1856, at the Battle of Sabana Larga. The Dominicans suffered 236 dead, but managed to kill over 1,000 Haitians, with many dying as they were cut down by the Dominican cavalry's sabers.[14]

The Dominicans decisively defeated a Haitian contingent of 6,000 soldiers in Ouanaminthe. More than 1,000 Haitians were killed, and many were wounded and declared missing on the way back to the capital.[15] When Soulouque rode into Port-au-Prince with what remained of his army he was loudly cursed by women who had lost their sons, brothers, and husbands in the war.[15] Nevertheless, he succeeded in securing for Haiti possession of Lascahobas and Hinche.[16]

Dominican forces were able to defeat another Haitian invasion in 1859,[5] but the country was in ruins economically and the constant threat of renewed Haitian invasion led Pedro Santana to annex the Dominican Republic to Spain in 1861. The annexation led to a guerrilla war between Dominican nationalists and Spanish forces beginning in 1863. This war resulted in 10,888 Spanish soldiers killed or wounded and another 30,000 dead from yellow fever.[17] Spain spent over 33 million pesos on the war. This immense monetary cost, combined with the heavy human toll of the war, led Spain to finally withdraw its forces in 1865. The Dominican Restoration War forced Haiti to realize that the goal of conquering the Dominican Republic was unattainable, and it finally recognized its independence in 1874.

Battles

Notes

  1. Clodfelter 2017, p. 302.
  2. Scheina 2003.
  3. The members of La Trinitaria.
  4. Matibag 2003, p. 113.
  5. Marley 2005, p. 99.
  6. Clodfelter 2017, p. 301.
  7. Caamaño Grullón, Claudio (2007). Caamaño: Guerra Civil 1965. Tomo I. Mediabyte, pp. 10. ISBN 9789945130461.
  8. Romero, Santo (2008). Raíces étnico-culturales y divisiones territoriales de nuestra isla. Búho. ISBN 9789945162530.
  9. Showalter 2013.
  10. Serra 1845.
  11. Philadelphia Public Ledger, January 28, 1856.
  12. Schoenrich 1918.
  13. Léger 1907, p. 202.
  14. "La batalla de Sabana Larga" (PDF) (in Spanish).
  15. Smith 2014, p. 81.
  16. Matibag 2003, p. 118.
  17. Clodfelter 2017, p. 306.

References

  • Clodfelter, Micheal (2017). Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Encyclopedia of Casualty and Other Figures, 1492-2015 (4th ed.). McFarland.
  • Léger, Jacques Nicolas (1907). Haiti: Her History and Her Detractors. The Neale Publishing Company.
  • Marley, David (2005). Historic Cities of the Americas: An Illustrated Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO.
  • Matibag, E. (2003). Haitian-Dominican Counterpoint: Nation, State, and Race on Hispaniola. Springer.
  • Scheina, Robert L. (2003). Latin America's Wars. Potomac Books.
  • Schoenrich, Otto (1918). Santo Domingo: A Country with a Future. Library of Alexandria.
  • Showalter, Dennis (2013). Imperial Wars 1815-1914. London: Amber Books. ISBN 978-1-78274-125-1. OCLC 1152285624.
  • Smith, Matthew J. (2014). Liberty, Fraternity, Exile: Haiti and Jamaica after Emancipation. UNC Press Books.
  • Serra, José María (1845). "Los Haitianos". El Dominicano, No. 1. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.