Juan Sánchez Ramírez (1762 – February 11, 1811) was a Dominican general who was the primary leader of the War of Reconquista. He is known for leading the troops in the Battle of Palo Hincado. The decisive Dominican victory resulted in the end of French rule in eastern Hispaniola in 1809. He was the first Dominican to serve as governor of Santo Domingo.
In 1795, the island of Santo Domingo ceased to be linked to Spain by the Peace Treaty of Basel (Switzerland), which put an end to the War of the Convention (1793–1795), by which it passed under French rule. In 1808, after Napoleon invaded Spain, the La Reconquista movement was created on the island, led, among others, by Sánchez Ramírez, with the aim of returning to Spanish rule.
Sánchez Ramírez, an agricultural landowner of Criollo origin, had already fought against the French in the War of the Convention, and in 1803 he had emigrated to Puerto Rico, from where he returned in 1807 to foment the insurrection. To do this, he requested the help of the governor of Puerto Rico, Toribio Montes, and of Dominican settlers who had fled to that island, with whose forces he revolted against the French troops of general and governor Jean-Louis Ferrand, whom he defeated on November 7, 1808 in the historical Battle of Palo Hincado. Shortly after, with the help of the English fleet sent by Hugh Lyle Carmichael that came to support him from Jamaica, he managed to take the capital of the island. He was therefore appointed captain general and mayor of the island by the Junta of Seville, thereby reestablishing Spanish sovereignty.
During his government he harshly repressed any independence attempt, acting with total impunity in the face of the indifference of the Spanish metropolis. He maintained this position until his death in 1811, afterwards the colony attained its independence from Spain in 1821.
Biography
Early years Juan Sánchez Ramírez was born in 1762 in Cotuí, Santo Domingo.. Retrieved on August 16, 2014, to 11:21pm. According to historian Francisco A. Rincón, he was the son of Miguel Sánchez Juan Sánchez Ramírez, héroe de la batalla de Palo Hincado declarado paladín de la Reconquista (in Spanish: Juan Sánchez Ramírez, hero of the Battle of Palo Hincado declared champion of the Reconquista). Retrieved on August 16, 2014, to 12:50pm. and Francisca Ramírez. Juan Sánchez Ramírez had two brothers: Remigio and Rafael. The last of them was Magistrate of Cotuí in the Haitian period of the Dominican Republic. His father was a Spanish member of the military and a wealthy landowner. However, it was the priest Pichardo y Delmonte who took care of his education. When he was young, he led a company of lancers of Cotuí.
Ramírez held several significant positions in Cotuí, including that of magistrate.
1793–1795: War of Convention and Treaty of Basel
In 1793, King Louis XVI of France, cousin of Charles IV of Spain, was beheaded by rebels. This influenced Sánchez Ramírez to join the War of Convention, rising to the rank of Captain. With his own fortunes, he took part in the battles fought by Spain and France, of which allies of the former consisted of Haitian auxiliary troops such as Jean François and Georges Biassou.
Following the capture of Gipuzkoa, the then Spanish Secretary of State, Manuel Godoy, began to raise concern. He felt that this would cause Vascongadas to switch allegiance from Spain and ally with France. Seeking to end the war, the Spanish government began to consider negotiations. France demanded the version of Gipuzkoa, Louisiana, and the eastern colony of Hispaniola, Santo Domingo. Spain, however, sought the preservation of the Catholic faith, (which had been replaced with the Cult of Reason), in addition to the territories where the late king's son, Louis XVII, could loosen its sovereignty, as well as the restriction of the limits to the situation prior to the war. Unfortunately, France rejected Spain's request, referring to their demands as a direct insult to French sovereignty. By May 1795, new negotiations were held in Basel. France once again proposed in securing Gipuzkoa, Santo Domingo, and Louisiana. Domingo d'Yriarte, however, was instructed not to cede any territories, opting to seek the release of Louis XVII. A month later, Godoy agrees to sign a preliminary treaty, recognizing revolutionary France. The treaty's term included limiting Spain's domain, restoring Catholicism in France, freeing the children of Louis XVI and forming an alliance against Great Britain. (This would stipulate in the 1796 Second Treaty of San Ildefonso). On July 22, the definitive treaty was signed, and in return for the occupied Spanish territories, Spain would cede Santo Domingo to France. While commercial relations renewed, Spain also agreed to refrain from any persecutions of the French, as well as the release of María Teresa de Borbón.
1801–1805: Occupation by France and departure to Puerto Rico
Although Santo Domingo was now under French administration, the colony was still in Spanish hands. France was still occupied by conflicts with the British as well as the ongoing Haitian Revolution that was still transpring in neighbouring Saint-Domingue (present-day Haiti). Because of this, in 1799, Santo Domingo sent a request to the court, asking King Charles IV to postpone the change in administration until the issues of the first counsel in France were resolved. However, In 1801, the Haitian revolutionary Toussaint Louverture, having just defeated his rival André Riguad in the War of Knives, decided to carry out the occupation, (despite Bonaparte's orders), as agreed in the Treaty of Basel, capturing Santo Domingo from France and freeing the remaining Dominican slaves. By February 1801, the Spanish governor, Joaquín García y Moreno, along with his troops, were off the island. In 1802, a troop of fifty thousand soldiers led by the French Leclerc reached the East of the island. These soldiers defeated Toussaint and reestablished their authority over the territory. Nevertheless, the Haitians and French occupied the lands belonging to Juan Sánchez Ramírez, and to almost all Spaniards living in the colony of Santo Domingo.
Ramírez emigrated to Puerto Rico in December 1803. He landed on the island on January 3, 1804, but with no income or property, he resorted to obtaining compensation that was promised to the new immigrants. In the end, he was forced to use the money of his own assets to provide for himself and of his family. Subsequently, Sánchez Ramírez had left the island just in time to evade the terrifying conflicts of the Siege of Santo Domingo (1805).
1807: Return to Santo Domingo
In June 1807, he returned to Santo Domingo, arriving though the port of Macao. The French, upon learning of his arrival, tried to offer him the Command of Arms of the town of Cotuy, but he refused to commit to them and instead preferred to leave what remained of his estates in the jurisdiction of said town to people he trusted. He dedicated himself to the exploitation of mahogany in the south of the island and to livestock. His economic interests were affected when governor Jean-Louis Ferrand banned the cattle trade on the border between Northern and Southern Haiti and Santo Domingo.
While Juan Sánchez Ramírez was in his new establishment called El Pulguero, he received an invitation to go to the town of Sabana de la Mar. There, a meeting took place between Sánchez Ramírez and the Commander on May 2, 1808, where they held a conversation about the passage of French troops into peninsular Spain as auxiliaries. During this exchange, the Commander informed Sánchez Ramírez about the news received from a ship that had arrived in the city of Samaná, where it was stated that Emperor Napoleon I "was taking our much loved Fernando VII to France. To educate you; that to Mr. Carlos 4th, he had destined him to live in a convent; and that José Bonaparte was going to govern the Peninsula temporarily, our Fernando learned what was necessary to govern it."
These statements had a profound emotional impact on Sánchez Ramírez, who experienced intense anger and a feeling of betrayal towards Napoleon and the French. Aggrieved by that expression, he could not help but respond to the Commander of Arms: "I assure you that the Spanish nation will never suffer that infamy; and that if that is so, blood is being spilled today in Spain between Spaniards and French. This anger became a turning point in his political thinking and in his commitment to the Fernandina royalist cause in Santo Domingo."
Motivated by this situation, he made the decision to take advantage of the circumstances and lead a conspiracy to start an armed uprising against the French Government in Santo Domingo. Although this uprising legally meant an act of high treason to the French Empire, the landowner assumed the risks and decided to go ahead with the preparations, confident in the traditional loyalty of the Dominicans to the Catholic king:
Assistance from Puerto Rico
In the following weeks, Sánchez Ramírez had to combine his daily life with secret activities in which he conspired against the French. He firmly believed that it was important to convince the Dominican population to join the fight. Meanwhile, in Spain, the French failed to conquer all the territory and local governments called Juntas were formed. These Juntas recognized Ferdinand VII as king and gave themselves the powers that corresponded to him due to his captivity in Valençay. One of these Juntas, the Junta of Seville, led by Francisco de Saavedra de Sangronis, officially decided to declare war on France. The news of this declaration of war reached the island in July 1808. Sánchez Ramírez found out about this when he was in the town of Higüey and immediately communicated it to his main partner, Manuel Carvajal. They both talked about the news of the war in Spain against the French and that was when they decided to seek help in Puerto Rico to achieve the Spanish restoration of Santo Domingo.
He left Higüey on July 26 and quickly headed to Santo Domingo with the aim of arriving before news of the war spread. To hide his true intentions, he used the pretext of meeting with Louis Ferrand to discuss matters related to his cattle and mahogany lumber business. However, he had to make a stop in the city of El Seibo because he was told that his wife and children were sick. After solving the problem, he continued his journey and used the time to convince more people to join the conspiracy.
On August 7, 1808, he arrived in the capital just as news broke of the declaration of war and some prisoners from a small Spanish ship coming from Puerto Rico. On August 9, he had lunch with General Ferrand, who that same day published a declaration announcing war with Spain, although he referred to it as an uprising of some provinces of Spain. During his stay in Santo Domingo, he intensified his propaganda efforts among the capital residents, knowing that if he managed to take control of that city, he could obtain the support of the entire colony. It was a complicated challenge, since people in the capital had directly suffered the consequences of "Spanish abandonment" after the Basel agreement.and they preferred to preserve the status quo rather than fight for the Spanish monarchy.