Matías Ramón Mella Castillo (25 February, 1816 – 4 June, 1864), known as Ramón Mella, was a Dominican revolutionary, politician, and military general during the Dominican War of Independence. He is known for being one of the three principal leaders of the independence movement, together with Juan Pablo Duarte and Francisco del Rosario Sánchez, and is one of the founding figures of the Dominican Republic.
Mella was a member of La Trinitaria, a secret society founded in 1838 to organize resistance to Haitian rule in the eastern part of Hispaniola. On February 27th, 1844, he fired a blunderbuss at the Puerta de la Misericordia in Santo Domingo, an act traditionally associated with starting the uprising that led to the proclamation of the First Dominican Republic.
Following independence, Mella held a number of political and military posts in the new Dominican state. During the Dominican Restoration War (1863–1865), which sought to end the Spanish annexation of the country, he supported the restorationist movement and is credited with preparing a manual on guerrilla warfare used in organizing Dominican forces. Mella died in Santiago de los Caballeros on the 4th of June, 1864 during the course of the restoration conflict, a year before Dominican independence was re-established in 1865.
Early life and education
Mella was born in Santo Domingo on the February 25th, 1816, during the España Boba. His parents, Antonio and Francisca, were of Spanish descent. His father worked as a merchant. His paternal grandmother, Juana Álvarez Pereyra, was a native of San Carlos but had origins in the Canary Islands.
At 11 days old, Mella was baptized into the Catholic faith at Santo Domingo Cathedral on March 6th, 1816.
During his youth, Mella witnessed the Dominican independence leader, José Núñez de Cáceres, successfully overthrow Spanish rule. This resulted in the declaration of independence for the Republic of Spanish Haiti on December 1st, 1821.
Little is documented about Mella's education, but due to the scarcity of public schools during his childhood and his family's economic position, it is likely that his parents sourced his education privately from respected Dominican educators. Mella is said to have displayed skill with a sword and sabre from a very young age. He engaged in military service, and was reportedly involved in the dispersal of groups of armed Haitians attempting to disrupt local gatherings. At 19 years old, he began working as a precious wood cutter in San Cristóbal, which he continued for several years.
Mella had two siblings—Ildefonso and Manuela. Ildefonso also played a key role in Dominican independence, known as one of the first to protest the annexation to Spain. Before his exile to Cuba, Ildefonso rode through Puerto Plata with a Dominican flag, reportedly declaring, "Long live the Dominican flag, regardless of which it may be".
Mella became a Freemason at the age of 21.
In August 1836, Mella married Josefa Brea. Together, they had four children, including Ramón María, and Antonio Nicanor.
Confusion about his name
Mella's true name has been a major debate among historians. Most official documents from the time of the restoration government (his baptism and marriage certificate, will, appointment to the role of Minister of War) state his name as Ramón Mella Castillo, aside from a few documents that he signed as M. Mella and M. Ramón Mella. There is little evidence that his name was Matías Ramón Mella.
For example, Mella's baptismal certificate, signed by the parish priest Agustín Tavares, reads as follows:"I, the undersigned Lieutenant Priest of this Holy Church of the Cathedral, solemnly baptized I put oil and chrisma on Ramón, eleven days old, the legitimate son of Antonio de Mella and Francisca Castillo."On August 30, 1836, he was married and the marriage documentation referred to him as “Ramón Mella, a native of this city, of older age.”
Historian Alcides García Lluberes maintains that Mella was born around midnight between February 24 and 25, 1816, because his middle name, Matías, corresponds to the Saint of the day, February 24. Before independence, however, there are documents in Mella signed as MR Mella, as recorded in the Manifestation of January 16, 1844, and in a communication of February 28 that the Central Government Board addressed to the French Consul Saint Denys. However, his friends and co-religionists of the Trinitarios did not call him Matías. In a letter dated November 15, 1843, written in correspondence between his peers, it was written: “Ramón Mella is preparing to go there”.
The generality of the official and private documents consulted indicates that, during his public life, Mella never signed Matías Ramón, but instead Ramón Mella, R. Mella or simply Mella. In his Will, made and signed on May 5, 1859, the following is recorded: “Before me, José Leandro García, Public Notary of the residence of Puerto Plata, signed below. Don Ramón Mella,”. At the end of the aforementioned will, he signed: R. Mella; the signature with which he also endorsed a patriotic Proclamation addressed “To my fellow citizens", on 16 January 1864. During the restoration war, several official documents show that the Minister of War and also General in Chief of the Armies of the South was Ramón Mella, a name that appears in various decrees issued by the restoration government. On March 17, 1864, with his health already very deteriorated, Mella was elected vice president of the restoration government. Additionally, in the Book of Minutes of the Sessions of the Supreme Government of the Republic, it states that "by secret scrutiny, and the vote was collected, the honorable General Ramón Mella was unanimously elected". Immediately afterwards, the Government ordered that "it be duly communicated to Mr. General Ramón Mella the election that has been made in his person for vice president".
In various letters that he shared with his relatives and collaborators of the independence cause, they never referred to him as Matías and in fact, they did not mention his middle name, so it is not known how or why in some history texts their first names have been exchanged. Because of this, this has led to historical confusion about his name. But in most cases, he is referred to as Matías Ramón Mella.
Revolutionary leader First activities under Duarte
In 1838, Mella joined La Trinitaria, a secret society founded by Juan Pablo Duarte to establish a nation independent from Haitian rule. The movement was influenced by nationalist and liberal ideologies seeking sovereignty for the eastern part of the island. Although Mella may not have been present for the initial oath on July 16, 1838, Duarte recognized him as a founding member. Over the following five years, the Trinitarios promoted independence through public-facing front organizations, La Filantrópica and La Dramática, to avoid detection by Haitian authorities. During this period, Mella became a prominent figure within the movement and a close collaborator of Duarte.
Duarte, along with his companions, worked to convince many Dominicans that independence was achievable. In the early 1830s, a liberal opposition emerged in the Haitian Chamber of Deputies against Boyer. Almost all the delegates from the Department of the South were part of this opposition, which had as its social base a segment of the same ruling mulatto sector. Boyer proceeded to dismiss some of the elected liberals, mainly Hérard Dumesle and David Saint Preux, who claimed his government adopted a dictatorial style of leadership. The liberal leaders resorted to conspiracy to overthrow Boyer. Aware of the plans of the Haitian liberals and strategizing about what the process of preparing the conditions for Dominican independence should be, Duarte decided to establish an alliance with them. Duarte calculated that the fall of the Boyer regime would lead to a worsening of the conflicts within Haiti and weaken their power.
Duarte saw Mella suited for leadership roles. After Juan Nepomuceno Ravelo's unsuccessful mission to establish an alliance with Haitian liberals, Duarte tasked Mella with traveling to the Haitian village of Les Cayes in January 1843. Mella's mission was to seek support for a reform movement to challenge Boyer's regime. There, Mella stayed at the house of Jérôme-Maximilien Borgella, a Haitian general and politician, who was also a former governor of Santo Domingo. Meanwhile, Boyer's popularity continued to wane because of the excessive rise of taxes, the benefits of which did not revert to the population, but to France, who demanded compensation from Boyer given the loss of property property, including Haitian slaves, that the country incurred over the course of the Haitian Revolution.
Groups opposed to the Boyer regime arose in Haiti itself; the island had become increasingly frustrated with his repressive dictatorship, combined with his negligent response following a sudden earthquake that had struck Haiti a year prior, a situation which Duarte believed he could use to the advantage of the independence movement.
Subsequently, Mella came into contact with the Haitian opposition leader Charles Rivière-Hérard, who in turn led the reform movement, which came to be known as the Reform Revolution, in March 1843. It took Mella several days to reach an agreement with the revolutionaries that would place the Trinitarios at an advantageous position. In addition, Hérard was unaware that the Dominicans' true purpose was to prepare for the definitive separation of the Haitian government. On March 24, Mella, along with Perez and Pedro Alejandro Pina met at Plaza del Carmen to proclaim the Dominican adherence to the Reform movement. After a month and a half of military operations in the southern peninsula of Haiti, Boyer's troops were defeated, causing Boyer to flee the island, bringing an end to his regime.
In Santo Domingo, the Trinitarios and Haitian liberals waited for news of Boyer's resignation before launching an uprising in favor of La Reforma; other groups, by contrast, had already taken to the streets when news of events in Port-au-Prince broke. The Trinitarios nonetheless placed themselves at the forefront of the demonstrations. Mella, along with Duarte, was among the members of the Popular Board of Santo Domingo, a local authority in which Trinitarios and Haitian liberals coexisted. Relations between the two factions quickly deteriorated. The Trinitarios began campaigning for independence and won the local elections in Santo Domingo on June 15. The break between Haitian liberals (reformists) and Dominican liberals (Trinitarios) was now complete.
In July 1843, Mella departed from Les Cayes and moved to Central Cibao to continue promoting his republican ideals for independence. However, Hérard, who was now the president of Haiti, learned of the true motives of Mella and his companions, and traveled to the eastern part of the island to arrest them.
He would imprison Mella, (who was arrested in San Francisco de Macorís), in Port-au-Prince, where he remained for two months. However, a rebellion erupted against Hérard, who was only able to dominate with the help of Mella and the incarcerated veterans whom he freed. Hérard mistakenly believed that Dominican insurrection attempts had ceased, and that they lacked sufficient power to achieve independence due to the pronounced poverty and sparse population of the eastern part of the island. (Haiti had approximately 800,000 inhabitants, compared to Santo Domingo's 135,000).
Manifesto of January 16, 1844