On August 17, 1863, Captain Federico de Jesús García from Guayubín improvised an army with the peons who accompanied him, marched toward Monte Cristi, and at 2:00 p.m. m. he took possession of the city and its fortress.

[2] The Spanish granted Monte Cristi a strategic value of the first magnitude, even more than Santiago (seat of the insurgent Government), as seen in the work of Ramón González Tablas, Infantry Captain of the Spanish Army, in his book History of the domination and last war of Spain in Santo Domingo, where he wrote the following:[citation needed] When the insurrection appeared in its true form, the opinion of the Spaniards of Santo Domingo was general that it was advisable to send forces to Monte-Christi, because it was known that through that port, only four hours away by navigation from Haiti, they received the insurgent aid of mouth and war, in exchange for the products of the country that they exported through him.

Given the situation and taking advantage of the low tide, the troops were redirected and ordered to march along the shore of the beach to the mouth of the Yaque del Norte River.

[3] De la Gándara during the evaluation of the results of the campaign and with the newly obtained victory wrote:[3] (...) the material results of this operation consist of having left the town, the forts and the trenches of Monte Cristi in our power , with thirteen pieces of artillery and having defeated an enemy that was believed to be truly impregnable in its positions.” advantageous; taking away the port that was most important to them, and through which they received most of the resources with which the revolution was sustained from their few hidden friends in Hayti and the Turks Islands .

I cannot judge the losses that the enemy has suffered, seven of our escaped prisoners who were employed in fortification work assure me that their dispersion and demoralization was complete, that they had many wounded, in addition to some dead who were at the site of the combat.

... ”Then the Spanish tried to reconquer Santiago de los Caballeros, however the separatists blocked the road and were ambushed from the forests along the way by guerrillas led by Benito Monción along with Pedro Antonio Pimentel, so they had to give up the objective they had set.

At the end of July, the commander of a merchant steamer that passed through Puerto Rico informed the authorities that the troops that garrisoned the fort of San Fernando de Monte Cristi lacked provisions and fresh meat, encountering many hardships and needs.