[3] While he remained a soldier in the reserves on the Northwest Line, in February 1863 anti-annexation uprisings broke out in Guayubín and other towns in the area, with repercussions in Santiago, where an unsuccessful attempt was made to expand the rebellion.

However, there is no doubt that he was inclined to revolt, as part of a broad consensus that had formed in the region as a result of the measures of the Spanish administration in Cibao, commanded by General Buceta and Colonel Campillo.

Years later, in an important writing dictated to Mariano Antonio Cestero, Benito Monción recognized that until the appointment of Polanco in the leadership, the different bodies that operated on Monte Cristi, Guayubín and Dajabón lacked a unified command.

If these texts are carefully studied, the primacy of Polanco is unquestionably established, both in the military aspect and in the quality of the political leadership of the national feat, invalidating the claims of preeminence of Luperón, who, although without being untrue, exaggerated his own merits in order to aspire to glory.

Although Polanco, certainly, as historians such as Manuel Rodríguez Objío and García Lluberes have highlighted, had the main military role in the Restoration as general in chief, it does not mean that he was in a situation of absolute superiority with respect to other commanders.

Therefore, upon the suggestion of Vice President, Matías Ramón Mella, (one of the illustrious leaders responsible for shaking Haitian rule in 1844), guerrilla warfare constituted, for this purpose, the main war method of the patriots, the only resource to confront a much larger army, better trained and with incomparably superior weapons.

Thanks to that attitude, it was his responsibility to stop the advance of the positions of those in favor of an agreement with Spain or of bringing back Buenaventura Báez, both ideas outlined by President José Antonio Salcedo.

[12] Placed in front of the agglomeration of mambises, in number close to 5,000 when reinforcements from La Vega and Moca joined, on September 4, Polanco studied the situation from the Quinigua command post before preparing the assault on Santiago.

Luperón, the second most important chief in the battle, describes the heteroclite form of weaponry:[13] It was, moreover, curious to contemplate those columns of the patriots; some with spears, some with ancient rifles; several with blunderbusses of all eras, others with pistols of all kinds, the majority with their machete and not a few with clubs; but the revolutionaries had acquired the audacious vigor that continuous victories give, and with the bravery that wars of independence inspire, they launched themselves into the fight with the disadvantages of weapons, but with the indomitable fearlessness and immense joy of giving their lives for homeland.Precisely, from those days Polanco had the merit of embodying the national spirit.

In several writings it is remembered that he fought like a beast, reinforcing positions by example or giving push amidst imprecations if the Spaniards showed signs of advancing, at the same time that he gave orders to the various leaders distributed in other points.

While the Dominicans maintained the siege of the fortress and were preparing to take it, a Spanish column appeared from Puerto Plata, under the command of Colonel Cappa and the general of the reserves, Juan Suero, the legendary “Black Cid” who fought so bravely against their countrymen.

[22] The decision had the effect of expanding the influence of President Salcedo, who in fact began to operate as general in chief, intervening on the fronts where maneuvers considered crucial were carried out.

Above all, after Luperón's successes in opening front lines north of Monte Plata and between Baní and San Cristóbal, Salcedo took command of the operations in the first place, which had an impact on the area where the maximum influence was credited to Santana and, consequently, the Restoration experienced greater difficulties in spreading.

Dr. García Lluberes summarizes the point as follows: “Polanco saw the unity of the Revolution in danger, almost triumphant, and wanted to eliminate the risk of its setback or failure.”[25] Equally serious was that, also in agreement with Luperón, Salcedo came to propose a movement that would lead to the return of Buenaventura Báez to the Presidency.

Polanco, who must have been aware of the plot, appeared in Santiago, the city where he was acclaimed president on October 10, through a manifesto signed by a large group of leading men of the patriotic war.

The deposed president was arrested and handed over to Luperón to take him to the border, but the Haitian chief of Ouanaminthe, General Philantrope, refused to receive him, citing internal problems in the region.

[28] Given the impossibility of Salcedo being deported through Haiti, Polanco determined that he be sent to Blanco (today Luperón), an inlet where schooners met to circumvent the Spanish maritime blockade to load mahogany and tobacco.

Rodríguez Objío is right in denying the charges, even though he was an affected party, since there are sufficient elements of judgment that allow us to discern that the decision was made by Polanco on his own, making use of the dictatorial powers with which he was vested for the conduct of the war.

Proof of his commitment to the democratic cause was that, apart from the controversial act of having Pepillo Salcedo shot, his administration was exemplary in every sense, characterized by the patriotic integrity of its members, the programmatic nationalism outlined as a State doctrine and the subsequent verticality of their executions.

Ulises Espaillat stood out among them, praised by Rodríguez Objío as “the soul of the revolution.” Also revealing was the attitude of Luperón, the soldier with the greatest political lucidity and exponent of a radical line against annexationism, of full solidarity with the Polanco government, despite having been the only one who tried to prevent the execution of Salcedo.

Firstly, intransigent nationalism is affirmed, for which all Dominicans are summoned, especially those who were previously fighting on opposing sides:[36] Behind this accumulation of glories is the future, full of prosperity, if after so much heroism we do not rest on our laurels; if the union is determined to consolidate the triumph, reaping in peace the optimal fruits of such bloody sacrifices.

That same future will appear full of embarrassments and covered with thick clouds if, by listening to the intrigues planted by the enemy of our freedoms, ancient hatreds are reborn in the heart of the Homeland, if the monster of civil discord.

Polanco himself wanted to show signs of leading by example: he intensified hostilities on Puerto Plata and led a march of more than 2,000 volunteers in order to evict the Spanish from Monte Cristi.

This last act, in reality, was reduced to a symbolic display of belligerent will, contrary to those who advocated an armistice or transaction and conceived hastily, without weighing its possibilities of success, taking into account the numerical superiority of the entrenched Spaniards.

In La Canela, a place in the Neiba Valley, at the head of a reorganized agglomeration of mambises, Cabral inflicted a devastating defeat on the mixed troop of Spanish and Dominican annexationists commanded by General Puello.

[39] In the east, the other space that was disputed between the warring parties, General Manzueta overwhelmed the Spanish positions in Guanuma and Monte Plata, after which he focused his attention on the stronghold of the towns between Los Llanos and Higüey.

Later, having decided to abandon the country as soon as possible and aware of the impossibility of carrying out any offensive operation, the Spanish remained passive behind few fortified enclaves subjected to siege: basically Monte Cristi, Puerto Plata, Samaná, Santo Domingo, Baní and Azua.

Manuel Rodríguez Objío, who treated him closely during the feat, is correct when comparing him to Maximilien Robespierre:[43] In those days the revolution did not forgive the slightest infidelity, and Gaspar Polanco, its first representative, was the living embodiment of that tremendous justice; Robespierre of a new kind, he would have wanted to redeem and strengthen the Republic on the bones of his opponents.This indicates that the use of violence was part of a patriotic vision, a conception that was shared in that impetuous scenario that was the Dominican Restoration War, when new actors of national resistance emerged.

He did not at all obey the elemental instincts of the leaders: on the contrary, in his performance as president of the Dominican Republic in arms he would show his willingness to leave public affairs in the hands of educated civilians, endowed with a democratic and national conception that he shared.

without any reservation[44] He was overthrown from the presidency by a movement that his brother Juan Antonio supported led by Pimentel, Monción and García, who considered his attempt to monopolize tobacco with his friends and associates as an arbitrary and dictatorial decision, and he went on to dedicate himself to their herds and agricultural activities where he lived in Esperanza, Valverde.