Not much is known about his early life other than that he was a former slave who was freed under the emancipation proclamation by Jean-Pierre Boyer, a Haitian general who superheaded a military regime throughout the island.
[2] However, in the Second Campaign of 1845, as a General, he participated in an untimely and unpatriotic act of insubordination carried out by troops recruited in San Cristóbal, at a time when the Haitian forces under Jean-Louis Pierrot invaded the Dominican Republic.
This action never came into fruition was not fulfilled, and Buenaventura Báez, shortly after taking power, in 1856, ordered, through a decree, the definitive freedom of Mora.
When the plaza was attacked by Pedro Santana's supporters from El Seibo, he ran to the side of General Marcano, and bravely defended the since he was trusted.
During this time, an exiled general, Francisco del Rosario Sánchez, was carrying out plans in Saint Thomas, Curaçao, and Haiti to organize an expeditionary force to protest the reincorporation to Spain.