[1][3] At an early age Santiago Rodríguez moved to the border region in the company of his father Vicente Rodríguez who had to dedicate himself to commercial activities and free-range livestock raising where there were natural conditions for free-range livestock raising such as fertile plains, drinking water, despite that an important part of them had become the property of Haitians.

Tobacco (andullos), coffee, products made from guano such as serones, hats, organas, backpacks, as well as other goods that Haiti imported from Europe were also sold.

In 1843, General Santiago Rodríguez began his military career when he participated in the Reform movement that culminated in the Praslin revolution in Haiti and the overthrow of the island's president Jean Pierre Boyer.

[4] Due to the prestige and fame he had on the border, after the proclamation of Dominican independence in 1844 the new government commissioned generals Matías Ramón Mella and Manuel Mena to meet with Santiago Rodríguez, after which he appointed him as military assistant of Dajabón Square and made his debut in the independence efforts when it unsuccessfully confronted the powerful Haitian troops led by Jean-Louis Pierrot, who had been defeated in the Battle of Santiago.

Due to the damage caused by Pierrot's troops in Dajabón, Santiago Rodríguez and a large group of people moved to live in Sabaneta from where he participated in the various battles of the Dominican War of Independence, between 1844 and 1856, to prevent the attempts of the Haitian political leaders to absorb the nascent republic.

[4] The action had the support of the most important military leaders, intellectuals and numerous prominent personalities from Santo Domingo and various towns in the country, as can be seen in the manifestos published on the occasion, among which was Sabaneta, where 63 people spoke in favor of the annexation.

The fight against the annexation government was started on May 2, 1861 by Colonel José Contreras in Moca and continued in July of this same year by Francisco del Rosario Sánchez, who was captured in an ambush in El Cercado and then shot after having crossed the Dominican-Haitian border in the company of General José María Cabral who skillfully managed to escape.

For this he made contact with the main leaders of the Northwest Region, recruited a large number of men, acquired weapons (machetes, sabers, rifles, ammunition, supplies, etc.)

Knowing that all the peoples that make up the Republic have spoken out in favor of the Spanish nation, for which we have great sympathies, and convinced that only under the protection of a solid government like that, can we enjoy true peace, of security and rest: we declare with all the spontaneity of free men, that we adhere to the pronouncement of other peoples, and from this moment we entrust our most precious interests to the paternal and generous Queen Isabella II.