Juan Sánchez Ramírez (1762–1811) was a Dominican soldier who served as the Captain general of the modern Dominican Republic between 1808 and 1811. He also commanded the troops that fought against the French rule of Santo Domingo´s colony between 1808 and 1809 in the

Battle of Palo Hincado The Battle of Palo Hincado (''Palo Hincado'' Stands for "Kneeling Stick") was the first major battle of the Spanish reconquest of Santo Domingo of the Spanish colonial Captaincy General of Santo Domingo, that was occupied by the French in the Sp ...

, resulting in a victory over the French, and the return of Santo Domingo to Spanish hands.

Biography

Early years

Juan Sánchez Ramírez was born in 1762 in

Cotuí Cotuí is a city in the central region of the Dominican Republic and is one of the oldest cities of the New World. It is the capital of Sánchez Ramírez Province in the Cibao. According to the Population and Housing Census, the municipality had ...

, Santo Domingo.Enciclopedia de Tareas.net Biografía de Juan Sánchez Ramírez
Retrieved on August 16, 2014, to 11:21pm. According to historian Francisco A. Rincón, he was the son of Miguel Sánchez Juan Sánchez Ramírez, héroe de la batalla de Palo Hincado declarado paladín de la Reconquista
(in Spanish: Juan Sánchez Ramírez, hero of the Battle of Palo Hincado declared champion of the Reconquista). Retrieved on August 16, 2014, to 12:50pm. and Francisca Ramírez. Juan Sánchez Ramírez had two brothers: Remigio and Rafael. The last of them was Magistrate of Cotuí in the Haitian period of the Dominic Republic. His father was a Spanish member of the military and a wealthy landowner. However, it was the priest Pichardo y Delmonte who took care of his education. When he was young, he led a company of lancers of Cotuí. Ramírez held several significant positions in Cotuí, including that of magistrate. In 1793, the Haitian Toussaint Louverture seized of the Spanish Santo Domingo and freed the slaves. In 1802, after sending Santo Domingo's colony to France with the Treaty of Basel in 1795, a troop of fifty thousand soldiers led by the French Leclerc reached the East of the island. These soldiers defeated Toussaint and took over the territory. Nevertheless, the Haitians and French occupied the lands belonging to Juan Sánchez Ramírez, and to almost all Spaniards living in the colony of Santo Domingo. Ramírez emigrated to Puerto Rico in December 1803.

El Palo Hincado battle

In July. Retrieved on August 17, 2014, to 12:24pm. 1807, when Ramírez was still in Puerto Rico, he learned that the Governing Board, who replaced

Fernando VII , house = Bourbon-Anjou , father = Charles IV of Spain , mother = Maria Luisa of Parma , birth_date = 14 October 1784 , birth_place = El Escorial, Spain , death_date = , death_place = Madrid, Spain , burial_plac ...

, had declared war against France. Ramirez formed a troop of two thousand men from Cuba, Puerto Rico and England and traveled to the eastern part of Santo Domingo. There, he encouraged its residents to take up arms against the French, to support him in the Reconquista of Santo Domingo (Reconquest of Santo Domingo). Many landowners and loggers joined his troops, while Sanchez also engaged the exploitation of timber cuts on his possessions of the eastern shores, between

Higüey Higüey (), or in full Salvaleón de Higüey, is the capital city of the eastern La Altagracia Province, in the Dominican Republic, and the eighth largest city of that country. The Yuma River (Dominican Republic), Yuma River flows through the urb ...

and Jovero (now Miches), where communications with Puerto Rico were easier. Ramírez also maintained a frequent correspondence with the General Captain of Puerto Rico Toribio Montes, who gave him official permission to face the French in Santo Domingo and promised him military and financial aid. In early November 1808, 300 soldiers, sent by Toribio Montes, landed at Boca de Yuma and joined the forces of Sánchez Ramírez. Ramírez left

El Seibo (city) Santa Cruz del Seibo or El Seibo, is a city and municipality in the El Seibo Province of the Dominican Republic, located in the eastern part of the country. History El Seibo is one of the oldest towns in the country, it was created by the Const ...

in order to march on the city of Santo Domingo. On December 13, 1808, he returned to the city with his troops. Between then and November 7, 1809, he also was leading the British and Haitian armies against French rule in the

, defeating Ferrand (who reached him when Ramírez was still in El Seibo) and expelling the French who were hiding in the fences of Santo Domingo. The survivors fled to the capital of the colony. On day 12, the square was declared under siege by Ferrand's substitute, the General Dubarquier, and 27 men reached Sánchez Ramirez, who established his camp in the Jainamosa section, on the east bank of the

Rio Ozama The Ozama River () is a river in the Dominican Republic. It rises in the Loma Siete Cabezas mountain in the Sierra de Yamasá mountain range, close to the town of Villa Altagracia. History In 1498, Bartolome Colon had a fort built on the Ozama ...

, transferring it, shortly after, to the Gallard, or Galá

hacienda An ''hacienda'' ( or ; or ) is an estate (or ''finca''), similar to a Roman ''latifundium'', in Spain and the former Spanish Empire. With origins in Andalusia, ''haciendas'' were variously plantations (perhaps including animals or orchards), ...

. After the French defeat, Santo Domingo was recovered by Spain, and Ramírez was appointed as Governor of the colony, while the territory was reconstituted as

Captaincy General A captaincy ( es, capitanía , pt, capitania , hr, kapetanija) is a historical administrative division of the former Spanish and Portuguese colonial empires. It was instituted as a method of organization, directly associated with the home-rule a ...

Government of Santo Domingo

Sanchez convened the board of Bondillo, which established new laws and declared null and void the Treaty of Basel. So the board confirmed the permanence of Santo Domingo in Spanish hands. Santo Domingo was declared Spanish by Ramírez in July 1809. Under his government, Santo Domingo again traded with the allied countries to Spain, and the

Universidad Santo Tomás de Aquino St. Thomas Aquinas University ( es, Universidad de Santo Tomás de Aquino; today the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo, , UASD), is arguably the first institution of higher education in the Americas. It was founded by papal bull in 1538 ...

(UASD) was reopened. He suspended the confiscations that the French government had executed against the colony. He also allowed the British to trade in the ports of Santo Domingo. However, Ramirez established the slave system, which had been abolished by the Haitians, and the poor poblation grew in Santo Domingo. So several attempts coup d'état to expel to Sánchez Ramírez of the Santo Domingo's government took place. The people who rebelled against their government were executed by the army, which was at the service of Ramirez, or sent to Ceuta. Ramírez also tried to restore the Dominican economy, but Spain was engaged in the war against the then South American colonies. His mismanagement led to the period known as España Boba (Foolish Spain), in which the Ramirez government punished all those who promoted or fought for the independence of the colony. Ramírez was ill and died on February 11, 1811, at the age of fifty, while still ruling the colony, and was buried in the National Pantheon.

Personal life

Eventually, Ramírez became a landowner. He married Josefa del Monte y Pichardo, with whom he had two children: Juana and José. In Santo Domingo, Ramírez resided on Padre Billini´s street. After his death, his supposedly impoverished family moved to San Carlos, Santo Domingo, his widow lamenting 'he had many jobs but never a salary'.

Legacy

* A street in Santo Domingo is named after him.

References

External links

Ecured: Juan Sánchez Ramírez
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanchez Ramirez, Juan Colonial governors of Santo Domingo People of the Colony of Santo Domingo Spanish commanders of the Napoleonic Wars 1762 births 1811 deaths People from Sánchez Ramírez Province Dominican Republic people of Spanish descent Dominican Republic politicians Dominican Republic military personnel White Dominicans