General José María Cabral y Luna (born Ingenio Nuevo; December 12, 1816 – February 28, 1899) was a Dominican military figure and politician. He served as the first Supreme Chief of the Dominican Republic from August 4, 1865, to November 15 of that year and again officially as president from August 22, 1866, until January 3, 1868.
In his military career he stood out for his work commanding the troops that defeated Haiti in the Battle of Santomé (December 22, 1855), and even in the Cibaeño Revolution. After the annexation of Santo Domingo to Spain, decreed by General and President Pedro Santana in 1861, José María Cabral joined Francisco del Rosario Sánchez to fight against the annexation and restore the Republic. Once the country's independence was recovered in 1865, José María Cabral assumed the presidency of the second Dominican Republic. At the end of the same year, Buenaventura Báez took power, but was overthrown by Gregorio Luperón; Cabral then assumed his second presidential term.
A member of the Reform or Blue Party, José María Cabral's mandates were as arbitrary as those of his predecessors and successors. In 1868 he was overthrown by a movement that accused him of attempting to lease Samaná Bay to the United States. He then took part in the Six Years War, resulting in the overthrow of Báez. Afterwards, he lived his life away from political affairs until he died in 1899.
He was the only Dominican head of state that was a prominent participant in all 4 wars of liberation of the Dominican Republic.
Early life and family Little data has emerged about the first two decades of Cabral's life. He was born in Ingenio Nuevo, near San Cristóbal, on December 12, 1816. His family, which had ancient colonial backgrounds, Portuguese and Canarian, was part of the weak upper strata that remained in the country after the upheavals caused by the Treaty of Basel of 1795, which stipulated the transfer to France. The social position of his parents made it possible for young Cabral to go to England to study. He did not achieve an academic training, but instead concentrated on commercial studies. But the knowledge of the most developed country at the time penetrated his character and political conceptions. His identification with liberalism, as a current that gave support to an independent and democratic State, should not have been foreign to the English experience, the country where modern political institutions first emerged and where the first liberal thinkers met.
He was the uncle of future Dominican president Marcos Antonio Cabral.
First Republic Preparations for war
In 1844, Cabral was 27 years old, the age at which one begins to emerge from youth and one's personality traits are finally defined. Then he was already responding to the masterful characterization of his figure that, as if he were painting him live, made by the historian Sócrates Nolasco:
He was still young, but he was ready to enter fully into the historical scene that was being inaugurated. Like so many others, he set out to contribute to the consolidation of Dominican independence. The great problem to overcome at that time was to crush the attempts of the Haitian government to annul independence and roll back the occupation that had begun since February 1822. Consequently, the race for arms was the order of the day for those who wanted to help the homeland. In accordance with his vocation, Cabral enlisted in the Dominican Army, taking part in the Battle of Azua. His warrior skills earned him promotions; In 1845 he was promoted to colonel and became part of the General Staff of General Antonio Duvergé, under whose responsibility was the defense of the Dominican territory, and therefore took part in all the important military actions that occurred in those first years of independent life on the southern border.
Friendly relations were established between Duvergé and Cabral, which must have contributed to completing our hero's military training. It must be taken into consideration that Duvergé was the number one strategist of the Dominican army. He had to systematize military action based on assault with edged weapons, in order to compensate for the inferiority in numbers and modern weapons. Duvergé's military doctrine was inspired by a long-standing memory that came from the 17th century, when the natives of the country, grouped in militias, successfully opposed the attacks of the buccaneers. Cabral was not actually a professional military man, since at that time the army was not a permanent institution, but was made up of recruits called up due to the aggressive plans of the Haitian rulers. When the danger ceased, everyone went home to take care of their usual affairs. And this was precisely what Cabral did, whose liberal ideas were not to the liking of conservative President Pedro Santana. Now, his military skills were beginning to be recognized, so Santana promoted him to general in 1855.
Dominican War of Independence
During the first three campaigns of the Dominican War of Independence, between 1844 and 1849, Cabral participated as a second-rate officer, he covered himself with glory in the fourth campaign, between December 1855 and January of the following year. He had been appointed one of the leaders of the southern border when it was learned that the emperor of Haiti, Faustin Soulouque, was preparing to invade the country for the second time. After the start of the Haitian offensive, Santana did not want to give command of the troops to Cabral, despite the knowledge he had of the area, possibly because he did not inspire political confidence. The 12,000 men of the Haitian army advanced rapidly and the Dominicans had to retreat. The troops that regrouped in San Juan de la Maguana, composed of about 3,000 troops, were commanded by General Juan Contreras, a personal friend of Santana. Cabral was assigned leadership of the right wing. Santana threatened terrible punishments if the Haitians' horses drank water from the San Juan River. The combat took place in the Sabana de Santomé, a short distance from San Juan de la Maguana. General Contreras lost track of the entire battle. This caused a part of the troops on the left wing to believe that the Haitians had won, beginning the retreat. Given the vacuum created, Cabral assumed command and managed to inflict a devastating defeat on the Haitian army, leaving hundreds dead on the ground.
For the first time, Cabral exhibited his exceptional military skills. He represented an example of a military leader different from that of Santana, who always kept his distance from the theater of operations. In the Battle of Santomé, the figure of Cabral began to acquire legendary overtones. His subordinates were amazed to see him fighting like a beast in the first line of fire. In the midst of the heat of combat, another of his personality traits emerged: humanity. When the general in chief of the Haitian troops, Antoine Pierrot, Duke of Tiburon, saw that defeat was imminent, he preferred to lose his life and rushed almost alone against the Dominican lines. Cabral gauged his enemy's intention and set out to save his life, revealing a respectable sense of honor. But he arrived late to the duke, who was killed by a Dominican's machete.
Over time, a legend circulated, contrary to the facts, according to which the Dominican general severed the head of the Haitian duke in a hand-to-hand duel. Santomé's victory stopped Soulouque's plans in their tracks and ratified the ability of the Dominicans to maintain independence thanks to their own forces. It also ended up evidencing the incapacity of the Haitian army, despite its numerical and weapons advantage. Cabral was covered in glory, as one of the signature personifications of the country, which was recognized by Congress after Santana resigned from the presidency.
Cibaeño Revolution
Since the struggle for power between Santana and Buenaventura Báez began in 1848, after the latter's first administration concluded, Cabral took his side, although initially discreetly. When Báez returned to the presidency in mid-1857, he found in Cabral one of his few supporters with military merits. The new president entrusted Cabral with the symbolic mission of heading to El Seibo to bring Santana prisoner and deport him. As historians such as Sócrates Nolasco and Rufino Martínez have explained, Baecism at that time constituted an amalgamation of sectors that for various reasons repudiated Santana's despotism. Among them, young people from the city of Santo Domingo with liberal leanings stood out.
Due to the civil war of 1857 and 1858, when the leading sectors of Santiago questioned Báez's actions, Cabral held the main military responsibility for Baecism, as commander of the province of Santo Domingo. He directly confronted Santana, to whom the Cibaeños ceded leadership of the siege over the centuries-old walled city. Despite the enthusiasm of the young people of the capital, their cause was lost, since they were opposed by the rest of the country.
Annexation period Early resistance
Báez had to abandon power in mid-1858 and Santana ignored the government of Santiago the liberal constitution promulgated in Moca months before. Cabral left the country with the fallen president and his collaborators. But, like so many Baecistas of that time, he remained with the former president to the extent that he represented the opposition to Santana. On the occasion of Santana's plans to annex the Dominican Republic to Spain, Cabral's national and democratic position was strengthened, in contrast to Báez's ambiguity. He withdrew towards Europe, leaving his supporters free to oppose Santana's plans, but in the end he sought the position of field marshal of the Spanish army in the hope of replacing Santana as the dominators' favorite. Faced with such action, some friends of Báez united under the leadership of Francisco del Rosario Sánchez, who defined the reasons for the opposition to the annexation and proposed to conclude an alliance with the Haitian government of Fabré Geffrard to fight against it.
After Sánchez released his glorious manifesto on 20 January 1861, Cabral himself issued his own manifesto. Just like Sánchez, he denounced Santana as a traitor and attacked the Spanish regime, which still held authority in Cuba and Puerto Rico. He would go on to call the Dominican people to arms, highlighting the importance of the many revolutionary struggles of freedom that shook North America. His manifesto stated:
Sánchez's second in that glorious day, placed at the head of military operations, could not be other than Cabral himself. Both had fought shoulder to shoulder in 1857 and did so again in June 1861, in the expedition they led from Haitian territory. Sánchez took command of the central column of the expeditionary force, while he assigned Cabral the left column, whose mission was to take Las Matas de Farfán and advance from the west on San Juan de la Maguana. Fernando Tabera was assigned the right column, which should fall on Neiba.