His
successors in the governorship were high officers of the Spanish army.
Discontent was not slow in spreading among the people. Injudicious
measures enacted by the Spanish authorities, the importation of hordes
of foreign officials, the overbearing manners of several local Spanish
commanders, increases in the budget, intolerance on the part of the
Spanish priests, and the natural unrest of the Dominicans, all
combined to give rise to small revolts which were put down, until, on
August 16, 1863, a farmer named Cabrera with a small band of
followers, at Capotillo, near Guayubin in the Cibao, began an
insurrection which quickly became general and is known in Dominican
history as the War of the Restoration. The Spanish forces of the Cibao
valley were obliged to concentrate in Fort San Luis, at Santiago de
los Caballeros, where they were besieged by the insurgents. The
Dominicans also captured Puerto Plata, but the city was retaken by
Spanish troops from Cuba. Reinforcements were sent to the besieged
garrison of Santiago, and in the fight which the Dominicans made to
prevent the joining of the Spanish forces, the city of Santiago was
set on fire and reduced to ashes.
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