Abstract
José de la Gándara y Navarro was charged, as the governor and captain general of Santo Domingo, with pacifying territory that had only recently been reincorporated into the Spanish Monarchy. Having served previously on the West African island outpost of Fernando Po, he faced a seemingly unprecedented large-scale rebellion, especially strong on the porous border with Haiti. A Spanish commission sent over to assess the situation in 1864 concluded that peninsular troops could not defeat the guerrilla bands operating throughout the island.¹ In addressing the Dominican people that spring, however, Gándara reassuringly stated the protective forces they sought would not