Rebels in Spanish-ruled Santo Domingo make a new declaration of independence

The Dominican Republic had been independent of Spain for seventeen years when its dictator, Pedro Santana, engineered Spanish recolonization in 1861. Exiles gathered in neighboring Haiti and launched a "War of Restoration." The day after the capture of the provincial city of Santiago, a provisional government declared independence once again. A two-year war ensued and Spain finally revoked its recolonization in May 1865. (By John Osborne)