Carlos Daniel Grullon was born in a humble home in the second largest city of the Dominican Republic, Santiago de los 30 Caballeros in the year 1879. He was the grandson of General Carlos Remigio Daniel; a highly decorated soldier who with honor defended the Dominican Republic against invading Haitians in The Battle of March 30, 1844, along with General Fernando Valerio just one month after the Dominican Republic had declared their independence from Haiti on February 27, 1844. His fathers name was Aurelio Daniel and his mothers name was Ramona Grullon who passed away when Carlitos (as his family and friends called him) was only 5 years old. This event brought Carlitos to Mao to live with his aunt Nena Grullon until his teenage years. Later, his father had 3 other children, Juan and Francisco with Hortensia Portes and Enriqueta with a woman only known as Teresa. History claims that Carlos Daniel had 32 children but his family members say it was much more. Carlos Daniel was given the title of General for his acts of bravery demonstrated in different battles during the beginning of the century. He was very well respected and admired by the other men, although he himself never signed up for the military he participated in these battles because he believed in keeping the Dominican Republic free. Among these battles were The Battle of El Cerrito Bucaro in 1904 and The Battle of Saint Peter in 1912. Both were under the command of General Desiderio Arias. General Desiderio Arias was the Minister of War and also had total control of the North and North Western region of the Dominican Republic called El Cibao. What immortalized Carlos Daniel was a battle called La Batalla de la Barranquita (The Battle of the Gully), on the 3rd of July 1916. On this day 80 brave Dominican men found the courage to fight against 837 United States Marines. This battle took place just outside of Guayacanes, in a place called Cerro de la Barranquita, and located about 3 miles north of the town of Mao. Here is why and how it started:
The Dominican Republic was going through rough times, politics were unstable, and Presidents would remain in office for a year, months, and even weeks at a time and would be replaced or even assassinated by other groups. The new presidents would then borrow money from European countries and also from the United States. By 1905 the Dominican Republic owed a total of 30,000,000 dollars. The Dominican Republics main source of income was the exportation of goods such as sugar and tobacco. U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt wanted the Dominican President Carlos Felipe Morales Languasco to sign a Modus Vivendi treaty. His intention at the time was to appoint an American group to recover this money owed to the United States and European countries by taking over the Dominican Ports; so that as the money recovered would be used to pay off their debt and current government expenses. Once the debt was paid off they would return the Dominican Ports back to the Dominican Republic.
On January 12, 1906 Ramon (Mon) Caceres was elected president and in 1907 he signed the Modus Vivendi treaty. He received the first American representative, Thomas C. Dawson who smoothly reduced the debt to about 14,000,000 with the cooperation of President Caceres, but on November 19, 1911 President Caceres was assassinated.
On December 5th, 1911 Eladio Victoria became president and again the Dominican Republic began to borrow money and increased its national debt in violation of the treaty of 1907. The new representatives sent by President Woodrow Wilson were less knowledgeable and less tactful than Thomas C. Dawson, they demanded that the government abide by the treaty and form a stable government.
On December 5, 1914 Juan Isidro Jimenez was elected president and the Dominican Republic was arming its citizens for a civil war. The United States guaranteed support against any further revolution with the condition that Juan Isidro Jimenez abides by the treaty of 1907.
On April 15, 1916 Jimenez arrested two faithful followers of General Desiderio Arias. Armed supporters of General Arias became enraged and soon dominated the streets of Santo Domingo. After failing to negotiate a settlement between Jimenez and Arias, the American minister, under State Department instructions were to back Jimenez if any problems were to take place. This called for the U.S.Marines to protect United States interests.
On May 5, 1916 President Jimenez and General Arias began to fight in the city, that same day, Captain Wise and a group of 150 U.S.Marines landed in Santo Domingo to assist President Jimenez against General Arias. Captain Wise knew he could not defeat over 1,000 of General Desiderio arias’ armed men. He went directly to General Desiderio Arias and demanded a safe passage for foreign nationals and also requested the right for him to move supplies for his Marines through territory controlled by General Arias, and he agreed.
On May 12, 1916 Rear Admiral William B. Caperton, arrived at Santo Domingo with 400 more U.S. Marines and took over the operation. On May 14th he met with General Desiderio Arias and demanded that he disband his army, surrender his weapons and leave the capital by 6:00am on May 15th or he would face a full-scale American attack. General Arias rejected this demand, but agreed to leave the capital. General Arias and his troops marched to Santiago and took control of Fort St. Luis. One Marine officer was releived because, as he later recalled, "If Arias had fought hard, if it had been like it was in Vera Cruz, Mexico -- sniping from every house and everything, why we had a rough job ahead of us; and nobody was very happy over it."
On May 6th President Jimenez resigned, gave the excuse that he would not turn American guns on fellow Dominicans. U.S. President Woodrow Wilson used this opportunity to "restore order". He quickly began to send large amounts of U.S.Marines. On May 15, 1916 they arrived in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic, and a few days later they arrived in San Pedro de Macoris. On June 1, 1916, under Colonel Joseph H. Pendleton’s command, Marines arrived in Puerto Plata and in Montecristi. All took place with out any resistance from the Dominicans.
Shortly after, the people complained about the way the U.S. Marines were behaving towards them. They stated that the Marines Burned homes, robed stores and executed those who were “suspicious”. On May 5th the Mao authorities formed a meeting where they declared a duel to the invading United States troops. Among those men were, town priest Eliseo Echavarria, syndicate Mr. Rafael (Feso) Madera, City Hall president Mr. Efrain Reyes and General Carlos Daniel Grullon.
Carlos Daniel was next in command under General Desiderio Arias and was also in command of the Armory in Mao, including a small battalion of men named Entre Rios (Between Rivers). The word Mao is a Taino Indian word meaning land between rivers since the town of Mao is located between The North Yaque River and Gurabo River. On June 26th Colonel Joseph H. Pendleton began his 75 mile march from Montecristi to the city of Santiago where General Arias was stationed. Carlos Daniel received a telegram from Desiderio Arias warning him that Marines had now landed in Montecristi and that they were on their way to take control of Santiago. Aware of this, he quickly called a meeting of the towns’ people who vowed that they would not welcome the Marines or any other outside forces. He prepared a Battalion of 80 volunteers, and handed out approximately 50 old single and 6 shot rifles used in previous battles and 2,000 rounds of ammunition that he had hidden at a friend’s house.
The youngest of them was a 17 year old named Belarminio Rodriguez and the oldest was an 80 year old man named Francisco (Pancho) Peña who had also fought in previous battles along with Carlos Daniel. As Pancho was marching along the other men towards the site a friend, Mr. Pedro Sanchez shouted "Hey Pancho, where do you think you’re going?" Pancho replied "I’m going to Barranquita because the Americans are coming." Pedro said, "But you’re too old to fight and you’re going to get yourself killed.” Pancho replied, “Yes I know but, I want to give the younger generations an example and with my blood I will contribute to my country.” Most of these men were not in the military and had no real experience with fire arms or war. Armed with old single and six shot rifles and pistols used in previous battles they knew that their chances were not that great but one thing was certain; they all believed that they would rather die standing than be ruled again by outside forces and on their knees.
During the last days of June the men went to the site to plan their attack. Carlos Daniel ordered the men to cut down a large tree to block the road and from a nearby Bee Keeper, borrowed 20 bee barrels and placed them approximately 50 feet from each other 10 on each side of the road. Carlos Daniel did not expect that that the Marines were coming down with 34 officers and 803 enlisted soldiers with a grand total of 837 men.
On July 2nd, Marines were in Laguna Salada a town just 3 miles away from La Barranquita and later that day in Guayacanes about a mile and a half away. There the Marines were faced with Melton Sanchez and a group of 10 men who only shot a few rounds at the Marines and had no other choice but to hide in the nearby hills. The same day another telegram was sent from Desiderio Arias warning Carlos Daniel and his men not to fight the Marines because he had decided to make an agreement with Admiral Caperton to end resistance because it was impossible to stop them but, the person in charge of the telegram company decided that the telegram was not important enough to deliver that day and decided to deliver the telegram the next day. The telegram was finally delivered in the morning of July 3rd to Carlos Daniel’s little brother Francisco who was ordered to stay and was left in charge of the Armory. Francisco gave the telegram to Pedro Espinal and Pedro Vargas who tried to deliver it but the battle had already begun.
As the Marines arrived at the large tree and with no way around it, they had no choice but to stop and try to move the large tree. At that time Carlos Daniel shouted in his northern dialect “Tiro poi caco!” (One Shot per head!) Some of the Marines took cover behind the large tree, some hid behind their wagons and others took cover behind the bee barrels. As the Marines returned fire, the loud noise made the bees very angry and the angry bees began to sting the troops to the point where many of them ran away and others had to find different places to hide. The battle went on for about 4 hours and just as they thought that things were going their way, two Dominican men named Joaquin Llenas and Tavito Minaya who the Americans hired as guides led them through a back road and attacked the Dominicans from behind. Seeing that the Marines were greater in numbers, better equipped and had superior fire power they had no other choice and Carlos Daniel ordered the remaining men to retreat back to a pre arranged location. 27 of the 80 Dominican men died that day including Captain Maximo Cabral who was 2nd in command because of his rank, who was on leave from his post in Santo Domingo, on his way home to Mao. He arrived that morning dressed in a fancy formal military uniform. Also, the 80 year old man Francisco (Pancho)Peña and 17 year old Belarminio Rodriguez. These men died with honor on the battlefield that day. The Marines also captured 5 men.
The Medal of Honor was awarded to U.S. Marines First Sergeant Roswell Winans Citation: During an engagement at Guayacanes on 3 July 1916, 1st Sgt. Winans participated in action against a considerable force of rebels on the line of march. During a running fight of 1,200 yards, our forces reached the enemy entrenchments and Cpl. Joseph A. Gowin, U.S.M.C., placed the machine gun, of which he had charge, behind a large log across the road and immediately opened fire on the trenches. He was struck once but continued firing his gun, but a moment later he was again struck and had to be dragged out of the position into cover. 1st Sgt. Winans, U.S.M.C., then arrived with a Colt's gun which he placed in a most exposed position, coolly opened fire on the trenches and when the gun jammed, stood up and repaired it under fire. All the time Glowin and Winans were handling their guns they were exposed to a very heavy fire which was striking into the logs and around the men, 10 men being wounded and 1 killed within 20 feet. 1st Sgt. Winans continued flring his gun until the enemy had abandoned the trenches.
Corporal Joseph Anthony Glowin Citation: During an engagement at Guayacanes on 3 July 1916, Cpl. Glowin participated in action against a considerable force of rebels on the line of march.
On July 5th, Penddelton received a peace commission sent out from Santiago. The members of the commission informed him that General Arias had made an agreement with Admiral Caperton to cease resistance. The commissioners declared that Arias was trying to disband his armed followers and asked the Americans to delay their entry into Santiago, to give Arias time for this, and to give him time to vacate Fort St. Luis.
On July 6th, The Marines finally made it to the city of Santiago with out any further confrontations and eventually they were able to take over the whole country.
On November 29 1916, Captain (later Rear Admiral) Harry S. Knapp, who had succeeded Admiral Caperton in overall command, issued a proclamation declaring the Dominican Republic to be under the military jurisdiction of the United States. The proclamation accused the Dominican government of violating the financial provisions of the Treaty of 1907 and of failing to maintain internal order and stability. The United States military government now being established would have its purpose, not the destruction of Dominican sovereignty, but rather "is designed to give aid to that country in returning to a condition of internal order that will enable it to observe the terms of the treaty (of 1907), and the obligations resting upon it as one of the family of nations." This began the Military Occupation of (1916 – 1924).
During the Military Occupation of (1916 – 1924), Americans used the U.S. National Guard to police the Dominican Republic citizens. Dominican citizens were disarmed and Carlos Daniel, Desiderio Arias and most of his followers spent most of the 8 years under house arrest, where they remained under constant surveillance.
After the United States obtained the money owed to them, power was given back to the people. On July 12, 1924 Horacio Vasquez was elected President. During this time Carlos Daniel was no longer under House Arrest and joined Desiderio Arias. Rafael Leonidas Trujillo was looking for a way to secretly remove President Horacio Vasquez by looking for supporters for his campaign, he requested for Desiderio Arias and Carlos Daniel to meet with him, and during that meeting, Carlos Daniel attempted to kill Trujillo, Trujillo put down his hands and handed his gun to Desiderio Arias in an act of peace. At that point, Carlos Daniel decided not to kill Trujillo for it was not in his nature to murder an unarmed man in cold blood.
In August 16, 1930, Trujillo won by fraud and was elected president but was still looking for support from all regions of the country to join him because he was not planning on loosing again, he wanted total control of the country, and those who did not join him were considered traitors or enemies of Trujillo.
Trujillo asked General Desiderio Arias to join him but he was not happy with the way he was running the country and said “No!” From that point on Desiderio Arias and Trujillo became mortal enemies and had problems for quite some time. One day Trujillo showed up in Mao and met with Desiderio Arias in the central park of the town, their a man by the name of Salomon Haddad (Turquito) took out his gun and suggested that they kill Trujillo right then and there, but Desiderio Arias told him that he was a man of his word and that they were only there to talk and work out their differences. Trujillo and Desiderio Arias shook hands and hugged each other in front of the whole town. When Trujillo left the town of Mao, he ordered his men to kill Desiderio Arias and his high raniking officers. Desiderio Arias was murdered a few days later on June 20, 1931. Shortly after, Trujillo remembered what Carlos Daniel did to him that day and promised to kill all the Daniels if found. Trujillo came after Carlos Daniel and his entire family. Carlos Daniel forced to flee to Cuba by traveling threw Haiti with his wife Lesbia Ramirez and some of his children. Some of his other children were forced to move and hide in the Capital, Santo Domingo and some even changed their names.
On June 14, 1949 there was an invasion gone bad from Guatemala and Cuba called the Luperon Invasion. When Trujillo found out about the invasion he quickly accused his enemies and the entire Daniel family by saying that they had something to do with the invasion and ordered his men to arrest and execute them if they were found. Unfortunately 3 of Carlos Daniel's sons were living in Imbert, Puerto Plata a town just outside of Luperon They were Carlos Remigio Daniel Ramirez also known as (Pedro Canela), Antonio, and Bolivar Daniel. A close friend and neighbor was the person who gave them up to the military secret service. All 3 brothers were dragged out of their homes with the excuse that they had to give information about the invasion. Antonio and Bolivar’s mother personally went to Trujillo demanded an explanation, the whereabouts and their health status. Trujillo told her that it was too late and there was nothing else she can do but go home. Sadly all 3 were executed but the friend and neighbor that gave them up found out about the execution and could not bear knowing that he was at fault and on his way home hung himself.
In 1955 after 24 years and at the age of 76 Carlos Daniel returned to the Dominican Republic after requesting written permission from Trujillo to see his children. Trujillo then requested for Carlos Daniel to report to his office at the Presidential Palace for an “interview”. Carlos Daniel knew better than to go to that “interview” and ignored the request and went to El Cibao. During that time Trujillo put Carlos Daniel under house arrest.
On the morning of October 18, 1957 General Carlos Daniel Grullon mysteriously died in his backyard at the age of 78. Few family members and friends assisted the ceremony, afraid that they would be arrested and executed by Trujillo and his men.
No won had ever given tribute to the Heroes and Martyrs of this battle until the year 1974 by Senator Jorge Blanco, since Trujillo had a grudge against Carlos Daniel and did not want anyone to see him as a National Hero.
Since then, every 3rd of July Mao celebrates this heroic act of courage and patriotism with an early mass at the Cathedral, a parade, and a trip to the park where there is a monument dedicated to the Heroes and Martyrs who sacrificed their lives. Family members bring flowers and announce the names of all those who participated in this act.
Later that afternoon, they go to the site where the battle was fought. There is a second monument located there and another ceremony is held. For about a week or so all the best athletes in the region unite and take part in the Games of the Barranquita.
On July 3rd 2004 photographer Rafael Pujols captured great grandson Aaron Trimpin and Kevin A. Trimpin age 7 giving military salute to his great great grandfather, General Carlos Daniel Grullon during the festivities of the Heroes and Martyrs of the Battle of the Barranquita in Mao.
Dozens of paintings such as this one will be on exhibit all around the town of Mao by the end of the year, to commemorate the Heroes and Martyrs of the Barranquita.
Recently The Dominican Liberation Party Building, a Neighborhood, and a Street were named after General Carlos Daniel in the Town of Mao.
Dominican Liberation party building General Carlos Daniel
General Carlos Daniel Neighborhood
General Carlos Daniel Street
