Juan Bonilla was a leader in the Dominican Restoration War. He was commander of the Reserves, he joined the national forces since the armed actions spread to his land, Puerto Plata on August 27, 1863. He was stationed in Jácuba, along with Pedro Gregorio Martínez and Rasín Isurún. In that place, on September 12, the powerful column commanded by Brigadier Primo de Rivera, which had been sent from Cuba and was marching to the rescue of Brigadier Manuel Buceta and his men, who were resisting being surrounded by the fortress of Santiago, was stopped. After the liberation of Santiago, Bonilla served in the famous canton of Las Jabillas, with the rank of general, under the leadership of Gaspar Polanco.[1]
At the end of the war, Bonilla continued living in Puerto Plata until he died in misery and oblivion, in his modest room from Coco Street in 1903.