Santiago Mota was a Dominican general and martyr of the Dominican Restoration War.
He was born in San Francisco de Macoris. He served as a low militia captain during the Spanish annexation. He joined the patriotic war after the head of San Francisco de Macorís, General Juan Esteban Ariza, left the square and fled towards Santo Domingo. Mota formed a battalion with his own citizens, marched with them towards the eastern cantons and was stationed in El Bermejo, next to the Colonel Dionisio Troncoso and artillery captain Pedro Faustino Royer, who commanded troops brought from Cotuí. He was a fearless and brave colonel, as described by a government official letter dated January 10, 1864. Seven days later, Santiago Mota commanded the patriots who in Rincón de Pulgarín, fought with the forces of General Pedro Santana. He was leading a guerrilla group that was overwhelmed by the numerical and material superiority of the enemy. Mota refused to retreat and, now surrounded by Spanish soldiers, continued fighting them with knives, until he fell, facing the sun like the good guys, in the intense heat of combat.[1]
He is counted as one of the four Dominican generals who died in the course of the Dominican Restoration War. The remaining three were Gregorio de Lora, Benito Martínez and Antonio Caba.