In 1869 Babcock was Grant's special agent in an attempt to annex the mostly mixed race and black, Spanish-speaking Caribbean island country of the Dominican Republic ("18,655 mi²"), then commonly called "Santo Domingo". At this time, federal land speculation was not uncommon, as Congress had in March 1867 purchased Alaska ("663,300 mi²") from the Russian Empire. Like his predecessor Andrew Johnson, Grant received inducements from speculators interested in Caribbean expansion, particularly for Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Speculators William L. Cazneau and Joseph W. Fabens formed the "Santo Domingo Company" in New York to attract financial supporters for annexing the Dominican Republic. Grant's Secretary of State Hamilton Fish, was doubtful concerning Haitian annexation, believing the country was politically unstable, and became suspicious when Fabens asked him to support a plan of American annexation of the Dominican Republic. Grant desired to investigate the island and find out whether the people wanted annexation. After two other candidates were excluded, Grant and Fish agreed to send Babcock on a secret reconnaissance mission to the Dominican Republic.