Maximo Gomez

Máximo Gómez Báez ( Bani , Dominican Republic , November 18 , 1836 – Havana , Cuba , June 17 , 1905 ) was a general in the Ten Years’ War and the General in Chief of the Cuban revolutionary troops in the ’95 War. . (His birth date is estimated and based on his birthday celebrations.) Example of an internationalist and military genius.

Summary

[ disguise ]

• 1 Biographical summary
  • 1 The Ten Years War (1868-1878)
  • 2 Exile
    • 2.1 Meetings with José Martí
  • 3 The Necessary War (1895-1898)
  • 4 North American occupation
  • 5 Death
• 2 Reference
• 3 Sources

Biographical summary

Máximo Gómez was born in the town of Baní , province of Peravia , 84 kilometers west of Santo Domingo , capital of the Dominican Republic , son of Andrés Gómez Guerrero and Clemencia Báez Pérez.

He spent his childhood and adolescence in his homeland. At the age of 16, Gómez joined the Dominican army in the fight against the Haitian invasions of Faustine Soulouque , managing to obtain the rank of second lieutenant. He fought for annexationist troops in the Dominican Restoration War .

Participate in the combat of the Santomé savanna. He commanded the cavalry forces of General Modesto Díaz , a prominent combatant in the subsequent Ten Years’ War in Cuba .

His firm decision to fight for the Island until the Spanish colonial occupation was broken made him declare himself a Cuban citizen, a condition that he always honored. Gómez joined the Mambí army on October 14 , 1868 , his contributions to the independence cause were abundant, and among his exploits he counts the direction of the first machete charge, which would become the most fearsome weapon of those liberators. From this moment on, the revolutionary movement had the undisputed military leader, capable of preparing a popular and brave army and facing the enemy with extraordinary possibilities of victory.

His incessant battle alongside the Cubans led him to occupy the position of General in Chief, the highest of the liberating forces, the same one that José Martí placed in his hands .

The Ten Years War (1868-1878)

Main article: Campaign of Máximo Gómez in Camagüey (1873-1874) .

Engraving published in El Correo de Ultramar, 1868, according to Benigno Souza, copy of a portrait from 1867, one of his first images

Together with Rafael Rodríguez, Enrique Collazo and Enrique Canals, Jamaica, 1878, Photo by Ernesto Bavastro

After the agreement of El Carmelo was signed in the Dominican capital on May 1 , 1865 , and on the 3rd the decree of the Cortes was issued in Madrid by which the annexation of Santo Domingo to Spain ceased at a cost of 20 million pesos and 20,000 Spanish casualties, the last Spanish forces were evacuated from the Dominican Republic and with them a large number of Reserve officers, among whom was Máximo Gómez. He arrives in Cuba aboard the steamship Pizzarro, in the company of family members.

In 1866 he was discharged from the army and settled in the Guanarrubí Sugar Mill , El Dátil , jurisdiction of Bayamo , where he dedicated himself to agricultural tasks and the sale of wood. In January 1867 , his friend José Vázquez brought him closer to the conspiracy for the independence of Cuba and he joined the El Dátil group, led by Eduardo Bertot Miniet . Later in 1868 Carlos Manuel de Céspedes rose up against Spanish domination, in his sugar mill La Demajagua and gave freedom to his slaves. The Ten Years’ War begins . On October 16 , 1868 he rose in El Dátil with Esteban Estrada , Francisco Maceo Osorio , Lucas del Castillo , Eduardo Bertot and other patriots. He is awarded the ranks of sergeant. To later be promoted to major general by Carlos Manuel de Céspedes on the Santa Isabel farm , on the outskirts of Bayamo , assigned to the forces of Major General Donato Mármol Tamayo in the jurisdiction of Santiago de Cuba . On November 4 , 1868, the Tienda del Pino Action took place. Named after Gómez in his Campaign Diary and also known as Venta del Pino, Pinos de Baire and Ventas de Casanova. He first carried the machete in the wars for Cuban independence. This war procedure with a knife was used by the Dominican defenders against the invaders of Haiti and introduced by Gómez in Cuba, where it reached greater dimensions with the combination of the machete-cavalry binomial, which progressively became the fundamental way of annihilating the enemy in the battles.

Then in December of the same year he became second to General Donato Mármol and assumed direct command of Jiguaní ‘s forces . In August 1871 he carried out the actions of La Indiana, Sagua de Tánamo , Monte Libano, Monte Rus , Monte Septiembre Toro and El Oasis. Then in 1872 he attacked, took and burned the important fortified town of Tiguabos . On May 26 , 1872, President Carlos Manuel de Céspedes reviewed the troops in operations in Guantánamo . On June 8 , 1872 , due to a misunderstanding with President Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, he was removed from command of the Cuba Division. On June 11 , 1873 he was appointed head of the Provisional Department of Cauto. In July 1873 he reorganized the troops of Camagüey and Las Villas . In October of that same year he met with Major General Vicente García . Where Gómez flatly refuses to join a movement to remove President Céspedes.

Exile

On March 6 , 1878 he left for Montego Bay , Jamaica , arriving on the 7th of that same month in exile for his participation in the Ten Years’ War . He arrives in Kingston where he meets ” Manana “, his wife, sons and sisters, mired in deep misery. He rents a piece of forest in Corbet:

“We are almost maintaining ourselves with mangoes”

He says about his condition. But after suffering great needs, he managed to establish a tobacco plantation in Corbet with the financial help of Major General Julio Sanguily and Colonel Manuel Codina Polanco . In December of that same year he leaves his family in Kingston to accept the offer from the president of Honduras of a military position in that Central American country. On February 9 , 1879 . He appears before the president of Honduras , who grants him the diploma accrediting the rank of division general. He offers him a salary of 60 pounds per month, facilities to promote some private business and the immediate mission of organizing a permanent military force in Amapala (Honduras) . On June 7 , he took over as military chief of the port of Amapala, but due to difficulties that his family was experiencing in the Dominican Republic, he asked the President of Honduras for permission to meet with her in Jamaica. On December 10 he arrives in Kingston, Jamaica, where he joins his family:

Meetings with José Martí

Máximo Gómez with José Martí.

On October 2 , 1884 , during preparations to restart the armed struggle in Cuba (Gómez-Maceo Plan), both generals personally met José Martí Pérez in New York . As a consequence, of his conspiratorial activities for the independence of Cuba , he is reduced to prison and imprisoned in the Ozama Fortress (Dominican Republic) , by order of President Alejandro Woss y Gil , at the request of the representatives of the Spanish Government on the island. On January 9 , 1886 he was released and expatriated from Santo Domingo.

On March 31 , in the company of Rafael Rodríguez , he signed the Tups Islands Act , which explains the reasons why the preparations to restart the fight are suspended, and with this the Gómez-Maceo Plan concludes . On September 11 , 1892 , José Martí visited him in Montecristi , Dominican Republic. From Santiago de los Caballeros , Martí writes to him proposing command of the Cuban Liberation Army .

“The Cuban Revolutionary Party comes today to beg you, repeating your sacrifice, to help the Revolution, as supreme manager of the branch of war, to organize, inside and outside the Island, the Liberation Army (…) I I offer you, without fear of refusal, this new job today that I have no other remuneration to offer you than the pleasure of your sacrifice and the probable ingratitude of men…”

On September 15 he answers José Mart:

“From now on you can count on my services.”

On June 3 , 1893, he interviewed Martí for the second time in Montecristi . On January 10, the setback of the Fernandina Plan occurred . On February 7, José Martí arrives in Montecristi and tells him what happened in Fernandina. On February 24, the start of the war of 1895 occurred . On March 25 he signs with José Martí the Montecristi Manifesto , program of the 1895 Revolution .

The Necessary War (1895-1898)

Taken in 1897 , La Majagua, Sancti Spíritus

Main article: Military actions of Máximo Gómez in Camagüey and Las Villas (1895) .

Finally , in April 1895 , Gómez and Martí arrived in Cuba , landing at Playitas de Cajobabo , south coast of Guantánamo . In another expedition the Maceo brothers arrived in Cuba through Duaba , near Baracoa .

A few weeks later, after the military hierarchy of the Liberation Army was established , with Gómez as General in Chief and Antonio Maceo as Lieutenant General, Martí fell in Dos Ríos , to the great regret of Gómez, who followed him like a teacher but cared for him like a a son. At the end of that same year, the Invasion of the West would begin, a huge military liberation feat waged by Gómez and Maceo from Mangos de Baraguá to Mantua , where Maceo arrived around October 1896 .

The Invasion of the West was carried out by a long column, whose commanders, of extreme flexibility and excellent coordination, fragmented it for guerrilla warfare or pitched combat, depending on the needs of the moment. The column was commanded by Maceo as his Lieutenant and by Quintín Bandera as Division General of the Mambisa infantry.

While Maceo advanced with Quintín Bandera further west than Gómez, he carried out a constant movement in Camagüey around the provincial capital, called the ” Circular Campaign “, which added numerous followers of the Camagüeyan youth, admirers of the great warrior. He also carried out a campaign in Las Villas, which this time was crowned with success. He had previously been wounded in the neck during the first crossing of the Military Trail from Júcaro to Morón (current province of Ciego de Ávila ), a system of fences, military posts and forts that the Spanish had declared impregnable. After that he almost always wore a scarf around his neck, with which the American journalist Grover Flint would paint him in several of his historical sketches.

On what is the current border of Las Villas with Matanzas , Gómez carried out the famous ” Loop of Invasion “, in which he retreated a few kilometers before strong Spanish columns, before whose sight he destroyed the railway lines to the east , and then make an enveloping advance towards the West , once again cutting off all communications, this time in the West. Thus, he left a large contingent of troops who were skillfully harassed and decimated by guerrillas who, although they were very inferior in number, were fully aware of the terrain and exterminated a large part of the unfortunate “fifths” who were brought by tens of thousands to fight in Cuba.

In Havana , in addition to receiving his second and final gunshot wound, he carried out an extremely simple but effective movement strategy to avoid open combat. He moved in quadrilaterals two or three kilometers on each side, leaving the expert Spanish generals, veterans of wars in Europe and Africa , astonished . Taking refuge for a few hours in the Havana mountain keys, he then attacked the strong Hispanic columns from the rear, in brief but ferocious charges. With these movements he once again retired to the east, to meet with the patriots in the historic Assembly of La Yaya , which would take place at the beginning of 1897 .

El Viejo, or Chino Viejo, as Gómez was known by his intimates, was filled with sorrow upon learning of the fall in combat of Antonio Maceo and with him his brave and beloved son, Francisco “Panchito” Gómez Toro. He left his sorrow expressed in a letter to María Cabrales , wife of Antonio Maceo.

He immediately appointed the expert Major General Calixto García as Lieutenant , who would be in charge of carrying out war actions throughout the eastern department. Gómez remained operating throughout 1897 between Las Villas and Las Tunas , while generals Lacret and Mayía Rodríguez operated in the West. The summer of 1897 was fateful for Spanish arms not only due to the extermination at the hands of the Mambisa guerrillas who harassed them until dawn, but also due to malaria, dysentery and other tropical diseases.

The Generalissimo became famous for the relentless discipline he imposed on his troops. Both his soldiers and the corrupt mambis prefects were sentenced to death by firing squad and/or demotion. For minor indiscipline, not related to cowardice, the mambí stocks or the transfer to impedimenta were the usual punishments. Cowardice, if it did not have serious consequences, was punished with the obligation to advance alone towards enemy ranks and obtain one or more weapons, a uniform and a park. Theft or attacks on peasants were punished by execution.

Gómez came into strong contradictions with the Government of Cuba in Arms chaired by Salvador Cisneros Betancourt for the granting of military ranks to young people of good social standing who had just joined the mambisa ranks. Given the efforts of many emigrants to achieve recognition of Cuban belligerence by the United States, Gómez expressed:

“American recognition is like rain: if it comes, it’s good, and if it doesn’t, that’s fine.”

North American occupation

Abandoning the Hill Assembly , March 1899

When the North American intervention in the war occurred, Gómez was towards the center of the country, in his task of decimating the decadent Spanish troops and about to advance for the second time to Havana to permanently invade it. He reacted angrily to the ban on Cuban troops from entering Santiago de Cuba , issued by American General Shafter, but he did not take any action, not feeling he had the rights of a Cuban, despite his leading role in the campaign.

Already in 1898 he moved to Havana, to the Quinta de los Molinos , where he was received by a multi-faceted demonstration of sympathy. When the Cerro Assembly was established as a Provisional Government, Gómez became part of it, but refused to direct it, alleging its purely military nature and his status as a foreigner.

He soon entered into contradictions with the assembly members. The main contradiction was whether to accept the donation offered by the US Government of three million, or whether to ask for a larger loan that would ensure a decent rest for the soldiers of the Liberation Army . Gómez was in favor of taking the donation from the US Government, fearing the birth of a Republic in debt. While the Cerro Assembly was in favor of a larger loan, because even if the Republic was born in debt, it would be recognized as the legal body representing the interests of the Cuban people, destined to return the loan to the American banks.

On a street in Caibarién , January 1899 , Photo by Manuel M. Otero

 

With his troops passing the Calzada del Cerro , Havana , 1899

 

Together with his General Staff, in full dress uniform, Havana , April 1899 , Photo by Samuel A. Cohner

 

Inauguration ceremony of the mausoleum of Antonio Maceo and Panchito Gómez Toro , El Cacahual , December 1899

 

Reception ceremony for Estrada Palma at the Palace of the Captains General , 1902 , Photo by José M. de la Carrera

On March 12 , 1899 , the Cerro Assembly agreed to the dismissal of Máximo Gómez as General in Chief of the Liberation Army, and the definitive elimination of that position. Gómez, through a manifesto to the nation, expressed:

“…Foreigner as I am, I have not come to serve this people, helping them defend their cause of justice, like a mercenary soldier; and that is why since the oppressive power abandoned this land and left the Cuban free, I turned the sword to the pod, believing since then that the mission that I voluntarily imposed on myself is completed. Nothing is owed to me and I retire happy and satisfied with having done everything I could for the benefit of my brothers. I promise the Cubans that, wherever I pitch my tent, “They could always count on a friend.”

When the news became known, the popular masses held demonstrations condemning the Cerro Assembly and showing solidarity with Gómez. Under the slogans “Down with the Assembly Members” and “Long live Máximo Gómez” for three days, the people paraded in front of Havana’s Quinta de los Molinos in a spontaneous action of grievance. Figures representing the assembly members were burned throughout the island. On March 15, strong criticism and ridicule of the assembly members appeared in the press, whom the people accused of going towards the abyss of annexation. Days after Gómez’s dismissal, the Assembly was dissolved under popular pressure, leaving the people of Cuba without a representative.

On April 2 , in an open letter to Bernarda Toro , Gómez expressed in relation to the situation in the country:

“Those who wait are desperate. As it is, I don’t expect anything, I am very calm with my unexpected situation, relieved of all responsibility and enjoying the affection of this people who, now more than ever, have shown me this, committing, in such a high way and meaning, my eternal gratitude. (…)The attitude of the American Government with the heroic Cuban People, in these historical moments, reveals to us more than a great business in my opinion… Nothing more rational and fair than the owner of a house, it is he who is going to live in it with his family, who furnishes and decorates it to his satisfaction and taste, and not who is forced to follow, against his will and taste, the impositions of his neighbor. The situation Well, what has been created for this people, of material misery and sorrow, due to being inhibited in all their acts of sovereignty, is more afflictive every day, and the day such a strange situation ends, it is possible that the Americans will not leave not a hint of sympathy here.”

Death

Generalissimo Máximo Gómez Báez died on June 17 , 1905 , without personal fortune, in his Havana villa, at the age of 69.