Máximo Gómez facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Máximo Gomez
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| Born | November 18, 1836 Baní, Peravia, Dominican Republic |
| Died | June 17, 1905 (aged 68) Havana, La Havana, Cuba |
| Allegiance |  Dominican Republic (1854–1861) Spain (1861–1865) Cuba (1868–1898) |
| Service/ |
Army |
| Years of service | 1852 – 1905 |
| Rank | Generalissimo |
| Battles/wars | Dominican War of Independence
Dominican Restoration War |
Máximo Gómez y Báez (born November 18, 1836 – died June 17, 1905) was an important military leader from the Dominican Republic. He became a top general, called a Generalissimo, in Cuba's War of Independence (1895–1898). He was known for his strong military tactics, which included destroying property that helped the Spanish. He also made the attacks more effective against Spanish soldiers and those who supported them.
When the Spanish–American War started in April 1898, Máximo Gómez refused to join the Spanish in fighting the United States. After the war ended, he retired to a large house outside of Havana.
Contents
Early Life and Military Start
Máximo Gómez was born on November 18, 1836, in a town called Baní in the Dominican Republic. When he was a teenager, he joined battles against attacks from Haiti in the 1850s.
He fought alongside Spanish forces in a war called the Dominican Annexation War (1861–1865). During this time, he moved up from being a sergeant to a commander after a big win against a Dominican general.
In 1865, he came to Cuba with Spanish troops. He started a farm there. In Cuba, he married Bernarda Toro, who stayed with him during the war.
Changing Sides to Fight for Cuba
After the Spanish forces were defeated in the Dominican Republic in 1865, many people who had supported Spain left with them. Gómez moved his family to Cuba.
Gómez left the Spanish Army and soon joined the Cuban rebels in 1868. He helped change the Cuban Army's fighting methods. He taught the Cuban soldiers, known as mambises, a very effective tactic: the "machete charge."
Leading the Cuban War of Independence
On October 25, 1868, during the Battle of Pino de Baire, Gómez led a machete charge on foot. His soldiers surprised a Spanish group and defeated them completely. The Spanish lost 233 soldiers. Spanish soldiers were very scared of these charges because most of them were foot soldiers who feared being cut down by machetes. Since the Cuban Army often did not have enough bullets, their usual way of fighting was to shoot once and then charge the Spanish.
In 1871, Gómez led a campaign to clear Guantánamo of forces loyal to Spain. These included rich coffee growers, many of whom were French and had come from Haiti. Gómez led a tough but successful campaign. Many of his officers from this time later became high-ranking leaders.
After Major General Ignacio Agramonte y Loynáz died in battle in May 1873, Gómez took command of the military area in Camaguey province. He also led its famous Cavalry Corps. He quickly saw that they were the best trained and most disciplined soldiers in the new Cuban Army. They would be very important in the war for independence.
On February 19, 1874, Gómez and 700 other rebels marched west. They defeated 2,000 Spanish troops at El Naranjo. The Spanish lost 100 soldiers killed and 200 wounded, while the rebels had 150 casualties. A group of 500 Chinese soldiers also fought under Gómez's command in the Battle of Las Guasimas in March 1874. This battle cost the Spanish 1,037 casualties and the rebels 174. However, the rebels used up many of their supplies, as fighting this way was very costly.
In early 1875, Gómez crossed the Trocha, which was a line of Spanish military forts. With fewer than 2,000 men, he burned 83 farms around Sancti Spíritus and freed their enslaved people. However, some conservative rebel leaders worried about these actions. They moved troops away from Gómez's army, which caused his campaign to slow down. In 1876, Gómez gave up his command when he was told that officers would no longer follow his orders because he was from the Dominican Republic.
Helping Puerto Rico
Between the two Cuban independence wars, Gómez worked different jobs in Jamaica and Panama. He even supervised workers during the building of the Panama Canal. But he always stayed active in the fight for Cuban independence and for other islands in the Antilles.
For example, in 1887, Puerto Rico faced harsh political control from the Spanish governor. Many local political leaders were arrested. Gómez offered his help to Ramón Emeterio Betances, who had started Puerto Rico's first fight for independence. Gómez sold most of his belongings to help pay for a revolt in Puerto Rico. He offered to lead any Puerto Rican troops if a revolt happened. The revolt was not needed later that year, but Gómez and Betances became good friends.
Rising to Generalíssimo
Gómez became the Generalíssimo of the Cuban Army. This was the highest military rank, like a Captain General. He earned this because of his excellent military leadership.
He took the fighting methods that Spanish guerrillas had used against Napoleon's armies and made them into a clear system. This system covered both small-scale tactics and overall war plans. His ideas helped shape how rebellions and uneven fights are understood today.
In 1875, he was shot in the neck while trying to cross a fortified line in Cuba. He was leading a failed attempt to invade Western Cuba. After that, he always wore a scarf around his neck to cover the bullet hole, which never fully closed. His second and last wound came in 1896 while he was fighting near Havana, completing a successful invasion of Western Cuba.
Smart War Tactics
Máximo Gómez was wounded only twice during 15 years of guerrilla warfare. He fought against an enemy that had many more soldiers and supplies. In contrast, his trusted second-in-command, Lieutenant General Antonio Maceo y Grajales, was shot 27 times in the same period. Gómez's son, Francisco Gómez y Toro, was killed trying to get Maceo's body during a battle on December 7, 1896.
Soon after, Gómez used another very successful war tactic: burning sugar cane farms and other important agricultural areas. He personally did not like the idea of "setting fire to the product of our laborers' work over more than 200 years in a few hours." But he argued that if this was the price to pay to free the workers from a system that enslaved them, then "Blessed be the torch!"
Refusing to Join Spain
On March 5, 1898, the Spanish Captain-General of Cuba, Ramón Blanco y Erenas, asked Gómez and his Cuban troops to join the Spanish Army. He wanted them to fight against the United States in the Spanish–American War. Blanco appealed to their shared history as Cubans and Spanish. He promised Cuba would become independent if they helped fight the Americans.
Blanco said, "As Spaniards and Cubans we find ourselves opposed to foreigners... The time has come when we should forget past differences and, with Spaniards and Cubans united... repel the invader." Gómez refused to agree to Blanco's plan.
Retirement and Legacy
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At the end of the Cuban Independence War in 1898, Máximo Gómez retired to a large house outside of Havana. He was offered the chance to become president in 1901, and he was expected to win easily. But he refused because he never liked politics. Also, after living in Cuba for 40 years, he still felt that since he was born in the Dominican Republic, he should not be Cuba's civil leader.
He died in his home in 1905 and was buried in the Colón Cemetery, Havana.
Honors and Memorials
Máximo Gómez is remembered in many ways:
- The Máximo Gómez Command Academy is a military school for the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces.
- Máximo Gómez Park in Miami, Florida, United States, also known as Domino Park, is named after him.
- Gómez's picture is on the 10 peso bill in Cuba.
- The British alternative rock band Maxïmo Park named itself after the park in Florida.
- A major street in Santo Domingo, in the Dominican Republic, is named after him.
- A high school in his hometown of Baní, Dominican Republic, is named after him.
- A university in Cuba, Universidad Máximo Gómez Báez de Ciego de Ávila, is named in his honor.
- A statue of him on a horse, with his scarf and armed, stands in front of a school in Camaguey, Cuba.
- A subway station on Line 1 of the Metro of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, is named after him.
See also
In Spanish: Máximo Gómez para niños
- Luis Marcano
- Modesto Díaz
