GENERAL MAXIMO GOMEZ Y BAEZ - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 06/06/1870 - HFSID 217708

MAXIMO GOMEZ
The Major General pens a warm letter to friend Figueredo informing him about the health of some revolutionaries including himself, grants him with authorizations and requests and lets him know that he and his people wish to see him soon. The Secretary also writes favoring him with supplies.
Autograph Letter Signed: "Maximo" and "V. Rojas" in iron gall ink. 8¼x11¼. 4 pages. Fully Translated in English: "Las Cabezas, June 6, 1890. C. Felix Figueredo. Dear friend. Fulgencio returned with your letters that have filled me with happiness and sadness, sadness because of your situation. But do not worry, you situation will change soon and fortunate days will come. Cheer up, in this world we all are exposed to suffering but the greatest Glory for a man is to triumph from the misfortune, staying firm as a rock against the strikes of bad luck. I am your friend and regardless I am weak and out of shape I would do for you as much as I can and should do to demand justice due to the sympathies that link us since that fellowship that we started in the first days of the revolution childhood. I will happily give you the certification you are asking me for and for being more convenient for you, I give you the freedom to write it yourself and send me the draft, that here I will make the final draft done which I will sign it and send it back to you. I am sad you are leaving to the center and don't get to see each other. However I'll do anything possible even if that implies to dedicate four or five days to go to the place you are because it is not possible for you to come. That is a fatality my friend, and if you could have come with Fulgencio, you would have been a consolation angel. Calixto was wounded on his left forearm during a shooting we had with the soldiers the last day in Cruz Alta on the skirts of the town. He received a bullet which stayed inside his arm but it was close to coming out, because it reached the other side and even rip the skin on the back of the arm, if only you had been there you would have taken it out at the proper time or right away, but imagine me by myself and even without curious people around to help me. I had to take care of him until the day before yesterday when I sent him to Charco Redondo. There, the intrepid and good person Commander Duran extracted the bullet. He is doing fine and the wound is starting to heal and even his bone has been sutured it seems no serious, because he does not feel much pain and the inflammation is not very bad. Ah, if you could only be here! My soul would be so happy, so you could cure him and see the wound and perhaps with your recommendations he could heal more quickly. I gave the note of your requirements to Fulgencio along with authorization to provide with anything we can and since he has to go back for those places he will bring it to you. I would like to write you more but I cannot do it now because I have a pile of work up to my eyes and I don't feel well because I have indigestion every three days and even it is not like fever, I do get really sick, and today is one of those days. With Calixto down I don't have enough free time because now I have to supervise everything myself and almost without even been able to jump off my horse and also I have had to withdraw myself from Pepe, so he can take care of himself, so the two men assigned to assist me can't longer do it. All my assistants say hello to you, especially Pepe and all of them want to bring you here because they say they want to feed you , you can count on the sympathies of all my people. Calixto tells you many things, he regrets he cannot write you but in spite of his status he is very proud of his wound. Good bye, your friend Maximo. Friend Figueredo: the General has ordered me to give to you some scrutiny effects and I gladly do it only with a fountain pen, some paper and some steel pens: I am not sending you ink because we make it here by battering the cotton leafs and rubbing them against a cauldron until it is loose enough, then we squeeze it and if not much ink comes out we mix it with some water and it is magnificent. I am sorry I do not have plenty of things to send you but we are short in supplies. With no other particular and wishing you keep yourself well, I put my services under your orders, a friend who wants to see you. The secretary, Vicente Rojas." Dominican Major General Maximo Gomez (1836-1905) was initially trained as an officer of the Spanish Army at the Zaragoza Military Academy, originally arriving in Cuba as a cavalry Captain in the Spanish Army before taking up the rebel cause in 1968. Gomez famously helped transform the Cuban Army's military tactics and strategy, teaching the guerrilla independence fighters, the Mambises, their most feared tactic: the "Machete Charge". Gomez worked odd military jobs for the next couple decades: he became involved with the independence of Puerto Rico when he sold most of his possessions to finance a revolution, even volunteering to lead troops (later deemed unnecessary when Spain intervened), as well as was promoted to General of the Cuban army, improving the military's guerrilla tactics most effective against the traditional Spanish forces. The Spanish-American War, the result of the United States interfering in the Cuban War of Independence, forced Cuba to decide if they should choose heritage over their New World partners (Spain vs. U.S.), Dios decided to fight solely for his adopted country's independence; he lost his most trusted officer Antonio Maceo, and his son Francisco Gomez in the war in 1896, but by 1898 Cuba had obtained independence and Gomez was offered the presidential nomination, but he refused due to his Dominican heritage. By that time his was 75 years old, having spent half his life dedicated to the liberation of Cuba, and he died in Havana in 1905. Vicente Rojas merits further research. Toned. Normal mailing folds. Small tears along edges. Ink slightly faded. Stain throughout. Worn and Soiled. Otherwise, fine condition