GENERAL MAXIMO GOMEZ Y BAEZ - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 06/22/1886 - HFSID 217695

MAXIMO GOMEZ
The Major General orders Colonel M. Parraga to select a new Contingent Chief and gives him clear instructions for the process
Autograph Letter Signed: "M. Gomez" in iron gall ink. 8¾x10¾. Fully Translated in English: "Kingston, June 22, 1886. Colonel and M. Parraga. New York. Colonel: Having colonel Emilio Nunez resigned to his destiny as Contingent Chief that under his orders had had to be organized and also invade Cuba when I personally and the chief of the movement could have had done it, I order you to request among the subalterns of colonel Nunez, and the one reuniting the attributes of commanding attitude, expertise and most of all sympathies and approval of the other ones willing to walk under his orders and having the desire and truth resolution to go to Cuba, regardless having that rank or not, (how and when) is the one who must be selected. When you inform me of the result of this task, you must make sure that the chosen one, if you can select any, writes to me to let me know he is under my orders in order to grand him the necessary authorization to act freely and soon and also use the elements needed to achieve our purposes. Best Regards, M. Gomez. Chief General." 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. Sealed. Multiple mailing folds. Incomplete envelope attached. Otherwise, fine condition