Máximo Gómez was born in the small town of Baní in the Dominican Republic on Nov. 18, 1836. The son of a lower-middle-class family, he entered a religious seminary, but his religious instruction was soon interrupted by a Haitian invasion of the Dominican Republic in the mid-1850s. Joining the forces of Dominican patriots, he fought bravely in the battle of Santomé in 1856 and in numerous subsequent battles.
Cuba was then experiencing revolutionary turmoil, as Cuban patriots conspired to rid the island of Spanish control. Unhappy with the treatment he and other Dominicans had received from Spain and horrified by the exploitation of the black slaves, he started to conspire with Cuban revolutionaries.
When, on Oct. 10, 1868, Carlos Manuel de Céspedes and other leaders began Cuba’s Ten Years War for Independence, Gómez joined the rebellion. His experience in military strategy was of importance to the revolutionary cause, and he was soon promoted to the rank of general and later to commander of Oriente Province.
A master of guerrilla warfare, Gómez organized the Cuban rebels into highly mobile small units which could operate independently, harassing the Spanish troops continually.
Although at first the Cuban forces were successful, the Spaniards soon gained the offensive. By 1871 the rebels had been pushed back to Oriente Province, and the rebellion was contained in that part of the island. In a meeting with rebel president Céspedes, Gómez argued for an invasion of the western part of the island. He pointed out that the rebellion should be made an unbearable economic burden for Spain and that this could be accomplished through an invasion that would emancipate all black slaves in the island and cripple the sugar industry. “If liberty is not given to the slaves,” Gómez wrote in his campaign diary, “and if production of the great sugar plantations is not impeded, the revolution is destined to last much longer and rivers of blood will flow unfruitfully in the fields of the island.”
Gómez’s plan met with strong opposition from conservative and landed groups. Although they supported the Cuban cause, they feared for their economic interests, and after much discussion the plan was finally rejected. The Dominican leader returned to the zone of Guantánamo, where he continued to engage victoriously with the Spanish forces. In 1872 Gómez prevailed upon the government to accept his plan. But before it could be implemented, dissension again broke out within the revolutionary ranks and Céspedes relieved him as commander of Oriente Province. Although in 1873 Céspedes was removed from the presidency and Gómez was restored to his position of command, the invasion had to wait until 1875.
Disappointed and disillusioned, Gómez left Cuba just prior to the signing of the Peace of Zanjón in February 1878, which ended the Ten Years War. From Cuba, Gómez traveled to Jamaica and then to Honduras, where he was appointed army general. From Honduras he supported the ill-fated “Guerra Chiquita” (Little War, 1879-1880), an attempt by several Cuban rebel leaders led by Gen. Calixto García, to continue the war against Spain.
In 1884 Gómez left Honduras for the United States to organize and collect funds for a new rebellion in Cuba. In New York he met with veteran general Antonio Maceo and with José Martí, then engaged in mobilizing the Cuban exiles in support of the war against Spain. Gómez traveled to Panama for a short stay and then settled back in the Dominican Republic.
There he received a new call from Martí in 1892 for a final effort to liberate Cuba. Martí had organized a revolutionary party in exile and now offered Gómez the post of military chief.
On April 1, 1895, Gómez, Martí, and other leaders landed in Cuba joined Maceo, who was already in the battlefield.
Both Antonio Maceo and Máximo Gómez were able to carry out the invasion to the Western Cuba. After the invasion,but still fighting, Mceo was killed, but Gómez continued until the Americans entered the war with the pretext of helping Cubans to withdraw Spanish colonialism.
Maximo Gómez died on June 17, 1905.