A Dominican by birth, Máximo Gómez (1836-1905) became a general in Cuba's independence army and a hero of the struggle which ended Spanish domination over Cuba.

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. When Dominican general Pedro Santana invited Spain to reestablish control over the Dominican Republic in 1861, Gómez accepted a commission as captain in the Dominican army reserve. He retained that post until the end of the Spanish domination in 1865, when he moved to Santiago de...