LOPEZ-L Archives

Archiver > LOPEZ > 2000-10 > 0970444955


From: "Richard & Shirley" <>
Subject: Fw: PML Search Result matching LOPEZ AND Mex*
Date: Sun, 1 Oct 2000 19:02:35 -0500



This came in on another list.


> Source:
> Subject: =?iso-8859-1?Q?Ambrosio_Jos=E9_Gonzalez?=
>
>
> Very interesting article about the Cuban revolutionary, Ambrosio José
> Gonzalez. While he was anti-slavery he sided with the Confederacy and
> eventually became Inspector General for Gen. Beauregard and lastly Chief
of
> Artillery for Gen. Joseph E. Johnton. Does anyone know where I can get a
> photograph of this famous Confederate ? --Scott Williams
>
> .
>
> Patria (New York)
> [Translated]
> December 31, 1892, pages 2-3.
> Ambrosio José Gonzalez.
>
> The man who has suffered, who has shed blood for the cause of liberty, has
a
> holy place in our heart.
>
> The first Cuban wounded in combat by Spanish lead was Ambrosio José
> González; that is why, even though he might have not rendered other
> services, his name will be remembered with love, by the grateful
fatherland.
>
> González was born in Matanzas. At the age of nine, his father, one of the
> first educators of the youth of Yumurí, sent him to Europe in which
capitals
> and in New York he received a conscientious education. In the University
of
> Havana, he studied arts and sciences and later, Law, gaining in both
> faculties his graduate degree. At the conclusion of his studies he
returned
> to his native city, where he shared with his father the teaching
profession.
>
> Youth of generous ideals, lover of progress, he accepted with enthusiasm
the
> revolutionary plans that ended with the invasions of the island by General
> Narciso López.
>
> When López managed to escape the net thrown by Captain General Roncali,
and
> sought asylum in the United States, the Junta of Havana commissioned
> González the delicate mission of offering the North-American General
Worth,
> who was returning from the war in Mexico, three million dollars with which
> to prepare an expedition of five thousand North-American veterans, who
would
> disembark in Cuba in the aid of the patriots headed by López would rise in
> arms; and for this purpose González put Worth in communication with López
> and Gaspar Betancourt Cisneros who edited La Verdad.
>
> Risking his life, González left the island embarked for New Orleans, where
> he hoped to find Worth. He arrived late; in stage coaches, and on
horseback
> he crossed a great part of the South, yet not invaded by the railroads,
> until he finally had the longed interview with Worth, who received him and
> gave him credit even though, Gonzalez lacked his credentials, snatched
from
> the post office in New Orleans. Meeting later with General López and
> Lugareño, they went to Washington where their project found backers among
> the statesmen of the South. But the federal government assigned Worth
Chief
> of the Department of Texas, where he died within a month, and the landed
> annexationists abandoned the plan; but the emigre patriots did not quit
and
> formed the first Cuban Junta of New York, which was made up of General
> Narciso López, President, of Juan Manuel Macías, José María Sánchez
Yznaga,
> Cirilo Villaverde and Ambrosio José González.
>
> López, González and Yznaga were the ones who devised the Cuban flag. The
> colors were French and American; the three blue stripes, the three
> departments; the triangle, symbol of strength, red like the precious blood
> that is needed to shed to conquer the rights of dignified man, then there
> surged the solitary star.
>
> With forty thousand dollars that they sold in Cuban bonds, the Creole
> expedition was formed, which was organized in great part by González, and
> which he led during the trip as Chief of Staff.
>
> González was the first one to disembark in Cárdenas that very dark night
of
> 19 May of 1848,(1) in the attack on the city he distinguished himself for
> his successful dispositions. When it began to dawn the attack on the
> Governor's palace was ordered, refuge of the Spaniards, dislodged from the
> garrison. In the vanguard of the expeditionaries stood out in the
indecisive
> light of dawn, the leaders, two svelte men with red shirts--the shirt that
> Garibaldi later immortalized--with a white star over its heart.
>
> An instant after giving the order to advance by the most corpulent one, by
> Narciso López, a volley was heard and fell at his feet the other
companion,
> an Apollonian youth, two bullets aimed at the two stars penetrated,
jointly,
> the right thigh of Ambrosio José Gonzalez, the first Cuban who shed his
> blood for us.
>
> The authorities asked for reinforcements by telegraph, and the people not
> having responded to the excitement of the filibusters, López determined to
> continue travelling toward Oriente. The Spanish warship Pizarro made the
> Creole change course, and head for Key West.
>
> On 16 December 1850 Lopez, Gonzalez, General Quitman and other North
> American notables were tried in New Orleans for having violated the laws
of
> neutrality; after three attempts to condemn them the persecution was
> abandoned.
>
> General Gonzalez in the spring of 51 was recruiting people in Savannah for
> the expedition that was frustrated due to the detention of the Cleopatra,
by
> order of President Fillmore.
>
> Then, while Lopez began new plans, Gonzalez went to recuperate his health;
> in the autumn with the contingent of Georgia and Florida they would
attempt
> a new blow.
>
> As soon as Gonzalez left Lopez the errors began, which led him to his
> sorrowful end. The noble Agüero, who lost the opportunity of defeating the
> enemy for not immolating him in his sleep, rose in Camagüey, the 4 of
July;
> the courageous Armenteros(2) and his companions revolted in Trinidad.
These
> exaggerated and other false news, cleverly circulated by the Spanish
> Government, precipitated General Lopez who without giving notice to
Gonzalez
> invaded the island for the second time, falling in the net prepared by
> Concha. The same day that Lopez disembarked in Bahía Honda Agüero died in
> Puerto Príncipe. Armenteros paid for his courage with his life, and soon
> after died in the garrote the brave Narciso Lopez pronouncing these words:
> "Goodbye, dear Cuba."
>
> General Gonzalez established himself in South Carolina were he married a
> charming woman of beauty and virtues, daughter of Senator Elliott.
>
> They lived wealthy and happily in Charleston, when the bombardment of Fort
> Sumter (April 1861) in the harbor, began the cruel fratricidal war between
> the north and the south.
>
> Abolitionist, like Lincoln; who wanted that the owners be compensated with
> something for the loss of the slave, with all his friends in the region
> which rebelled against the Union, united with the first aristocratic
> families of the State which had been the first to secede, thankful for
> what--out of generosity or personal interest--they had done for Cuba those
> who now were called Confederates, Gonzalez offered his sword to the cause
of
> the sovereignty of the States, in the defense of South Carolina which had
> generously sheltered him, where he had made his happy home.
>
> He was Inspector General under General Beauregard. In November of 1861, he
> maintained out of his own pocket, forces of cavalry and infantry, thereby
> protecting the operations of General Lee, during three months. Named
> Lieutenant Colonel at the beginning of the war he soon ascended to
Colonel,
> for his services in the artillery, of which he was Chief of Florida,
Georgia
> and the Carolinas. He served under the orders of Pemberton, Jones, Hardy,
> and Gustavus Smith; in the battle of Honey Hill where the 2,000
Confederates
> triumphed over 13,000 Federals, Gonzalez had a great share of the glory of
> that unequal and magnificent conflict.
>
> Finally Charleston had to be evacuated, the cannons that Gonzalez had
> constructed there and in Savannah were captured by the victorious armies
of
> the North; as Chief of artillery (acting chief) of Johnson he surrendered
to
> Sherman, in Hillsboro, N.C. His service record would honor any
professional
> soldier.
>
> Upon returning to Charleston he found the properties destroyed, the family
> ruined. His loyal horse was the only thing he possessed; his heroic wife
and
> his children his only wealth.
>
> Without fear he faced the situation, he tried to establish businesses in
the
> abated country, to New York he came to be an interpreter, to give lessons;
> he was separated from what he mostly idolized to be a tutor and be able to
> give sustainment to the needy family, to Matanzas he returned so that with
> teaching he would not starve to death. There he was surprised by the Yara
> uprising, and he thought about renewing his military life, now to give the
> fatherland independence!
>
> But one day the brightness of his soul was eclipsed, the palm trees of the
> majestuous valley inclined their melancholic crests in a sign of mourning
> and Ambrosio José Gonzalez when he dreamed of new victories, closed with
> loving and trembling hands the eyes of sapphire, of the woman who twenty
> five years later he exclaimed movingly: "For me, she is not dead, she is
in
> my heart."
>
> With his orphaned sons in his hand he abandoned the land where he also
> wanted to die.
>
> In these twenty three years he has educated his children, two of them are
> important journalists in Charleston; he has labored with valor, without
ever
> turning to anyone, to fulfill his obligations; in Washington he has been
> employed by the Hispanic-American embassies; where ever he has lived he
has
> aided with his word and pen the cause of Cuba.
>
> Less than two years ago I saw him at a diplomatic ball in the federal
> Capital; tall, without the years bending his rigid and elegant body nor
has
> his beautiful head lost, crowned by gray hair, its martial posture, it was
> not that kind face, and also energetic that of a septuagenarian, the years
> had the clarity and the movement of youth; the nose, perfectly Roman
denoted
> the power of command, the white mustache covered his mouth with delicate
> lines; his complete conversation, that night was about his country.
>
> Since then a paralysis has undermined his robust constitution, last
> September, his sons sent him with the object of getting better to Key
West,
> where at the time there were meeting the Chiefs of the war of 68 and the
> Delegate of the Cuban Revolutionary Party.(3) The revolutionaries of
> yesterday, of today, and of tomorrow, went to greet the invalid; he sat up
> straight in his wheelchair; his whole figure glowed, he raised his numb
> limbs and said with solemnity: "I salute the redeemers of the fatherland!"
>
> And today he is in our bosom. In Fordham, on a hill on which during
another
> time the soldiers of Washington were camped, defeated in Long Island,
there
> is a hospital for incurables; there is the expeditionary, the military
man,
> the patriot who will die Cuban.
>
> When I went to render him the tribute of affection that all good patriots
> owe him, it seemed to me that that elevation was the Cumbre of his native
> city, that the building had been erected by the Republic of Cuba for the
> needy and sick veterans.
>
> I crossed the ward, I did not recognize a Cuban face in the steel beds
> aligned and clean; in a corner, in the last one, there was an aged man,
the
> impressions of age had marked his pale face, adorned by a white untrimmed
> beard. He slept, his sleep guarded by a mater dolorosa of Reni placed over
> the small and solitary bed.
>
> "My General" I softly whispered in his ear.
>
> He awoke and looking at me he greeted me with these words: "I was dreaming
> of Cuba."
>
> When I left the aged man hours later, something tightened my heart, it was
> not that barren and cold countryside, ours perfumed and exuberant; that
> house was not the asylum of our soldiers, the only thing ours there was
the
> invalid septuagenarian, the noble Ambrosio José Gonzalez, forgotten
possibly
> by his compatriots, and far from his Cuba, does not want to die before
> seeing the fatherland free!
>
> Gonzalo de Quesada.
>
> 1. 1. The date should be 19 May 1850.
>
> 2. 2 Isidoro Armenteros Muñoz (1808-1851). Member of a wealthy Trinidad
> family, owner of two sugar mills. Lieutenant Colonel of the Militia
cavalry.
> Conspired with Narciso López in 1848. Led a revolt in Camaguey in July
1851,
> was captured, and executed.
>
> 3. 3. José Martí was the Delegate of the Cuban Revolutionary Party.
>
>
> http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~delacova/gonzalesdoc11.htm

This thread: