Ambrosio José Gonzales (October 3, 1818 – July 31, 1893) was a native of Matanzas, Cuba who served as a Colonel chief of artillery in the Department of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.
Biography
Ambrosio José Gonzales was a Cuban revolutionary who sought political separation of Cuba from Spain. His association and influence with prominent U.S. southerners led him to author a manifesto encouraging U.S. annexation of Cuba. Gonzales became active in the Cuban "Filibuster Movement," which sought to annex Cuba through a combination of financial, diplomatic, and military means. He accompanied Narciso Lopez in several of his expeditions ( 1849–1851) to liberate Cuba from Spain. He worked as an adviser to the Americans and made plans to organize an invasion force.
Gonzales settled in the United States after the failure of filibuster efforts in 1851. He married Harriett Rutledge Elliot, the daughter of William Elliott (1788–1863), a prominent South Carolina State Senator, planter and writer. They had six children; Ambrose E. Gonzales (1857–1926), Narciso Gener Gonzales (1858–1903), Alfonso Beauregard Gonzales (1861–1908), Gertrude Ruffini Gonzales (1864–1900), Benigno Gonzales (1866–1937), Anita Gonzales (1869-?). He eventually became well known in Southern society.
During the Civil War he was commissioned a Colonel and played a prominent role in coastal defense for the Confederacy. He later served as an artillery commander at the Battle of Honey Hill.
Notes
Manuscripts Department Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill SOUTHERN HISTORICAL COLLECTION : #1009 ELLIOTT AND GONZALES FAMILY PAPERS http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/e/Elliott_and_Gonzales_Family.html
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