Bernarda Toro Pelegrín

A distinguished Cuban patriot and revolutionary of the nineteenth century. She participated in the independence struggles against Spain. She was the wife of Máximo Gómez, Commander-in-Chief of the Liberation Army.

She was born in the town of Jiguaní, in the eastern region of Cuba. She was the eleventh of fourteen children of Francisco Toro Molina and Margarita Pelegrín. After her father's death, when the Ten Years' War began, the family immediately joined the conflict.

In the early days of the revolution, her mother died as a prisoner of Spanish troops. Six of her siblings fell in combat between 1868 and 1870. A seventh, Fernando, died with the rank of commander of the Liberation Army. When that struggle ended, only three family members had survived: the siblings Bernarda, Juana, and Sixto.

From the end of 1868 or the beginning of 1869, Bernarda Toro lived in the Mambí prefecture of Charco Redondo, in the foothills of the Sierra Maestra. The young general Máximo Gómez visited the prefecture with relative frequency, where he met the young Cuban woman. He was thirty-two years old, and she was seventeen. They felt mutual attraction, and in early 1869 they came together consensually. Their first daughter was Margarita Gómez Toro, who was born on January 1, 1870.

They decided to seal their union through marriage, celebrated on the afternoon of July 4 of that year in the wilderness. The witnesses to the wedding were Salvador Cisneros Betancourt and Fernando Figueredo.

Bernarda Toro lived with her husband, two of his sisters, and several of their children in various places throughout Cuban geography during the Ten Years' War; mainly in the center-eastern region, where the armed conflict largely took place. Thus, between 1869-1873 the family lived in Río Blanco, Arroyo Blanco, Arroyo Toro, Charco Redondo, Charco Azul, Jiguaní, Barracones, and Arroyo Pobre; between 1873 and 1874, in Pedregalón, Najasa, Sabanilla, Santa Ana, Carrasquillo, in Camagüey; and between 1874 and 1877, in various Mambí prefectures of Camagüey and Las Villas.

While participating in the war as a combatant and nurse, five of her children were born. Some of them died during the conflict. On March 11, 1876, she gave birth to Francisco Gómez Toro, Panchito.

When the war ended, Bernarda departed with her children for the Caribbean island of Jamaica, arriving in the last days of February 1877. The following month her husband joined them, and the family undertook the exploitation of a small farm dedicated to the cultivation of indigo. But for various reasons the enterprise did not prosper.

In 1881 they moved to the Central American republic of Honduras, where they remained until 1883. During those years, Bernarda, as head of the family, took charge of the general education of her children.

While the Gómez-Maceo Plan was being prepared, Bernarda and her children, in the company of Antonio Maceo's family, moved to the United States, where they lived until 1885. After the revolutionary plan failed, they returned to Jamaica for four more years.

From 1888 until 1899, Bernarda settled in the Dominican Republic, with her husband and all her children.

During those difficult years—when the family's economy was precarious—she had six more children. The last daughter of the marriage was also baptized with the name Margarita. General Gómez had other natural children.

Once Gómez returned to Cuba to restart the struggle with José Martí and Antonio Maceo in February 1895, Bernarda—called "Manana" by those close to her—fully assumed the direction of the family, and continued to do so throughout the War of Independence, always keeping abreast of the insurrectional actions that were occurring in Cuba.

In September 1896 she said farewell to her son Francisco Gómez Toro, who decided to join the Mambí forces. Panchito fell in the fields of San Pedro and Hernández, near Havana, on December 7, 1896, alongside Lieutenant General of the Liberation Army Antonio Maceo. Panchito's death withered Manana's life, already afflicted by the death of other loved ones.

Months after the War of Independence ended, the Treaty of Paris was signed, which led to the First military occupation of the United States in Cuba. In this new context, Máximo Gómez asked his wife and children to join him in the Cuban homeland.

In August 1899, Bernarda Toro arrived in Havana.

Between 1899 and 1905, the family settled in the capital, where they lived at various addresses; also, in nearby towns such as Calabazar and Bejucal. And, for a brief four-month period in 1899, in the former residence of the Captains General of the Island, called Quinta de Los Molinos.

During those years, she shared with her husband the new difficulties caused by the uncomfortable presence of the United States, opposed to their political and revolutionary ideals.

On June 17, 1905, Máximo Gómez died, her companion for thirty-five years, respected and beloved by Cubans.

Surrounded by the love of her children and grandchildren, Bernarda Toro de Gómez died in Havana in 1911. Her exemplary life is a symbol of the Cuban woman, mother and patriot.