Ambrosio José Gonzales (October 3, 1818 – July 31, 1893) was a Cuban revolutionary general who became a colonel in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. Gonzales, as a revolutionary, wanted the United States to annex Cuba. During the American Civil War, he served as the Chief of Artillery in the Department of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. Early life Gonzales was born in the town of Matanzas, Cuba, in 1818. His father was a schoolmaster and the founder of the first daily newspaper in Matanzas. His mother was a member of a prominent local family. After the death of his mother, his father sent the nine-year-old Ambrosio to Europe and New York City, where he received his primary and secondary education. He returned to Cuba and attended the University of Havana, where he earned degrees in arts and sciences and later in law, graduating in 1839. He returned to Matanzas and became a teacher and later a professor for the University of Havana, where he taught languages (he claimed fluency in English, French, Spanish, and Italian). He was also well instructed in mathematics and geography. In 1845, after the death of his father, he began two years traveling in Europe and the United States, returning to Cuba to resume his post at the university. Cuban revolutionary In 1848, Gonzales joined with a secret organization, the Havana Club, for Cuba to be annexed by the United States to liberate the island from Spanish rule. That aim was actively shared by many Americans. The movement found encouragement from a surge of expansionism in the United States, particularly in its South, after the U.S. annexation of Texas in 1845. The group pursued its goal of annexation by a combination of financial, diplomatic, and military means. His association and influence with prominent US Southerners led him to author a manifesto encouraging US to annex Cuba. By 1849, Gonzales became interested in the revolutionary plans of Venezuelan General Narciso López, who ultimately led several military expeditions, known as filibusters, to try to liberate Cuba from Spain rule. Between 1849 and 1851, Gonzales accompanied López in several of his filibuster expeditions. The Spanish authorities set up a trap to capture López, but López was able to escape and sought asylum in the United States. In 1849, Gonzales became a naturalized US citizen under a law that offered citizenship to free whites who had