7José Álvarez de Toledo y Dubois was born m Havana on May 14,
1779. His father Luis de Toledo, a native of Seville, held various
Cuban military positions. José was educated in Spam and later studied
at the naval school in Cadiz. He supported the Spanish cause in the
Peninsular War, but in 1811 began to agitate for Cuban Independence.
In July his activities were discovered and he was forced to escape to
the United States. Establishing himself in Philadelphia, Toledo won
considerable sympathy for the anti-Spanish cause by writing newspaper
articles and pamphlets. Late in December, 1811, he met and probably
made an alliance with Bernardo Gutiérrez, a Mexican patriot, who was
soliciting aid in Washington. Gutiérrez returned to the frontier and
late in 1812 invaded Texas. When Toledo learned that fighting had
started, he got together a small party and set out for the scene of con-
flict. Because of Gutiérrez's unpopularity Toledo was able to displace
him as commander of the insurgents. He had been in command just
two weeks when General Joaquín de Arredondo and a large Spanish
army almost wiped out his forces at the Battle of the Medina, near
San Antonio, August 18, 1813. Toledo managed to escape to Louisiana,
and for more than two years plotted a second invasion. In December,
1815, when matters seemed hopeless to him, Luis de Onis, the Spanish
minister, offered the King's pardon if he would return to Spain. After
a delay of a few months Toledo accepted. He arrived in Madrid in
March, 1817. All Mexican sympathizers naturally denounced him as a
traitor, and Gutiérrez charged that he was in Spanish pay all along.
Back in Spain Toledo used his unusual charm and intelligence to such
advantage that he married the rich widow of the Duke of Medina
Sidonia. Through his wife, who was the aunt of the future Empress
Eugénie of France, Toledo won several diplomatic positions. He was
ambassador to Naples in 1831. In later life he moved to Paris, where
he died April 16, 1858. This short sketch is based in part upon Carlos
M. Trelles' Un
Precursor
de
la
Independencia
de
Cuba:
Don
José
Alvarez
de
Toledo,
Academia de la Historia de Cuba, Havana, 1926. A full length
biography of this interesting and somewhat puzzling man is needed.
