José Gabriel Luperón

José Gabriel Luperón (1836–1873) was a Dominican soldier who fought in the Battle of Sabana Larga during the Dominican War of Independence. Due to his political affiliation, he fled to the United States, where he joined the Union Army under President Abraham Lincoln in the American Civil War.

Biography Luperón was born in 1836 in Puerto Plata during the Haitian regime in Santo Domingo. He was born to Pedro Castellanos, a Dominican of Spanish descent, and Nicolasa Duperon, a Cocolo immigrant. He was one of six children: three sons and three daughters. (One of his brothers was Gregorio Luperón, who would later rise to fame during the war of independence against Spain).

During the Dominican War of Independence, he fought in the 1856 Battle of Sabana Larga against Haitian forces under Emperor Faustin I. He later participated in siege of Parmantier in Samaná, during the Cibaeño Revolution.

Subsequently, the American Civil War had just erupted in the country. Luperón, sympathizing with the cause for emancipation for African Americans, joined the Union Forces, where he was assigned to the Northern Navy under President Abraham Lincoln and General Ulysses S. Grant. For his heroism, he reached the rank of Captain.

Physiognomy and Character Luperón was one of the many Hispanics to participate in the American Civil War. His brother Gregorio Luperón described him in Autobiographical Notes with the following: