María Cabrales

María Magdalena Cabrales Fernández (20 March 1842 – 28 July 1905) was a Cuban independence activist, revolutionary and nurse.

Biography Cabrales was born 20 March 1842 on her family farm in San Agustín, San Luis, Santiago de Cuba, Spanish Cuba. Her family were free small landowners of African descent. while others have said that there is no evidence that Cabrales and her husband had children. She worked as a nurse in field hospitals and treated wounded patriot soldiers, using knowledge of medicinal herbs, alongside her mother-in-law Mariana Grajales Cuello and Bernanda Toro [ es]. José Martí, after witnessing Grajales and Cabrales enter the battlefield to rescue wounded Antonio with only cover fire from his brother José Maceo, said: "Fáciles son los heroes con tales mujeres" (It is easy to be heroes with women such as these). Cabrales also provided provisions for soldiers.

Cabrales rejected the Pact of Zanjón and seconded the Baragua Protest [ es]. While living in Jamaica, she and her husband survived by cultivating a tobacco and fruit plantation.

Her husband returned to Cuba and died in combat in 1896 at Punta Brava. After her husband's death, Cabrales retired to San Agustin. Politically, she was disappointed that Cubans of African descent became politically marginalised in the late 1890s.