At the suggestion of Luis Marcano, he went to the side of the Cubans, and conducted several victorious battles against the Spanish during the Ten Years' War (1868–1878).

Due to the uprising of October 10, 1868, he was mobilized by the colonial regime and given the mission of defending the Bayamo prison against the Cuban attack on that city, but from the first moments he joined the insurgent forces.

A few days later, his military rank was rectified, receiving that of Major General, and he was given command of the forces led by Vicente García González in the territory of Las Tunas.

In October 1873, he was in charge of the Manzanillo district and in December of that year he was inspector general of the Cuban Liberation Army.

He returned to the Dominican Republic, at some point, living the rest of his life until he died on August 28, 1892, in Yaguate, province of San Cristóbal.