Hometown: Los Lunas, NM
Branch: U.S. Army
Unit: 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry (Rough Riders); 34th Infantry 
Date of Sacrifice: November 15, 1899 - the Philippines 
Age: 29 
Conflicts: Philippine-American War, 1899-1902

Story by Richard A. Melzer, Ph.D., Regents professor of history at the University of New Mexico-Valencia Campus, and author of Captain Maximiliano Luna: A New Mexico Rough Rider

Captain Maximiliano Luna of the Territory of New Mexico was one of the first to volunteer to serve in the First Volunteer Cavalry, better known as the Rough Riders, in the Spanish-American War. A descendent of an old Spanish colonial family, Luna volunteered partly to prove New Mexico’s worthiness for statehood. He was one of the Rough Riders’ four captains and the highest-ranking Hispanic in the famous regiment. He served in all the major battles fought in Cuba and played a key role as a translator when the Spanish surrendered.

Luna returned to New Mexico after the war in 1898, but volunteered to rejoin the Army to fight in the Philippines against an insurrection that followed the American acquisition of the islands. Luna drowned in the Philippines when he attempted to cross the flooded Agno River on November 15, 1899. His body was never found.

His name was listed first on the Rough Rider monument dedicated at Arlington National Cemetery in 1907, not because he died in the Spanish-American War (he did not) but as an honor extended by his fellow Rough Riders, including President Theodore Roosevelt. His was the first Hispanic name ever to appear on a monument or gravestone in the national cemetery.

Sources
Story: Richard A. Melzer, Ph.D., Regents professor of history at the University of New Mexico-Valencia Campus
Card photo: Donald Deesen Collection, Southwest Center for Research, University Libraries
The History of New Mexico: Chapter 10, Spanish-American Ethnic Identity
Arlington National Cemetery – Notable Graves – Hispanic-American
Burial site: Find a Grave