Ten Years' War
Encyclopedia
The Ten Years' War (1868–1878), also known as the Great War and the War of '68, began on October 10, 1868 when sugar mill owner Carlos Manuel de Céspedes
and his followers proclaimed Cuba
's independence from Spain
. It was the first of three liberation wars that Cuba fought against Spain, the other two being the Little War
(1879–1880) and the Cuban War of Independence
(1895–1898). The final three months of the last conflict escalated to become the Spanish–American War.
(12%). The Spaniards with 8% of the population appropriated over 90% of the island’s wealth. In addition, the majority of the Cuban population still had no political rights, giving rise to underground movements, especially in the eastern part of the country.
In July 1867, the "Revolutionary Committee of Bayamo" was founded under the leadership of one of Cuba’s wealthiest plantation owners, Francisco Vicente Aguilera
. The conspiracy rapidly spread to Oriente’s lager towns, most of all Manzanillo
where Carlos Manuel de Céspedes
became the main protagonist of the uprising. Originally from Bayamo, Céspedes owned an estate and sugar mill known as La Demajagua. The Spanish, aware of Céspedes’ anti-colonial intransigence, tried to force him into submission by imprisoning his son Oscar. Céspedes refused to negotiate and Oscar was executed.
The date for the uprising was moved up, because the Spaniards had discovered the plans in early October. In the early morning of October 10 Céspedes issued the independence cry ‘’’10th of October Manifesto’’’ at La Demajagua, starting the war against Spanish rule in Cuba. As a first step, Céspedes freed his slaves, asking them to join the struggle. However, many questioned Céspedes's plans for manumission
, notably the rate at which slaves were to be freed, or disagreed with his call for U.S. annexation of Cuba.
During the first few days, the uprising almost failed. Céspedes intended to occupy the nearby town of Yara
on October 11, from which this revolution is commemorated in Cuba as a national holiday under the name Grito de Yara ("Cry of Yara").
In spite of this defeat, the uprising of Yara was supported in various regions on Oriente and continued to spread throughout the eastern region of Cuba. On October 13, the rebels took eight towns in the province favouring enrolment and acquisition of arms. By the end of October, the insurrection had some 12,000 volunteers.
That same month, Máximo Gómez
, a former cavalry officer for the Spanish Army in the Dominican Republic, with his extraordinary military skills, taught the Cuban forces what would be their most lethal tactic: the machete
charge. The machete charge was particularly lethal because it involved firearms as well. If the Spanish were caught on the march, the machetes would cut through their ranks. When the Spaniards (following then-standard tactics) formed a square, rifle fire from infantry under cover and pistol and carbine fire from charging cavalry would cause many losses. However, as it would be in wars such as these, yellow fever
caused the heaviest losses because the Spanish had not acquired the childhood immunity that the Cuban troops had.
Spain governs us with iron and blood; it imposes contributions and taxes at will; it prevails us from all political, civil and religious freedom; it has put us under military watch in days of peace, that catch, exile and execute without been subject to any proceedings or laws; it prohibits that we freely assembly, if it is not under the presidency of military leaders; and it declares rebels to whom reclaim remedy for so many evils.
Spain loads us with hungry employees who live from our patrimony and consume the product of ours work. So that we do not know our rights it maintains us in the ignorance; and so that we do not learn to exert it, it keeps us away from the administration of the public thing.
Without nobody threatens to us, and without a reason which justifies that, it forces us to maintain a expensive square and army, whose unique use is to repress and to humiliate us.
Its system of customs is so perverse that we had already perished in the misery, to not being so extraordinary the fertility of our ground and so raised the price of its fruits. It opposes whichever obstacles are imaginable to the promotion of our white population. It limits the use to us of the word; it prevents us to write, thanks that let think to us, and it resists to that we participate in the intellectual progress of other countries.
Several times it has promised to improve our condition, and many it has deceived to us, and it is not left us more resource than to appeal to the arms to defend our properties, to protect our lives and to save our honor.
To the God of our consciousness we appealed, and to the goof faith of the civilized nations. We aspire to the popular sovereignty and the universal suffrage.
We want to enjoy the freedom for whose use God created the man. We profess sincerely the dogma of the brotherhood, the tolerance and justice, and consider all men, equal, and do not be excluded from its benefits; nor even the Spaniards, if they decide to live peacefully among us.
We want that the people take part in the formation of the laws, and in the distribution and investment of the contributions.
We want to abolish the slavery and compensate whoever is harmed. We want freedom of meeting, freedom of the press and freedom of brings back consciousness; and we requested respect to the inalienable rights of the man, foundations of the independence and the greatness of the towns.
We want to remove from the yoke of Spain and to become a free and independent nation.
If Spain recognizes our rights, will have in Cuba an affectionate daughter; if it persists in subjugating to us, we are resolute to die before to be under his domination.
We have chosen a head to which we conferred total faculties to direct the war. We have authorized to who provisionally will have to collect contributions and to take care of the needs of the administration.
When Cuba be free, it will constituted in the form and of the way that creates more advisable.
Ingenio ``El Rosario, octubre 6 de 1868.
Carlos Manuel de Cespedes, Jaime M. Santiesteban, Bartolomé Masó, Juan Hall, Francisco J. Céspedes, Pedro Céspedes, Manuel Calvar, Isaías Masó, Eduardo Suástegui, Miguel Suástegui, Rafael Tornés, Manuel Santiesteban, Manuel Socarrás, Agustín Valerino, Rafael Masó, Eligio Izaguirre.
, composed Cuba’s national anthem, the “Bayamo”. The first government of the Republic in Arms, headed by Céspedes, was established in Bayamo. The city was retaken by the Spanish after 3 months on January 12, but it had been burned to the ground.
Nevertheless, the war spread in Oriente: On November 4, 1868, Camagüey
rose up in arms and, in early February 1869, Las Villas
followed. The uprising was not supported in the westernmost provinces Pinar del Río
, Havana
and Matanzas
and, with few exceptions (Vuelta Abajo) remained clandestine. A staunch supporter of the rebellion was José Martí
who, at the age of 16, was detained and condemned to 16 years of hard labour, later deported to Spain and would eventually become a leading Latin American intellectual and Cuba’s foremost national hero as a primary architect of the 1895-98 War of Independence.
After some initial victories, and then defeats, Céspedes replaced Gomez with General Thomas Jordan, who brought a well-equipped force, as head of Cuban army. However, General Jordan's regular tactics, although initially effective, left the families of Cuban rebels far too vulnerable to the "ethnic cleansing
" tactics of the ruthless Blas Villate
, Count of Valmaceda (also spelled Balmaceda). Valeriano Weyler
, who would reach notoriety as the "Butcher Weyler" in the 1895-1898 War, fought along the Count of Balmaceda. General Jordan then left, Máximo Gómez was returned to his command and a new generation of skilled battle-tested Cuban commanders rose from the ranks, these including Antonio Maceo Grajales
, José Maceo, Calixto García
, Vicente Garcia González
and Federico Fernández Cavada
. Fernández Cavada once served as a Colonel in the Union Army during the American Civil War
, and on April 4, 1870, was named Commander-in-Chief of all the Cuban forces. Other war leaders of note fighting on the Cuban Mambí side included: Donato Mármol, Luis Marcano-Alvarez
, Carlos Roloff
, Enrique Loret de Mola, Julio Sanguily, Domingo Goicuría, Guillermo Moncada
, Quentin Bandera
, Benjamín Ramirez, and Julio Grave de Peralta.
On April 10, 1869, a constitutional assembly took place in the town of Guáimaro (Camagüey), with the purpose of providing the revolution with greater organizational and juridical unity and with representatives from the areas that had joined the uprising. A major topic of the discussions was whether a centralized leadership should be in charge of both military and civilian affairs or if there should be a separation between civilian government and military leadership, the latter being subordinate to the first. The overwhelming majority voted for the separation option. Céspedes was elected president of this assembly and General Ignacio Agramonte y Loynáz
and Antonio Zambrana, principal authors of the proposed Constitution
, were elected Secretaries. After completing its work, the Assembly reconstituted itself as the House of Representatives as the state’s supreme power, electing Salvador Cisneros Betancourt as its president, Miguel Gerónimo Gutiérrez as vice-president, and Agramonte and Zambrana as Secretaries. Céspedes was then elected, on April 12, 1869, as the first president of the Republic in Arms and General Manuel de Quesada (who had fought in Mexico under Benito Juárez during the French invasion of that country), as Chief of the Armed Forces.
After failing to reach an agreement with the insurrection forces in early 1869, the Spanish responded by unleashing a war of extermination. The colonial government passed several laws: all arrested leaders and collaborators would be executed on the spot, ships carrying weapons would be seized and all onboard immediately executed, males 15 and older caught outside of their plantations or places of residence without justification would be summarily executed, all towns were ordered to raise the white flag, otherwise burnt to the ground, any woman caught away from her farm or place of residence would be concentrated in cities. Apart from its own army the government could rely on the Voluntary Corps which had been created a few years earlier to face the announced invasion by Narcisco López and which became notorious for its barbaric and bloody acts. One infamous incident was the execution of eight students from the University of Havana
on November 27, 1871. Another one was the seizure of the steamship Virginius
in international waters on October 31, 1873, and, starting on November 4, serial execution of 53 persons, including the captain, most of the crew and a number of Cuban insurgents onboard. The serial executions were only stopped by the intervention of a British man-of-war under the command of Sir Lambton Lorraine.
In another incident, the so-called "Creciente de Valmaseda", farmers (Guajiros), and the families of Mambises were killed or captured en masse and sent to concentration camps.
The Mambises
fought using guerrilla warfare and their efforts had much more impact on the eastern side of the island than on the western, due in part to a lack of supplies. Ignacio Agramonte was killed by a stray bullet on May 11, 1873 and was replaced in the command of the central troops by Máximo Gómez. Because of political and personal disagreements and Agramonte's death, the Assembly deposed Céspedes as president, who was replaced by Cisneros. Agramonte had come to realize that his dream Constitution and government were ill suited to the Cuban Republic in Arms, which was the reason he quit as Secretary and assumed command of the Camaguey region. By being curtailed by the Congress, he understood Cespedes' plight, thus becoming a supporter. Céspedes was later surprised and killed by a swift-moving patrol of Spanish troops on February 27, 1874. The new Cuban government had left him with only one escort and denied him permission to leave Cuba for the US, where he wanted to help to prepare and send armed expeditions.
Activities in the Ten Years War peaked in the years 1872 and 1873, but after the death of Agramonte and destitution of Céspedes, Cuban operations were limited to the regions of Camagüey and Oriente.
Gómez began an invasion of Western Cuba in 1875, but the vast majority of slaves and wealthy sugar producers in the region did not join the revolt. After his most trusted general, the American Henry Reeve
, was killed in 1876, the invasion was over.
Spain's efforts to fight were hindered by the civil war (Third Carlist War
) that broke out in Spain in 1872. When the civil war ended in 1876, more Spanish troops were sent to Cuba until they numbered more than 250,000. The impact of the Spanish measures on the liberation forces was severe. Neither side in the war was able to win a single concrete victory, let alone crush the opposing side to win the war, but in the long run Spain gained the upper hand.
Tomás Estrada Palma succeeded Cisneros as president of the Republic in Arms. Estrada Palma was captured by Spanish troops on October 19, 1877. As a result of successive misfortunes, on February 8, 1878, the constitutional organs of the Cuban government were dissolved and negotiations for peace were started in Zanjón, Puerto Príncipe.
General Arsenio Martínez Campos, in charge of applying the new policy, arrived in Cuba, but it took him almost two years to convince most of the rebels to accept the Pact of Zanjón
on February 10, 1878, signed by a negotiating committee. The document contained most of the promises made by Spain.
The Ten Years' War came to an end, except for the resistance of a small group in Oriente led by General Garciá and Antonio Maceo Grajales
, who protested in Los Mangos de Baraguá on March 15. Even a constitution and a provisional government was set up, but the revolutionary élan was gone. The provisional government convinced Maceo to give up, thus ending the war on May 28, 1878.
Many of the graduates of Ten Years' War, however, became central players in Cuba's war of independence that started in 1895. These include the Maceo brothers, Maximo Gómez, Calixto Garcia and others.
The Pact of Zanjón promised various reforms throughout the island which would improve the financial situation of Cuba. Perhaps the most significant was to free all slaves who had fought Spain. A major conflict throughout the war was the abolition of the slavery. Both the rebels and the people loyal to Spain wanted to abolish slavery. In 1880, a law was passed by the Spanish government that freed all of the slaves. However, the slaves were required by law to work for their masters for a number of years but the masters had to pay the slaves for their work. The wages were so low the slaves could barely afford to live off them. The Spanish government lifted the law before it was to expire because neither the land owners nor the freed men appreciated it.
After the war ended, there were 17 years of tension between the people of Cuba and the Spanish government, a time called "The Rewarding Truce", including the Little War
(La Guerra Chiquita) between 1879-1880. These separatists would go on to follow the lead of José Martí
, the most passionate of the rebels chose exile over Spanish rule. There was also a severe depression throughout the island. Overall, about 200,000 people lost their lives in the conflict. The war also devastated the coffee industry and American tariffs badly damaged Cuban exports.
Perhaps the most detailed source for information on the Ten Years' War is still Antonio Pirala's Anales de la Guerra en Cuba, (1895, 1896 and some from 1874) Felipe González Rojas (Editor), Madrid.
Carlos Manuel de Céspedes
Carlos Manuel de Céspedes del Castillo was a Cuban planter who freed his slaves and made the declaration of Cuban independence in 1868 which started the Ten Years' War...
and his followers proclaimed Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
's independence from Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. It was the first of three liberation wars that Cuba fought against Spain, the other two being the Little War
Little War (Cuba)
The Little War or Small War , was the second of three conflicts in the Cuban War of Independence. It followed the Ten Years' War of 1868–1878 and preceded the War of '95, itself sometimes called the Cuban War of Independence, which bled into the Spanish-American War, ultimately resulting in...
(1879–1880) and the Cuban War of Independence
Cuban War of Independence
Cuban War of Independence was the last of three liberation wars that Cuba fought against Spain, the other two being the Ten Years' War and the Little War...
(1895–1898). The final three months of the last conflict escalated to become the Spanish–American War.
Background
The failure of the latest Reformist efforts, the demise of the "Information Board" and an economic crisis in 1866/67 gave way to a new scenario. In spite of the crisis, the colonial administration continued to make huge profits which were not invested on the island but either went into military expenditures (44% of the revenue), paid for the colonial government's expenses (41%), or were sent to Spain and Fernando PoBioko
Bioko is an island 32 km off the west coast of Africa, specifically Cameroon, in the Gulf of Guinea. It is the northernmost part of Equatorial Guinea with a population of 124,000 and an area of . It is volcanic with its highest peak the Pico Basile at .-Geography:Bioko has a total area of...
(12%). The Spaniards with 8% of the population appropriated over 90% of the island’s wealth. In addition, the majority of the Cuban population still had no political rights, giving rise to underground movements, especially in the eastern part of the country.
In July 1867, the "Revolutionary Committee of Bayamo" was founded under the leadership of one of Cuba’s wealthiest plantation owners, Francisco Vicente Aguilera
Francisco Vicente Aguilera
Francisco Vicente Aguilera was a Cuban patriot born in Bayamo, Cuba on June 23, 1821. He had ten children with his wife Ana Manuela Maria Dolores Sebastiana Kindelan y Sanchez...
. The conspiracy rapidly spread to Oriente’s lager towns, most of all Manzanillo
Manzanillo, Cuba
Manzanillo is a municipality and city in the Granma Province of Cuba.It is a port city in the Granma Province in eastern Cuba on the Gulf of Guacanayabo, near the delta of the Cauto River...
where Carlos Manuel de Céspedes
Carlos Manuel de Céspedes
Carlos Manuel de Céspedes del Castillo was a Cuban planter who freed his slaves and made the declaration of Cuban independence in 1868 which started the Ten Years' War...
became the main protagonist of the uprising. Originally from Bayamo, Céspedes owned an estate and sugar mill known as La Demajagua. The Spanish, aware of Céspedes’ anti-colonial intransigence, tried to force him into submission by imprisoning his son Oscar. Céspedes refused to negotiate and Oscar was executed.
Tactics
Manumission
Manumission is the act of a slave owner freeing his or her slaves. In the United States before the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which abolished most slavery, this often happened upon the death of the owner, under conditions in his will.-Motivations:The...
, notably the rate at which slaves were to be freed, or disagreed with his call for U.S. annexation of Cuba.
During the first few days, the uprising almost failed. Céspedes intended to occupy the nearby town of Yara
Yara, Cuba
Yara is a small town and municipality in the Granma Province of Cuba, located halfway between the cities of Bayamo and Manzanillo, in the Gulf of Guacanayabo...
on October 11, from which this revolution is commemorated in Cuba as a national holiday under the name Grito de Yara ("Cry of Yara").
In spite of this defeat, the uprising of Yara was supported in various regions on Oriente and continued to spread throughout the eastern region of Cuba. On October 13, the rebels took eight towns in the province favouring enrolment and acquisition of arms. By the end of October, the insurrection had some 12,000 volunteers.
That same month, Máximo Gómez
Máximo Gómez
Máximo Gómez y Báez was a Major General in the Ten Years' War and Cuba's military commander in that country's War of Independence ....
, a former cavalry officer for the Spanish Army in the Dominican Republic, with his extraordinary military skills, taught the Cuban forces what would be their most lethal tactic: the machete
Machete
The machete is a large cleaver-like cutting tool. The blade is typically long and usually under thick. In the English language, an equivalent term is matchet, though it is less commonly known...
charge. The machete charge was particularly lethal because it involved firearms as well. If the Spanish were caught on the march, the machetes would cut through their ranks. When the Spaniards (following then-standard tactics) formed a square, rifle fire from infantry under cover and pistol and carbine fire from charging cavalry would cause many losses. However, as it would be in wars such as these, yellow fever
Yellow fever
Yellow fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease. The virus is a 40 to 50 nm enveloped RNA virus with positive sense of the Flaviviridae family....
caused the heaviest losses because the Spanish had not acquired the childhood immunity that the Cuban troops had.
10th of October Manifesto
When rebelling us against the Spanish tyranny we want to indicate to the world the reasons for our resolution.Spain governs us with iron and blood; it imposes contributions and taxes at will; it prevails us from all political, civil and religious freedom; it has put us under military watch in days of peace, that catch, exile and execute without been subject to any proceedings or laws; it prohibits that we freely assembly, if it is not under the presidency of military leaders; and it declares rebels to whom reclaim remedy for so many evils.
Spain loads us with hungry employees who live from our patrimony and consume the product of ours work. So that we do not know our rights it maintains us in the ignorance; and so that we do not learn to exert it, it keeps us away from the administration of the public thing.
Without nobody threatens to us, and without a reason which justifies that, it forces us to maintain a expensive square and army, whose unique use is to repress and to humiliate us.
Its system of customs is so perverse that we had already perished in the misery, to not being so extraordinary the fertility of our ground and so raised the price of its fruits. It opposes whichever obstacles are imaginable to the promotion of our white population. It limits the use to us of the word; it prevents us to write, thanks that let think to us, and it resists to that we participate in the intellectual progress of other countries.
Several times it has promised to improve our condition, and many it has deceived to us, and it is not left us more resource than to appeal to the arms to defend our properties, to protect our lives and to save our honor.
To the God of our consciousness we appealed, and to the goof faith of the civilized nations. We aspire to the popular sovereignty and the universal suffrage.
We want to enjoy the freedom for whose use God created the man. We profess sincerely the dogma of the brotherhood, the tolerance and justice, and consider all men, equal, and do not be excluded from its benefits; nor even the Spaniards, if they decide to live peacefully among us.
We want that the people take part in the formation of the laws, and in the distribution and investment of the contributions.
We want to abolish the slavery and compensate whoever is harmed. We want freedom of meeting, freedom of the press and freedom of brings back consciousness; and we requested respect to the inalienable rights of the man, foundations of the independence and the greatness of the towns.
We want to remove from the yoke of Spain and to become a free and independent nation.
If Spain recognizes our rights, will have in Cuba an affectionate daughter; if it persists in subjugating to us, we are resolute to die before to be under his domination.
We have chosen a head to which we conferred total faculties to direct the war. We have authorized to who provisionally will have to collect contributions and to take care of the needs of the administration.
When Cuba be free, it will constituted in the form and of the way that creates more advisable.
Ingenio ``El Rosario, octubre 6 de 1868.
Carlos Manuel de Cespedes, Jaime M. Santiesteban, Bartolomé Masó, Juan Hall, Francisco J. Céspedes, Pedro Céspedes, Manuel Calvar, Isaías Masó, Eduardo Suástegui, Miguel Suástegui, Rafael Tornés, Manuel Santiesteban, Manuel Socarrás, Agustín Valerino, Rafael Masó, Eligio Izaguirre.
Progress of the War
The rebels proceeded to seize the important city of Bayamo after a 3-day-combat. It was in the enthusiasm of this victory when the poet and musician, Perucho FigueredoPerucho Figueredo
Pedro Felipe Figueredo, mostly known as Perucho was a Cuban poet, musician, and freedom fighter of the 19th century...
, composed Cuba’s national anthem, the “Bayamo”. The first government of the Republic in Arms, headed by Céspedes, was established in Bayamo. The city was retaken by the Spanish after 3 months on January 12, but it had been burned to the ground.
Nevertheless, the war spread in Oriente: On November 4, 1868, Camagüey
Camagüey
Camagüey is a city and municipality in central Cuba and is the nation's third largest city. It is the capital of the Camagüey Province.After almost continuous attacks from pirates the original city was moved inland in 1528.The new city was built with a confusing lay-out of winding alleys that made...
rose up in arms and, in early February 1869, Las Villas
Villa Clara Province
Villa Clara is one of the provinces of Cuba. It is located in the central region of the island bordering with the Atlantic at north, Matanzas Province by west, Sancti Spiritus by east, and Cienfuegos on the South. Villa Clara shares with Cienfuegos and Sancti Spiritus on the south the Escambray...
followed. The uprising was not supported in the westernmost provinces Pinar del Río
Pinar del Río
Pinar del Río is a city in Cuba. It is the capital of Pinar del Río Province.Inhabitants of the area are called Pinareños.Neighborhoods in the city include La Conchita, La Coloma, Briones Montoto and Las Ovas.-History:...
, Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
and Matanzas
Matanzas
Matanzas is the capital of the Cuban province of Matanzas. It is famed for its poets, culture, and Afro-Cuban folklore.It is located on the northern shore of the island of Cuba, on the Bay of Matanzas , east of the capital Havana and west of the resort town of Varadero.Matanzas is called the...
and, with few exceptions (Vuelta Abajo) remained clandestine. A staunch supporter of the rebellion was José Martí
José Martí
José Julián Martí Pérez was a Cuban national hero and an important figure in Latin American literature. In his short life he was a poet, an essayist, a journalist, a revolutionary philosopher, a translator, a professor, a publisher, and a political theorist. He was also a part of the Cuban...
who, at the age of 16, was detained and condemned to 16 years of hard labour, later deported to Spain and would eventually become a leading Latin American intellectual and Cuba’s foremost national hero as a primary architect of the 1895-98 War of Independence.
After some initial victories, and then defeats, Céspedes replaced Gomez with General Thomas Jordan, who brought a well-equipped force, as head of Cuban army. However, General Jordan's regular tactics, although initially effective, left the families of Cuban rebels far too vulnerable to the "ethnic cleansing
Ethnic cleansing
Ethnic cleansing is a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic orreligious group from certain geographic areas....
" tactics of the ruthless Blas Villate
Blas Villate
Blas Villate y de la Herra, count of Valmaceda was a Spanish general. He was several times governor of Cuba:* September 24, 1867 - December 21, 1867 * December 13, 1870 - July 11, 1872...
, Count of Valmaceda (also spelled Balmaceda). Valeriano Weyler
Valeriano Weyler
Don Valeriano Weyler y Nicolau, 1st Duke of Rubí and 1st Marquis of Tenerife Don Valeriano Weyler y Nicolau, 1st Duke of Rubí and 1st Marquis of Tenerife Don Valeriano Weyler y Nicolau, 1st Duke of Rubí and 1st Marquis of Tenerife (Seed in Ambos Camarines.-Philippines:In 1888, he was sent out as...
, who would reach notoriety as the "Butcher Weyler" in the 1895-1898 War, fought along the Count of Balmaceda. General Jordan then left, Máximo Gómez was returned to his command and a new generation of skilled battle-tested Cuban commanders rose from the ranks, these including Antonio Maceo Grajales
Antonio Maceo Grajales
Lt. General José Antonio de la Caridad Maceo y Grajales was second-in-command of the Cuban Army of Independence....
, José Maceo, Calixto García
Calixto García
Calixto García e Iñiguez was a general in three Cuban uprisings, part of the Cuban War for Independence: Ten Years' War, the Little War and the War of 1895, itself sometimes called the Cuban War for Independence, which bled into the Spanish-American War, ultimately resulting in national...
, Vicente Garcia González
Vicente Garcia González
Vicente García González was a General in the Cuban Ten Years' War and later a Cuban President who was assassinated by the Spanish after the war. García was born on January 23, 1833 and died on May 4, 1886.-Career:...
and Federico Fernández Cavada
Federico Fernández Cavada
Colonel Federico Fernández Cavada was an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Because of his artistic talents, he was assigned to the Hot Air Balloon unit of the Union Army. From the air he sketched what he observed of enemy positions and movements...
. Fernández Cavada once served as a Colonel in the Union Army during the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, and on April 4, 1870, was named Commander-in-Chief of all the Cuban forces. Other war leaders of note fighting on the Cuban Mambí side included: Donato Mármol, Luis Marcano-Alvarez
Marcano
Marcano family name originated in Spain. It was a military family that came to the New World with Christopher Columbus. The Family later grew and spread throughout the Caribbean and South America, where the surname became rooted in the countries of Puerto Rico, Venezuela, the Dominican Republic...
, Carlos Roloff
Carlos Roloff
Carlos Roloff - was Cuban general and liberation activist, fighting against Spain in Ten Years' War and Spanish–American War....
, Enrique Loret de Mola, Julio Sanguily, Domingo Goicuría, Guillermo Moncada
Guillermo Moncada
Born in Santiago on June 25, 1841, Guillermo Moncada was one of 29 Cuban generals in the Cuban War of Independence....
, Quentin Bandera
Quentin Bandera
General José Quintín Bandera Betancourt , also Quentin Bandera and Quintin Bandera, was a military leader of the Cuban insurrection against the Spanish during the Cuban War of Independence...
, Benjamín Ramirez, and Julio Grave de Peralta.
On April 10, 1869, a constitutional assembly took place in the town of Guáimaro (Camagüey), with the purpose of providing the revolution with greater organizational and juridical unity and with representatives from the areas that had joined the uprising. A major topic of the discussions was whether a centralized leadership should be in charge of both military and civilian affairs or if there should be a separation between civilian government and military leadership, the latter being subordinate to the first. The overwhelming majority voted for the separation option. Céspedes was elected president of this assembly and General Ignacio Agramonte y Loynáz
Ignacio Agramonte
Ignacio Agramonte y Loynáz was a Cuban revolutionary, who played an important part in the Ten Years' War .Born in the province of Puerto Príncipe on December 23, 1841, to a wealthy family. He went to Barcelona, Madrid, and Havana to study law...
and Antonio Zambrana, principal authors of the proposed Constitution
Guáimaro Constitution
The Guáimaro Constitution was an agreement between groups in Spanish colonial Cuba supporting independence from Spain, in effect from 1869 to 1878.-History:...
, were elected Secretaries. After completing its work, the Assembly reconstituted itself as the House of Representatives as the state’s supreme power, electing Salvador Cisneros Betancourt as its president, Miguel Gerónimo Gutiérrez as vice-president, and Agramonte and Zambrana as Secretaries. Céspedes was then elected, on April 12, 1869, as the first president of the Republic in Arms and General Manuel de Quesada (who had fought in Mexico under Benito Juárez during the French invasion of that country), as Chief of the Armed Forces.
After failing to reach an agreement with the insurrection forces in early 1869, the Spanish responded by unleashing a war of extermination. The colonial government passed several laws: all arrested leaders and collaborators would be executed on the spot, ships carrying weapons would be seized and all onboard immediately executed, males 15 and older caught outside of their plantations or places of residence without justification would be summarily executed, all towns were ordered to raise the white flag, otherwise burnt to the ground, any woman caught away from her farm or place of residence would be concentrated in cities. Apart from its own army the government could rely on the Voluntary Corps which had been created a few years earlier to face the announced invasion by Narcisco López and which became notorious for its barbaric and bloody acts. One infamous incident was the execution of eight students from the University of Havana
University of Havana
The University of Havana or UH is a university located in the Vedado district of Havana, Cuba. Founded in 1728, the University of Havana is the oldest university in Cuba, and one of the first to be founded in the Americas...
on November 27, 1871. Another one was the seizure of the steamship Virginius
Virginius Affair
The Virginius Affair was a diplomatic dispute that occurred in the 1870s between the United States, the United Kingdom and Spain, then in control of Cuba, during the Ten Years' War....
in international waters on October 31, 1873, and, starting on November 4, serial execution of 53 persons, including the captain, most of the crew and a number of Cuban insurgents onboard. The serial executions were only stopped by the intervention of a British man-of-war under the command of Sir Lambton Lorraine.
In another incident, the so-called "Creciente de Valmaseda", farmers (Guajiros), and the families of Mambises were killed or captured en masse and sent to concentration camps.
The Mambises
Mambises
The term Mambises is used to refer to the soldiers who participated in the Cuban War of Independence.-Origin of the word:...
fought using guerrilla warfare and their efforts had much more impact on the eastern side of the island than on the western, due in part to a lack of supplies. Ignacio Agramonte was killed by a stray bullet on May 11, 1873 and was replaced in the command of the central troops by Máximo Gómez. Because of political and personal disagreements and Agramonte's death, the Assembly deposed Céspedes as president, who was replaced by Cisneros. Agramonte had come to realize that his dream Constitution and government were ill suited to the Cuban Republic in Arms, which was the reason he quit as Secretary and assumed command of the Camaguey region. By being curtailed by the Congress, he understood Cespedes' plight, thus becoming a supporter. Céspedes was later surprised and killed by a swift-moving patrol of Spanish troops on February 27, 1874. The new Cuban government had left him with only one escort and denied him permission to leave Cuba for the US, where he wanted to help to prepare and send armed expeditions.
Activities in the Ten Years War peaked in the years 1872 and 1873, but after the death of Agramonte and destitution of Céspedes, Cuban operations were limited to the regions of Camagüey and Oriente.
Gómez began an invasion of Western Cuba in 1875, but the vast majority of slaves and wealthy sugar producers in the region did not join the revolt. After his most trusted general, the American Henry Reeve
Henry Reeve (soldier)
Henry Reeve was a Brigadier General in Cuba's 'Ejército Libertador' - more commonly known as the 'Ejército Mambi' - during the Ten Years' War ....
, was killed in 1876, the invasion was over.
Spain's efforts to fight were hindered by the civil war (Third Carlist War
Third Carlist War
The Third Carlist War was the last Carlist War in Spain. It is very often referred to as the Second Carlist War, as the 'second' had been small in scale and almost trivial in political consequence....
) that broke out in Spain in 1872. When the civil war ended in 1876, more Spanish troops were sent to Cuba until they numbered more than 250,000. The impact of the Spanish measures on the liberation forces was severe. Neither side in the war was able to win a single concrete victory, let alone crush the opposing side to win the war, but in the long run Spain gained the upper hand.
Conclusion of the War
From the very onset of the war there were deep divisions with respect its organisation which became even more pronounced after the Assembly of Guáimaro with the dismissal of Céspedes and Quesada in 1873. The Spanish were able to exploit regionalist sentiments and fears that the slaves of Matanzas would break the weak existing balance between whites and blacks. They changed their policy towards the Mambises, offering amnesties and reforms. The Mambises did not prevail for a variety of reasons: lack of organization and resources; lower participation by whites; internal racist sabotage (against Maceo and the goals of the Liberating Army); the inability to bring the war to the western provinces (Havana in particular); and opposition by the US government to Cuban independence. The US sold the latest weapons to Spain, but not to the Cuban rebels.Tomás Estrada Palma succeeded Cisneros as president of the Republic in Arms. Estrada Palma was captured by Spanish troops on October 19, 1877. As a result of successive misfortunes, on February 8, 1878, the constitutional organs of the Cuban government were dissolved and negotiations for peace were started in Zanjón, Puerto Príncipe.
General Arsenio Martínez Campos, in charge of applying the new policy, arrived in Cuba, but it took him almost two years to convince most of the rebels to accept the Pact of Zanjón
Pact of Zanjón
The Pact of Zanjón was the treaty that ended the Cuban Ten Years' War. Slaves who had fought against Spain were given freedom. The Maceo brothers refused to sign the treaty and kept on fighting until they took to exile to return later. Calixto Garcia was released from Spanish prison....
on February 10, 1878, signed by a negotiating committee. The document contained most of the promises made by Spain.
The Ten Years' War came to an end, except for the resistance of a small group in Oriente led by General Garciá and Antonio Maceo Grajales
Antonio Maceo Grajales
Lt. General José Antonio de la Caridad Maceo y Grajales was second-in-command of the Cuban Army of Independence....
, who protested in Los Mangos de Baraguá on March 15. Even a constitution and a provisional government was set up, but the revolutionary élan was gone. The provisional government convinced Maceo to give up, thus ending the war on May 28, 1878.
Many of the graduates of Ten Years' War, however, became central players in Cuba's war of independence that started in 1895. These include the Maceo brothers, Maximo Gómez, Calixto Garcia and others.
The Pact of Zanjón promised various reforms throughout the island which would improve the financial situation of Cuba. Perhaps the most significant was to free all slaves who had fought Spain. A major conflict throughout the war was the abolition of the slavery. Both the rebels and the people loyal to Spain wanted to abolish slavery. In 1880, a law was passed by the Spanish government that freed all of the slaves. However, the slaves were required by law to work for their masters for a number of years but the masters had to pay the slaves for their work. The wages were so low the slaves could barely afford to live off them. The Spanish government lifted the law before it was to expire because neither the land owners nor the freed men appreciated it.
After the war ended, there were 17 years of tension between the people of Cuba and the Spanish government, a time called "The Rewarding Truce", including the Little War
Little War (Cuba)
The Little War or Small War , was the second of three conflicts in the Cuban War of Independence. It followed the Ten Years' War of 1868–1878 and preceded the War of '95, itself sometimes called the Cuban War of Independence, which bled into the Spanish-American War, ultimately resulting in...
(La Guerra Chiquita) between 1879-1880. These separatists would go on to follow the lead of José Martí
José Martí
José Julián Martí Pérez was a Cuban national hero and an important figure in Latin American literature. In his short life he was a poet, an essayist, a journalist, a revolutionary philosopher, a translator, a professor, a publisher, and a political theorist. He was also a part of the Cuban...
, the most passionate of the rebels chose exile over Spanish rule. There was also a severe depression throughout the island. Overall, about 200,000 people lost their lives in the conflict. The war also devastated the coffee industry and American tariffs badly damaged Cuban exports.
See also
- Little War (Cuba)Little War (Cuba)The Little War or Small War , was the second of three conflicts in the Cuban War of Independence. It followed the Ten Years' War of 1868–1878 and preceded the War of '95, itself sometimes called the Cuban War of Independence, which bled into the Spanish-American War, ultimately resulting in...
- Cuban War of IndependenceCuban War of IndependenceCuban War of Independence was the last of three liberation wars that Cuba fought against Spain, the other two being the Ten Years' War and the Little War...
- José Semidei RodríguezJosé Semidei RodríguezBrigadier General José Semidei Rodríguez . Before becoming a Brigadier General in the Cuban National Army,...
- Francisco Gonzalo MarínFrancisco Gonzalo MarinLieutenant Francisco Gonzalo Marín, also known as Pachín Marín , considered by many as the designer of the Puerto Rican Flag was a poet and journalist who fought alongside José Martí as a member of the Cuban Liberation Army....
- Juan Ríus RiveraJuan Rius RiveraGeneral Juan Ríus Rivera , was the General of the Cuban Liberation Army of the West upon the death of General Antonio Maceo.-Early years:...
- History of CubaHistory of CubaThe known history of Cuba, the largest of the Caribbean islands, predates Christopher Columbus' sighting of the island during his first voyage of discovery on 27 October 1492...
- Ana BetancourtAna BetancourtAna Betancourt was a Cuban woman who took a leading role in the war of independence from Spain. She is a national heroine in Cuba.-Life:...
- a female "Mambisa" who used the war to campaign for women's equality in Cuba
Further reading
Portions of this article were extracted from CubaGenWeb.Perhaps the most detailed source for information on the Ten Years' War is still Antonio Pirala's Anales de la Guerra en Cuba, (1895, 1896 and some from 1874) Felipe González Rojas (Editor), Madrid.