LT. GENERAL ANTONIO MACEO GRAJALES - MANUSCRIPT LETTER SIGNED - HFSID 218081

ANTONIO MACEO
The Cuban General Antonio Macedo informs General Jose Lacret about the arrival of an expedition in Pinar del Rio.
Manuscript Letter Signed: "A. Maceo" in iron gall ink. 8½x6¼. Fully Translated in English: "Republic of Cuba. Liberation Army. 2nd leadership. Mr. General Jose Lacret, Chief in Commission of the Division of Matanzas. I have the pleasure to communicate you the arrival of an expedition sent by colonel J. Monson to the western coast of Pinar del Rio. The arrival happily took place on the 25th of last month and all the expeditionaries have already arrived to this general barrack. Please share this so flattering news with the forces of the liberation army. Fatherland and Liberty. El Nuble, May 8. 1896." Lieutenant general Antonio Maceo (1845-1896) was second-in-command of Cuba's Army of Independence, and as so one of the most noteworthy guerrilla leaders of nineteenth-century in Latin America. The son of a Venezuelan mulatto and an Afro-Cuban woman, Maceo began his fight for Cuban liberation by enlisting in the army in 1868 at the beginning of the Ten Years War; within five years he had been promoted to the rank of general due to his bravery and strategic prowess. Although most believed that Cuba could not defeat Spain, Maceo refused to surrender without independence and the abolition of slavery, ultimately being forced to leave Cuba. He returned when the war with Spain began again, and is best remembered for his invasion into Western Cuba when his troops (Afro-Cuban soldiers on horseback) covered more than 1,000 miles in 92 days and fought the enemy in 27 separate encounters. On December 7, 1896 Maceo was captured and killed as he attempted to aid Maximo Gomez' forces, and his death prompted yet another congressional resolution for belligerent rights for Cuba, island whose focal point of the best cigar produced in the region is Pinar del Rio. Toned. Multiple mailing folds. Worn and soiled. Pin size holes at blank left margin. Bottom corners torn. Pencil note (unknown hand) on verso.