LT. GENERAL ANTONIO MACEO GRAJALES - RECEIPT SIGNED 03/14/1886 - HFSID 218082

ANTONIO MACEO

The Cuban General issues a receipt for 50 sterlings in English gold.

Receipt Signed: " A. Maceo" in iron gall ink and printing. 8½x5½. Fully Translated in English: "Colon, March 14, 1886. I have received from the printing house F.M. Pierra, owned by Mr. Ernest Barastro the amount of fifty sterlings in English gold. A. Maceo."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. Very fragile. Pin size holes at upper margin and center. Soiled. Pencil note (unknown hand) on verso. Right bottom corner frayed touching two words of notation. 3" horizontal tear at left edge.