|
 |
1777
1784
|
Cuba's government changes to an independent colonial administration under a
captain general.
January. Spanish authorities end legal trade between Cuba and all countries
other than Spain. |
1789
|
May 31. King Charles III issues a new slave code.
Aside from allowing only 270 work days per year, masters are to feed and
clothe the slaves according to prescribed standards, to instruct them in the
Catholic religion and to convince them to hear Mass regularly. The code also
makes requirements on slaves, such as "obey and respect" their masters. |
1790
|
Luis de las Casas is appointed Captain General. He serves in this capacity
until 1796. A group of Cubans, including Don José
Agustín Caballero, Tomás Romay, Manuel Zequeria and others, publish the
first Cuban newspaper, Papel Periódico. The profits go to a public
school. |
1791
|
November 24. A royal decree allows the free commerce of
slaves for the next six years, and lowers taxes on various Cuban imports.
In Cuba, 1 out of 23 residents is a slave.
Between 1791 and 1805, 91,211 slaves enter the
island through Havana alone. |
1795
|
Nicolás Morales, a free Negro, leads an uprising that
starts in Bayamo and quickly spreads throughout the eastern part of Cuba
before it is suppressed by the Spanish army. |
1796
|
June 12. After peace is reestablished, Spain ends all commercial ventures
between Cuba and the U.S. |
1805
|
The
sugar production
in Cuba
increases to 34,000 tons. |
1812
|
February. José Antonio Aponte, leader of Negro uprising, and eight of his
collaborators are caught and imprisoned. April 9. At
9:30 a.m., Aponte and the other collaborators are put to death on the
gallows. The head of Aponte is placed in an iron cage and displayed in front
of the house where he lived, and his hand is displayed in another street.
The heads of various accomplices are also displayed. |
1792-1815
|
The period of the Napoleonic Wars brings prosperity to Cuba despite
restrictions and obstacles placed by the crown. Demand for sugar, tobacco
and coffee increases, and more capital is injected into crop production.
More slaves are introduced, and trade between the
U.S. and Cuba increases. |
1817
|
A
British-inspired agreement ends the slave trade, but after the agreement,
slaves continue to be imported illegally in greater numbers.
The Cuban tobacco monopoly, known as “Factoria,” is
abolished.
A new census illustrates the growth of the island: 552,000
inhabitants, 239,000 of them whites, and 331,000 nonwhite.
December. Explaining the reason for the introduction of
Negro slavery into Cuba, King Ferdinand VII of Spain writes, "the
impossibility of finding Indians… to do the work of breaking and cultivating
the land demanded that this work… be delivered to more robust arms." |
1818
|
February 10. A Royal Decree allows Creoles the right to trade with vessels
from other nations at the various Cuban ports. |
1819
|
A
Royal Decree finally grants Creoles full legal rights to the lands they
occupy (until this time, all property was considered royal property).
April 18. Carlos Manuel de Céspedes is born in Bayamo. |
1820
|
April 16. The Constitution of 1812 is reinstated after slight resistance
from Captain General Juan Manuel Cajigal. |
1821-31
|
Between 1821 and 1831 more than three hundred expeditions bring an estimated
sixty thousand slaves to Cuba. |
1823
|
Cuban poet José María Heredia and
José Francisco Lemus organize a secret
society known as “Suns and Rays of Bolívar.” The society
plans a rebellion for independence and seeks union with the famed liberator.
|
1824
|
December 9. With the battle of Ayacucho in Peru, Spanish forces are
decisively defeated and thrown out of the American mainland—north,
central and south. Spain still controls two islands in the West Indies:
Cuba
and Puerto Rico. |
1825
|
Mexico and Venezuela plan an expedition to support the Cuban struggle for
independence, but the United States, fearing an independent Cuba would lead
to the end of slavery with repercussions in the Southern states, lets it be
known through Secretary of State Henry Clay that it would block any move to
liberate Cuba from Spain. The decision is based on the belief that in due
time Cuba would come to be part of the U.S. |
1827
|
The census shows a population of 704,000, of whom 311,000 are white, 286,000
slaves, and 106,000 free Negroes or mixed bloods. It also lists 1,000 sugar
mills, 30,090 ranches, 5,534 tobacco farms, and 2,067 coffee plantations.
Between 1827 and 1829, Cuban exiles in Colombia and Mexico
form a secret society called the "Black Eagle" with the goal of starting
another revolution. The Society is easily destroyed by the Spanish
Government. |
1830
|
Spain increases taxation, imposes arbitrary rules for its own benefit and
completely alienates the Creoles (native born Cubans of mixed ancestry), by
denying them any voice in the government. |
1833
|
The
Cuban Academy of Literature is founded. |
1839
|
In the 50-year period between 1790 to 1839, the number of sugar haciendas
increases to about 800 from about 400. |
1842
|
Official Cuban census reports: 1,037,624 inhabitants: 448,291 white, 152,838
free blacks, 436,495 slaves. Twice as many American ships visit Havana. The
value of Cuban exports to the U.S. is double that of sales to Spain.
|
1845
|
June 14.
Antonio
Maceo is born in Majaguabo, San Luis, Oriente Province.
|
1847
|
There are now about 1,442 sugar mills on the island.
January. U.S. citizens and "manifest destiny" advocates Moses
Beach and John O'sullivan meet in Havana with members of the Club de la
Habana, a group of wealthy Cubans seeking annexation to the U.S. |
1848
|
June 9. President Polk offers Spain
$100 million for Cuba.
August 15. U.S. Minister Saunders meets with Spain's minister
of foreign affairs Pedro J. Pidal in Madrid. Spain officially refuses to
sell Cuba. |
1849
|
Yucatecan
Indians from Mexico are imported for slave labor. At the same
time, Chinese contract workers are entering the island in considerable
numbers.
White persons enforce segregation in public places as a
means of stressing their claim to superiority.
|
1851
|
August 11. A third filibustering expedition (with 435 men) led by Narciso
López lands at Bahía Honda (about 40 miles from Havana).
August 13. Spanish forces defeat López' army in the
village of Las Pozas.
August 16. After capturing some of López' men at sea, they
are taken to Havana, where the 51 remaining members of the regiment are
placed before a firing squad.
September 1. Narciso López is executed publicly in Havana.
Before his death, he shouts bravely, "My death will not change
the
destiny of Cuba!"
September. In New Orleans, former associates of Narciso
López form a secret society called the "Order of the Lone Star." The goal of
the order is to incorporate Cuba into the U.S. With 50 chapters in 8
Southern states and an estimated membership of 15,000 to 20,000, the order
develops a plan to invade Cuba in the summer of 1852, in conjunction with
the "Conspiracy of Vuelta Abajo," a revolt organized in Vuelta Abajo (Pinar
del Río) by Francisco de Frías, López's wealthy brother-in-law. |
1852
|
August. Spaniards discover the "Conspiracy of Vuelta Abajo." Some of the
conspirators escape to the U.S., but others are condemned to death. Frías is
sent to prison. October 22. After Spain refuses to
sell Cuba to the U.S. (a second time) the New York Times declares, "The
Cuban question is now the leading one of the time." |
1853
|
January 28. Don
José Martí y Pérez
is born in Havana.
April 29. The Junta Cubana of New York calls on General
John A. Quitman (a former associate of Narciso López) to lead an invasion of
Cuba, and proposes to make him "exclusive chief of our revolution, not only
in its military, but also in its civil sense."
August 18. Quitman signs a formal agreement with the Junta
Cubana which appoints him the "civil and military chief of the revolution,
with all the powers and attributes of dictatorship as recognized by
civilized nations, to be used and exercised by him for the purpose of
overthrowing the Spanish government in the island of Cuba and its
dependencies, and substituting in the place thereof a free and independent
government." Article II of the agreement states that Quitman would protect
slavery in Cuba.
September 23. Spain appoints the Marquis Juan de la Pezuela
as Captain General of Cuba. He is well known as an enemy of slavery,
and is assigned the task of suppressing the slave trade.
|
1854
|
President Franklin Pierce offers Spain
$130 million for Cuba. Spain refuses,
again.
April. A number of influential slave owners meet in Havana
with U.S. Consul William H. Robertson to urge that he persuade U.S.
President Pierce to send American troops to Cuba to prevent slave
emancipation. |
1865
|
March 25. An article in El Siglo by The Count of Pozos Dulces (who runs the
paper) announces the formation of the Reform Party, adding that a number of
slave and property owners have joined intellectuals in favoring the end of
the slave traffic and the abolition of slavery.
November 25. Spain establishes a Colonial Reform
Commission to discuss proposals to reform the island.
|
1866
|
March 25. José Antonio Saco is elected to represent the
district of Santiago de Cuba in a commission that is to testify in Spain
about needed reforms.
José Martí writes:
“The U.S. has never looked upon Cuba as anything but an appetizing
possession with no drawback other than its quarrelsome, weak and unworthy
population.” He warns Cubans that “to change masters is not to be free.”
|
1867
|
Early in the year, the Spanish government
imposes new taxes
on the island ranging from 6 to 12 percent on real estate, incomes and all
types of business. This is on top of the enormous customs duties about which
Cubans have continuously complained.
April 27. In Madrid, the Spanish government dismisses the
“Junta de Información,” a 22-member Cuban delegation asking for reforms.
|
1868
|
February 24. In Puerto Rico, an uprising known as the Grito de Lares
is begins.
August 4. At a coordinating meeting for revolutionary
activities (on a farm named San Miguel de Rompe, in Las Tunas) Carlos Manuel
de Céspedes makes a passionate plea for immediate action, ending with the
words: “Gentlemen, the hour is solemn and decisive. The power of Spain is
decrepit and worm-eaten; if it still appears great and strong to us, it is
because for more than three centuries we have contemplated it from our
knees.”
August 14. In Santiago de Cuba, a
revolutionary committee is formed.
October 10. From his plantation, La Demajagua,
near Yara, Carlos Manuel de Céspedes proclaims Cuban independence in the historic “Grito
de Yara.” Joined by 37 other planters, he liberates his slaves and
incorporates them into a rebel army.
October 12. First clash with Spanish troops at
Yara. The rebels eat supper at the Maceo house in Majabuabo. After
the meal, Marcos Maceo donates four ounces of gold, a dozen good machetes,
two revolvers, four shotguns and a blunderbuss. Antonio and José Maceo, with
half-brother Justo Regüeyferes Grajales, join the rebels.
At this point, Spain has only 7,000 regulars on the
island, and a Volunteer force armed with 90,000 Remington rifles purchased
in the U.S. It is the volunteers that allow Spaniards to contain the
rebellion until reinforcements arrive.
October. The rebel army, known as the
mambises,
consists initially of 147 volunteers who do not even have a weapon each.
Their weapons consist of 45 fowling pieces, 4 rifles, and a few pistols and
machetes.
October 28. Ten days after capturing the city of Bayamo,
the Revolutionary Municipal Council of Bayamo petitions Céspedes to proclaim
the immediate abolition of slavery.
November. The rebel army now has 12,000 men.
At battle of “El Cristo” and “El Cobre,” Antonio
Maceo shows exceptional courage, initiative and leadership. He is
quickly promoted to sergeant, and then to captain.
In Bayamo, Maceo achieves a victory that his commander,
Colonel Pio Rosado, declared impossible. He is praised by General Mármol.
December 27. Céspedes signs a decree declaring Cuba
incompatible with slavery, but adding that slavery will end "when it had
full use of its powers under free suffrage so that it could agree on the
best means of carrying the proposal to and end that would be advantageous to
the old as well as the new citizen." |
1869
|
January 4. General Don Domingo Dulce(a former Captain
General with a liberal reputation) arrives in Cuba to replace Lersundi.
Among his more liberal changes is the granting of freedom of the press and
of assembly. Between January 7 and 28, 77 different periodicals appear
supporting the revolution.
January 7. Spanish General Valmaseda outmaneuvers rebel
General Marmól and surprises Cuban forces at El Saladillo.
More than
2,000 Cubans die in this encounter, most of them are recently freed
slaves.
January 8. On the plain of La Caridad, the battle
continues.
January 10. Spanish General Valmaseda crosses the river
Cauto and heads for Bayamo.
January 15. Valmaseda enters Bayamo and finds it burned to
the ground. This is done with the unanimous consent of its inhabitants upon
realizing they cannot resist the siege by Spanish forces armed with
artillery and modern weapons.
January 16. Maceo is promoted to commander.
He is allowed to operate with independent forces, still under the
jurisdiction of General Marmól. With this new freedom to “formulate his own
tactics,” he achieves victories in Mayari and Guantánamo.
January 21. In Havana, the Volunteers force (controlled by
wealthy slave-owners opposed to independence) attacks the audience attending
a comedy at the Villanueva Theatre. The performance is suspected of being
favored by rebel sympathizers.
January 26. Maceo is promoted to lieutenant
colonel of the Liberating Army.
February 9. Under General Federico Cavada,a former
colonel in the U.S. Volunteer Service during the Civil War,)the
Las
Villas district joins the war for independence. |
| |
February 26. The Revolutionary Assembly of the Central Department in
Camagüey issues a declaration that states: “The institution of slavery,
introduced into Cuba by Spanish Dominion, must be extinguished along with
it.”
March 19. U.S. President Grant's cabinet makes its first
major decision on a Cuban policy. Nearly all members of the cabinet, led by
Secretary of State Hamilton Fish, are opposed to the recognition of Cuban
belligerency.
|
| |
April 10. The Constitutional Convention meets at
Guaimaro. A constitution is adopted that provides for a republican
government. Article 24 declares, “all the inhabitants of the Republic are
absolutely free.”
April. José Martí, now 17-years old, is
sentenced to six years of hard labor for expressing his opposition to
colonial rule.
|
| |
May 22. In an attack at the strongly defended sugar mill, “Armonia,”
Maceo receives the first of 24 wounds. He is carried back to a
hidden rest camp, where his wife and his mother nurse him back to health.
|
| |
July 16. The House of Representatives rejects the Constitution. Instead, it
institutes the Rule of the Freed
(Reglamento de Libertos).
This allows slavery to continue, but in a more discreet form. The slave, now
called a “liberto,” must continue to work for his master, who has no
obligation to feed, clothe or pay wages.
October. In a sharp turn in direction,
Céspedes
calls for the destruction of all the cane fields on the island.
“Better for the cause of human liberty,” he says, “better for the cause of
human rights, better for the children of our children, that Cuba should be
free, even if we have to burn every vestige of civilization from the tip of
Maisí to the tip of San Antonio, so that Spanish authority shall be
eliminated.”
By the end of the year, Spain has amassed a powerful
fleet, with about 50 vessels of 400 guns, including the Victoria and
Zaragoza. This proves to be a major advantage, since the rebels had
no navy and Spain is easily able to keep outside aid from getting through.
|
1870
|
June 26. General Máximo Gómez is placed in command of Maceo’s area.
Gómez and Maceo become dominant military figures.
Heading a battalion of only 187 men,
Maceo takes
part in numerous successful attacks under Gómez’s command.
October 2. After defeating a Spanish attack on his camp in
Majaguabo, Maceo receives another severe battle wound. By
the twentieth he’s active again, taking part in the highly successful
assault on the town of Ti-Arriba, which results in the destruction of the
town and the capture of a large quantity of booty.
|
1871
|
July. Gómez decides to invade the Guantánamo zone,
which is strongly guarded by Spanish elite units.
At the beginning of the campaign, Maceo clashes with the
famous rifle battalion of San Quintín, one of Spain’s most aggressive and
disciplined units.
During a fierce battle at “La India,”
José Maceo lays wounded in front of the enemy trenches, and Maceo refuses to
retreat without another attempt to save his brother. In a brave effort,
Maceo leads a charge “through a veritable shower of bullets until the
fortifications were breached and the buildings set on fire.” José Maceo is
rescued, and after a long period of recovery his life is saved. The
Spaniards fight to the death, and only one soldier escapes.
October 15. General Gómez leaves Maceo in charge
while he attends a conference with the government on war strategy.
November 27. A group of medical students are executed in
Havana by a Spanish firing squad. |
1872
|
January/February. Spanish General Martínez Campos, after failing to defeat
Maceo with 1,000 men, declares, “It is impossible to end the war by means of
arms.”
March. Maceo is promoted to the rank of
full colonel.
|
1875
|
July 28. After the House of Representatives accepts the
resignation of Cisneros, Juan B. Spotorno
is named interim President
of the Republic.
November. U.S. Secretary of State, Hamilton Fish,
announces that he is seeking to achieve action by the European powers, led
by England, to restore peace in Cuba. Such peace, he adds, would include
neither the abolition of slavery nor the independence of the island.
December. Another vicious campaign against Maceo begins.
He is again accused of seeking a Black Republic. Maceo ignores the charges.
Alfonso XII, son of
Isabel II, takes over the throne of Spain. |
1876
|
March 28. The House of Representatives elects Tomás Estrada Palma as
president of the Republic (replacing Juan B. Spotorno).
|
1877
|
May 11. García issues a new manifesto demanding reforms in the revolutionary
government.
November. President Estrada Palma is captured
and imprisoned by the Spaniards. Maximo Gomez is offered the presidency, but
he refuses. General Vicente García is named president of
the Republic.
December. The rebel government, ready to discuss peace
terms with Martínez Campos, asks for the neutralization of a part of
Camagüey province. |
1878
|
January 29. In the Sierra Maestra Mountains, Maceo successfully ambushes an
unusually large column of Spanish troops. The rebels capture their booty,
including many weapons and ammunitions, and force the Spaniards to retreat
with many dead and wounded.
February 4. While most of his troops are away and he's
only left with 38 rebels, Maceo is completely surrounded and outnumbered
more than eight-to-one. After three hours of brutal combat, the Cubans
completely rout their enemy. Spanish prisoners were later released to the
Spanish commanding general.
February 7, 8, 9. In the area of San Ulpiano, Maceo
achieves a brilliant victory over the famous San Quentín battalion.
|
| |
February 11. At a meeting in Zanjón, in Camagüey, the Treaty of
Zanjón (Pacto de Zanjón) is accepted. Slaves who fought on either
side are freed, but slavery is not abolished and Cuba remains under Spanish
rule.
February 29. Surrender ceremonies are scheduled to take
place at Puerto Príncipe.
March 4. The New York Times prints a lengthy review of The
Ten Year War. It does not mention Maceo.
March 8. Maceo camps at Baraguá, near Santiago de Cuba.
March 15. In Baraguá, General Martínez Campos and other
Spanish representatives meet with a small gathering of black and white Cuban
officers led by General Maceo. The Spanish general continually addresses
Maceo as "señor." An eight-day truce is established, but it is agreed that
it will end on March 23.
March 18. Maceo is offered a considerable sum of money to
accept the Zanjón pact. He replies:
“Do you think that a man who is fighting for a principle
and has a high regard for his honor and reputation can sell himself while
there is still at least a chance of saving his principles by dying or trying
to enforce them before he denigrates himself? Men like me fight only in the
cause of liberty and will smash their guns rather than submit.” |
| |
March 23. War breaks out again.
May 10. Maceo leaves Cuba (under Presidential orders) in a
Spanish cruiser headed from Santiago de Cuba for Jamaica.
May 21. At Loma Pelada, the rebel government
accepts Spanish peace terms, officially ending the Ten-Year War.
October. After organizing the Cuban Revolutionary
Committee (Comité Revolucionario Cubano), Major General Calixto García
issues a manifesto inviting all Cubans to unite in the fight against Spanish
rule.
November 23. La Independencia, a publication of
the Revolutionary Committee, urges slaves to “take your machetes in hand,
and burn the cane.”
José Martí returns to Cuba. |