1895
February 24 -
Grito de Baire. Insurgents rose against Spanish tyranny in Oriente, Santa
Clara and Matanzas provinces.
March 4 -
Govemor-General proclaimed martial law iu Santiago and Matanzas. Julio
Sanguily, J
Aguirre and other suspected Cuban sympathizers arrested and incarcerated
in Cabañas
prison at Havana.
March 8 -
American mail steamship Allianca fired upon by Spanish gunboat.
March l0 -
First battle of the war at Los Negros between l,000 Spanish, under General
Garrich, and
700 Cubans, under Colonel Goulet. Spaniards defeated. Spanish reinforcements
arrive
fronu Puerto Rico and 7,000 men from Spain. Field Marshal Arsenio Martínez
Campos appointed
Captain-General to succeed Calleja, and sent to Cuba with 20,000 troops.
Martial law
proclaimed over whole island.
March 24 -
Pitched battle at Jaraguana between l,000 Spanish troops, under Colonel
Araoz, and 900
Cubans, under Amador Guerra.
March 31 -
Antonio Maceo, with Flor Crombet, Dr. Frank Agrarnonte, Jose Maceo and
other
officers, landed at Baracoa with expedition from Costa Rica in British
schooner Honor.
Schooner wrecked and captain killed by Spaniards. Latter attacked Maceo
at Duaba but
were repulsed. Agramonte captured. Provisional government proclaimed by
Maceo; Dr.
Tomás Estrada Palma, president, José Martí, secretary-general,
and General Máximo
Gómez, military director aud commander-in-chief.
April 13
General Máximo Gómez, José Martí and eight
companions arrived from Haiti and
landed on the coast southwest of Cape Maisi.
April 16 -
Captain-General Martinez Campos landed with reinforcements at Guantanamo
and issued
proclamation pledging reforms. Spanish parliament authorized government
to raise
600,000,000 pesetas (120,000,000) for war and decided to send 40,000 reinforcements.
April 16-18
-
Battles at and near Sabana de Jaibo. Cuban cavalry under Gomez defeated
Colonel Bosch.
April 21 -
Battle of Ramón de las Jaguas, 100 Spaniards killed.
April 29 -
Josó Maceo ambuscaded 700 Spaniards at Arroyo Hondo; 150 Spaniards
killed and
heavy Cuban losses
May 6-14 -
Raids and fights at Jobito and Cristo by Maceo; Spauish Lieutenant-Colonel
Bosch killed.
May 18 -
Insurgent Convention elected Bartolomé Massó president, Máximo
Gómez
general-in-chief, and Antonio Maceo commander-in-chief of the Oriental
Division.
May 19 -
José Martí and party of 50 annihilated by colonel Ximenez
Sandoval and 800 troops in a narrow
pass; Gómez with reinforcements attempted to rescue Martí's
body aud was wounded;
Cuban loss, 50 killed and l00 wounded. Dr. Tomás Estrada Palma elected
to succeed
Martí as Cuban Revolutionary Party delegate in the United States.
May 20 -
Colonel Lacret and Colonel Torres landed with filibustering expedition
of 220 men from
Jamaica.
June 2 -
Gomez crossed trocha and entered province of Puerto Principe.
June 5 -
General Carlos Roloff's filibustering expedition, with 353 men, 1,000 rifles
and 500
pounds of dynamite, landed by tugboat George W. Childs near Sagua
Lachico, in
Santa Clara.
June 12 -
President Cleveland issued proclamation warning citizens against joining
or aiding
filibustering expeditions
June 18 -
Province of Puerto Principe declared in a state of siege.
June 27 -
Captain-General Campos asked Cabinet for 14,000 fresh troops.
July 1 -
Campos established Moron-Jucaro trocha to keep Gómez out of Santa
Clara Province
July 13 -
Captain-General Campos, at head of 1,500 troops, attacked but defeated
by Cubans
under Maceo at Peralejo and compelled to retreat to Bayamo; Spanish General
Santocildes aud l19 men killed; Cuban loss, l00 men.
July 15 -
Provisional Government formally constituted and a declaration of independence
proclaimed.
August 7 -
Cuban Convention at Puerto Principe elected the following officers: Provisional
President
of the Republic of Cuba, General Bartolomé Massó, Minister
of the Interior Marquis of
Santa Lucia; Vice-President and Minister of War, General Máximo
Gómez Secretary of
Foreign Affairs, Gonzalo de Quesada; General-in-Chief, General Antonio
Maceo.
August
31 -
Spaniards defeated by 1,000 men under José Maceo, near Ramon de
la Jaguas
September 23 -
Constitution of Cuban Republic proclaimed by Congress of Delegates at Anton
de Puerto
Principe, and the following elected permanent officers of the government:
President,
Salvador Cisneros; Vice-President, Bartolomé Massó; Secretary
of War, Carlos Roloff;
Commander-in-Chief, Máximo Gómez, Lieutenant-General, Antonio
Maceo.
October
2 -
Maceo defeated superior force of 2,000 Spaniards at Mount Mogote.
Octoher
9 -
Cuban loan of 15,000,000 pesos ($3,000,000) placed in Paris
October
l0 -
Baracoa captured hy Cubans
October 27 -
General Carlos M. de Cesspedes landed near Baracoa with filibustering expedition
of
sixty men, l00 rifles and l0,000 rounds of ammunition, fitted out in Canada.
Laurada
seized at Charleston, S. C., as a filibuster.
November 18-l9 -
Spanish forces under Generals Valdes, Luque and Aldave defeated at Taguasco,
Spanish
loss, 500
December 26 -
Gómez invaded the loyal Province of Havana.
1896
Januuary 5 -
Gómez passes the Habana-Batabanó trocha into Pinar del Rio.
January 12 -
Gomez defeated Spaniards at Batallobo and recrossed trocha into Havana
Province.
January 12-20 -
Maceo raided Pinar del Rio Province.
January 17 -
Captain-General Canupos recalled to Madrid and General Valeriano Weyler
appointed to
succeed him.
January 26 -
Filibuster J. W. Hawkins, carrying General Calixto García
and 120 men, sunk off Long
Island and ten men drowned.
January 30 -
Maceo recrossed Habana-Batabanó trocha; Spaniards severely defeated
by Diaz near
Artemisa.
February 10 -
General Weyler arrived at Havana on the cruiser Alfonso XIII and
was enthusiastically
greeted.
February 17 -
Weyler issued three proclamations establishing rigid martial law.
February 18 -
Maceo attacked and captured Jaruco; the next day he joined Gómez,
and together they
marched eastward.
February 22 -
Eighteen non-combatants killed by Spanish troops in Punta Brava and Guatao,
and two
American correspondents who investigated outrage arrested.
February 24 -
Filibuster Bermuda seized by United States marshals, General García
and others
arrested, tried and acquitted.
February 28 -
Senate adopted belligerency resolutions and requested President to use
"friendly offices"
to secure Cuban independence
March 5 -
Weyler issued proclamation offering amnesty to Cubans who surrendered with
arms in
hand.
March 8 -
Eighteen thousand Spanish reinforcements landed at Havana.
March 12 -
Commodore landed a filibustering expedition from Charleston, S.C.
March 13 -
Maceo captured the town of Batabanó.
March 15 -
Maceo re-entered Pinar del Río Province and attacked the town of
Pinar del Río.
March 22 -
Gómez captured the town of Santa Clara and secured a large amount
of military stores.
March 25 -
Bermuda landed General Calixto García with 125 men and arms
in Cuba. Three Friends and
Mallory landed a big expedition under General Enrique Collazo on
the coast of Matanzas
Province.
April 6 -
U.S. House of Representatives concurred in Senate's Cuban resolution.
April 25 -
American filibustering schooner Competitor captured off coast of
Pinar del Río.
Alfredo Laborde and three Americans taken prisoners.
April 27 -
Bermuda fired upon by Spanish gunboat while trying to land expedition
under Colonels
Vidal and Torres and forced to abandon the attempt.
May 14 -
Gómez captured a whole Spanish battalion under Colonel Segura.
May 16 -
Laurada landed General J. F. Ruiz and expedition in Cuba.
May 19 -
Three Friends landed large cargo of ammunition in Santa Clara.
June 3 -
Consul-General Fitzhugh Lee arrived at Havana as the successor of Ramon
O. Williams,
resigned.
June 15 -
Expeditions under Zarrago, Castillo and Cabrera landed by Three Friends
and Laurada.
July 5 -
José Maceo killed in an engagement at Loma del Gato.
July 15 -
General Inclan badly defeated by Maceo at Cacarajicara, 200 killed and
nearly 300
wounded.
July 30 -
President Grover Cleveland issued another proclamation against filibustering.
August
15 -
General Rabí defeated Spaniards near Bayamo.
December 7 -
General Antonio Maceo and Francisco Gómez, son of the rebel commander-in-chief,
were
killed in an engagement with a Spanish detachment under Major Cirujeda
just after Maceo
had succeeded in passing around the end of the Mariel trocha. Dr. Zertucha,
the only
member of the staff who escaped, was accused of treachery. He surrendered
to the
Spanish.
December 15 -
Three Friends tried to land a large expedition at the mouth of the
San Juan River, on the
south coast of Cuba, but was fired on by a Spanish gunboat and compelled
to put to sea
again with her party, setting them down on a desert Florida key, where
they were rescued
by the Dauntless.
December 20 -
General Ruiz Rivera succeeded Maceo as commander-in-chief of the Cuban
army of the
West.
December 28 -
Julio Sanguilly was tried and sentenced to imprisonment for life on a charge
of conspiring
against the Spanish Government.
December 31 -
Filibuster Commodore sailed from Jacksonville, Florida, with a small
expedition for Cuba and
sunk sixteen miles off the Florida coast. Most of the men were saved.
1897
January 13 -
Spaniards under General Segura attacked General Calixto García at
Gabuquito, and were
repulsed with a loss of 300 killed and 400 wounded.
February 4 -
Queen Regent of Spain signed a decree instituting reforms in Cuba
February 21 -
U.S. Secretary of State Olney directed Minister Taylor, at Madrid, to demand
a full inquiry into
the case of Dr. Ricardo Ruiz, who was murdered in prison, in Guanabacoa,
by the
Spaniards.
March 4 -
General Valeriano Weyler returned to Havana.
March 21 -
Insurgents captured Holguin.
March 28 -
General Rius Rivera, who succeeded Antonio Maceo, was captured with 100
men at
Cabezedas, by General Hernández Velasco.
March 30 -
Laurada landed at Banes, on the north coast of Oriente, three dynamite
guns, one
Hotchkiss gun and a large quantity of ammunition.
April 17 -
Weyler declared that the province of Santa Clara and part of Puerto Principe
were
pacified.
May 12 -
Generals Calixto García and Rabí defeated Spanish troops
under General Lonos and
compelled them to retreat on shipboard at Cabo Cruz.
May 17 -
President McKinley sent a message to Congress suggesting an appropriation
of $50,000
to relieve the distress of American citizens in Cuba. It was passed by
Congress and signed
May 24.
June 21 -
General Weyler sailed from Havana for Santa Clara province, preceded by
thirty-six
battalions of infantry and strong forces of artillery and cavalry.
June 27 -
General Weyler reached the city of Santiago.
November 10 -
Marshal Ramón Blanco sent a cable to Senor de Lome, Spanish Minister
at Washington,
announcing that extensive zones of cultivation had been marked out, rations
issued to the
reconcentrados, and promised that thereafter they would be fed and treated
well
November 14 -
General Blanco sent envoys to insurgent generals to induce them to lay
down their arms.
November 18 -
Crew of the American schooner Competitor captured in 1896 and all
sentenced to
death were released.
November 25 -
Dr. Frank Agramonte, Thomas J. Sainz and other Americans imprisoned in
Havana were
released by Marshal Blanco.
November 26 -
Queen Regent of Spain signed royal decrees granting political and commercial
autonomy
to Cuba.
December 2 -
Bishop of Havana appealed for food for starving reconcentrados.
December 9 -
Antonio Rodriguez Rivera, an envoy sent by Blanco to bribe the insurgents,
was hanged
by the insurgent leader Emilio Collazo.
December 10 -
Insurgents captured the seaport town of Caimanera.
December 28 -
President McKinley issued an appeal to the country to aid starving Cubans.