 |
|
|
Calixto García was an important Cuban general. A Cuban-born Creole, he survived the Ten Years' War and fought in the War of Independence. His fights for Cuban independence were both eventual failures, as the Ten Years' War accomplished little, and the War of Independence essentially replaced the Cin the end lost to the United States.
After escaping from a Spanish prison, García travelled to New York to plot with Martí and other revolutionaries in 1879.
The revolutionaries worked out strategies for another war, and García went down to Cuba on a boat. Someone had informed the government that García would be coming, and he was taken prisoner in August. Along with his fellow revolutionary leaders, he was taken back to Spain to spend time in prison.
García escaped from prison and rejoined the revolutionaries. In the War of Independence, he commanded troops in Oriente province.
The troops under his command had several major successes in the war. They captured Victoria de la Tunas and took Bayamo, Holguín, and Gibara from the Spanish as well.
However, García still faced many problems. He complained to Máximo Gómez that his troops needed rest, and he did not get along well with the American troops.
When the Americans first came to Cuba, García gave them some of his officers as well as maps of the island and intelligence the revolutionaries had gathered. However, the American troops got along better with their captured Spanish soldiers than with the primarily black Cuban revolutionary army.
García was not in attendance when the Spanish formally surrendered. His invitation was given such low priority that he decided not even to come. Futhering the tensions between the Cuban revolutionaries and the Americans was García's poor relationship with the American General Wood too. After García threatened to fight Wood, Wood answered, "Why don't you try it? It might be the easiest way to settle it."
Eventually the
Americans bought off Gómez and the Cuban army disbanded. García
went to New York as part of a group of Cubans who negotiated for cash from
the US to pay the Cuban fighters to go home.
