Draft:Battle of Bayamo

The Battle of Bayamo was the first significant military action at the beginning of the Ten Years' War (1868-1878) for the independence of Cuba. The event took place between October 18 and 20, 1868, just over a week after the war had broken out.

Most of the main independence leaders participated: Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, Perucho Figueredo, and Francisco Vicente Aguilera, as well as several Dominican officers who had been serving Spain but quickly joined the Cuban side: Luis Marcano, Máximo Gómez, and later Modesto Díaz.

Historical Context
In September 1868, the Revolution of 1868 had occurred in Spain and the Grito de Lares in Puerto Rico. Meanwhile, Cuban independence supporters had been conspiring for several years to take up arms to free Cuba from Spain.

Taking advantage of the tumultuous situation in Spain and Puerto Rico, Carlos Manuel de Céspedes and other Cuban leaders took up arms on October 10, 1868, at the "La Demajagua" sugar mill. Soon, other leaders would also rise up in other regions of the island.

On October 12, Céspedes' forces triumphantly entered the town of Yara but were ambushed by Spanish troops, suffering heavy casualties and dispersing. Only twelve men remained with Céspedes.

Céspedes' small group was quickly found by Dominican General Luis Marcano, who had served under Spanish orders but was now fighting alongside the Cubans. General Marcano convinced Céspedes to launch a surprise attack on the unprepared city of Bayamo, and Céspedes agreed.

Military Actions
On October 17, the Cuban troops, approximately 4,000 men, although not all well-armed, reached the outskirts of the city. Lieutenant Colonel Julián Udaeta, the military chief of the garrison, ordered the execution of any city inhabitant who cooperated with the mambises (Cuban rebels), but this order had no effect on the civilian population, which massively went to assist the mambises.

Céspedes informed Udaeta of the imminent assault on the city and requested his surrender. The Spanish chief refused, so on October 18, the fighting began. Lieutenant General Luis Marcano went to the main church square, where he surrendered Brigadier Modesto Díaz without a fight; Díaz was a relative of Marcano and immediately joined the Cuban forces.

Céspedes established his headquarters in the city jail. At noon, the "Cabaniguan Division" under General Francisco Vicente Aguilera arrived. Céspedes ordered Aguilera to cover the strategic road to the city of Holguín with his troops.

On October 19, with a revolutionary government already organized, a battle occurred in Santo Domingo Square between Perucho Figueredo's troops and the Spanish cavalry under Commander Guajardo Fajardo. The Cuban troops tried to set fire to the barracks by launching combustible projectiles and positioning two cannons aimed at the barracks.

Céspedes sent Aguilera and the newly incorporated Modesto Díaz to repel a Spanish reinforcement led by Lieutenant Colonel Manuel López del Campillo from the city of Manzanillo.

After the Spanish reinforcement was repelled by the Cubans and facing numerical military inferiority, the garrison of Bayamo had to surrender and capitulated on October 20. The Spaniards were taken prisoner but their lives were spared.

Aftermath
The capture of the important city of Bayamo, one of the first founded by the Spanish in Cuba, was a resounding victory for the Cuban independence fighters just days after the war had begun, causing demoralization among Spanish troops and emboldening all Cubans with independence ideas who had not yet joined the fight.

From a military standpoint, capturing the city gave the Cubans a strategic position in the Cauto River valley, halfway between the cities of Manzanillo, Yara, Jiguaní, Las Tunas, and Holguín. A critical point in eastern Cuba was now in the hands of the rebels.

A few months later, around December of that year, the Cuban forces could not prevent the Spanish counterattack on the liberated city. Cuban attempts to halt the Spanish troops at the Battle of El Salado were in vain, and in January 1869, the Cuban troops and the city's inhabitants abandoned the stronghold, but not before setting it on fire.