The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-12-27
STORY OF A HERO.
Life of Antonio Maceo, the Great
Cuban Leader.

Cuban Leader.
For the Seventh time since the pres
ent Cuban revolution began General
Antonio Maceo has been killed, says
the Chicago Times Herald. The fact
that he invariably comes to life more
formidable than ever in no wise deters
the enemy from killing him again.
Well indeed. might the Spaniards
Maeeo. What checks has he not given
them What victories has he not
snatched from them. What pungent
warfare has he not waged in their very
strongholds, At no time within the past
two years has there been a moment
when Spain would not have paid l.
coo, 600 pesos, in sore straits as she is,
for his body, dead or alive. What
mighty motive has moved Antonio Ma
Geo in his relentless war ON Spain? A
brief notice Of the Cuban hero and
liberator will suffice to answer the
question.
The study of Maceo is as thrilling as
that of any hero in the world-struggle
for liberty His incorporating pa
triotism, his implacable hatred of the
enemy, his self-sacrifice, magnetism,
courage, his rugged nature, and his
stern, solemn purpose-all these things
drew men to him and held them with a
force from which there was no escape.
This is the second Cuban revolution
in which Maceo has been a conSpicu-
Gus figure. In the ten years war he
rose from the ranks to the grade of
maior-general. Then, as now, he was
a fearless fighter. Then, as now, he
was the despair of the Spaniards. But
in this revolution MaceO went into the
fight with all the experience of his
first campaign reinforced by 16 years
of study and preparation in the arts
of war.
Maceo is the last of nine brothers
who bled and died for Cuba. And in
him the spirit of the eight brothers
and their dead father is concentrated.
Antonio was born in 1S4S on the plan
tation of his father, Marcus Maceo,
near the little paint hatched village of
Barajagua. He worked for the fam
lily, driving the mules along the lonely
mountain roads. He saw the slaves
toiling and keenly felt the shame of the
Cubans degradation. One day in 1868
Antonio returned from a trip to Hal
gum, bringing to his father the news
that the Cubans had uprisen, and the
island was in revolt. BY this time the
family had increased to 11-nine sons
desired to fight for his country, but
Maceo, the father, prevailed upon him
and his brothers to maintain a strict
neutrality. Yet the father deeply SYM
pathized with the cause of the insur-
gents, and often lent them secret aid
when he could. Perhaps the Spaniards
in some wav learned this fact, and it
was that knowledge that gave to Cuba
her greatest leader. One day band of
Grao iSf he Of
Captain Campillo, passed by the Gu
bans plantation. Maceo and his elder
Sons were away upon trip to Bara-
Goa. At nightfall, when they returned,
they found their home a mass of
blackened ruins. The barns were
burned, the crops destroyed, the mules,
horses and cattle stolen. The mother,
with a broken arm, was tied to a tree
moaning from pain. Six boys lay on
the ground, bleeding and senseless. The
two girls were hiding, half dead, in the
bushes. What should now withhold the
Maceos from the conflict? The next
day the women of the Maceo household
were placed in the hands of friends,
and the father assembled his sons to-
gether. He required them all to register
an oath never to lay down their arms
until the Spaniards should be driven
from the land and Cuba be free. How
been seen in the record of blood and
flame from one end of the island to the
other.
At the time that Maceo's plantation
was destroyed General Maxine Gomez
was lying with his forces in the noun
tains of Santiago. One day he was
confronted by a tall, gaunt man, fol-
lowed by half a dozen awkward boys.
oil ,faa HI
ices and those of his boys. "Can you
hght?" asked the leader, with a smile.
Perhaps" was the reply. Some time
after a company of Spanish cavalry
passed near the-camp of Gomez. They
were cut to pieces by the guerillas of
Gomez. AT the head of the rebels rode
the Maceo awkward squad. The faith
er fell in this fight, and within two
months three of the sons had been
slain in battle. The remaining mem
bers of the Maceo family seemed to
bear charmed lives. They fought reck-
lessly. Death first overlook Miguel;
then Julio fell under Spanish fire, and
Felipe and Thomas were disabled. This
left Antonio alone. His brother, Jose,
was too young to join his brother in
the field For the first year of his serv-
ice under Gomez, Antonio fought like
a lion. In that space of time he was
promoted from a common soldier to a
sergeant, and then became successive
ly lieutenant, captain and major. Soon
after his last promotion he led a band
of 300 against the upland town of I'll
Arrab a, and, capturing the forts, drove
the Spaniards to Santiago. He was
then givea the straps of a colonel. His
career from this forward was one of
glory. Gomez advanced him in power
and the Spaniards began to dread his
very name. His engagements were all
brilliant. his victories far-reaching,
his losses slight. He tortured the great
Campos at Ramos, slaughtered the
combined forces of Campos and Vale
"a at Monte Oscuro, utterly routed a
of Zarzal, and at Santa Maria de Hal
Spanish line before the enemy could
fire 81 shot. In the last named action
Calixto Garcia was in command and
Maceo led the charge.
About this time Antonio Maceo first
met his present enemy, Captain-Gen-
eral Valeriaro Weyler. Weyler had
just been made a brigadier-general and
was sent against the brave Antonio at
Guaimaro. The latter led the brigadier
and his men into a ravine trap and
the Spaniards like sheep.
Weyler ran away, leaving 500 of his
men slain. Soon thereafter Maceo at
tackled with great success the San
Quentine battalion and won a major
generalship. His promotion added fire
to his ambition and he fought many
bloody fights at Baragua, at San Eel
ipe, Sabana, Hato del Medic, Cayo Rey
and Miranda. At Cayo Rey, Maceo
!, +l,n In,