The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1898-06-18
GEN ANTONIO MAC
CAREER OF THE VALIANT s.
DER WHO DIED FOR CUBA
He Rose From the Ranks-Fought 81
all Through the Ten Years War-Sers
as Hostler at West Point In Order to O
tain Military knowledge. s a#t1e' .

never to .ay down their arms until Cuba
should be free. The father and seven Of his
sons died in battle in the ten years war.
Two more brothers were left helpless Grip
pes In San Domingo by their wounds. An
tonic and Jose, the eldest and the youngest
, of Marcus Maceos eleven sons, waited for
ten years and again raised the flag of Cuba.
jose was killed in battle a few months a, u.
Now Antonio has been shot down, treacher-
ously murdered under flag OF truce by the
order Of General Va.eriano Weyler and the
Marquis de Ahumada, chosen representatives
of the boasted homer of Spain.
In 184S Marcus Maceo lived in a little
pa.m-thatched village of Barajagua with his
wife, Mariana, and his son, Antonio. He
owned a comfortable plantation, and kept
pack mu.es for hire. The mules were
driven along the lonely mountain roads by
Antonio. In this way the boy made trips to
Barad ga, to Guantanamo, to Santiago, and
even to Holguin.
He saw the slaves toiling their lives away
in the fields fettered and dashed by overseers.
He saw the red and yellow Spanish flag
Hoat1ng above the fortified towns, and came
to understand it as an emblem of rapacty.
cruelty, and greed. Young Antonio naturally
began to dream OF the why's and wherefores.
Why should one people, with dissimi.ar IN
terests and dissimilar lives, be forced to
pay tribute to king and people who cared
nothing fer them and who fattened upon
them?
Why had God given any nation a right to
say to another nation: 1--WE discovered you
and you are ours? Give us so much Of your
riches and be thankful that We allow you
to live"
Young Maceo could not understand al. this.
No more could his father, Marcus In good
time, and almost with the regularity of the
years. other children came to bless the
Maceos, until there were eleven sons, stair
stepping down from Antonio, the eldest. q
young man OF 20, to Jose, the youngest, but
little more than baby in arms.
Inen one early autumn day in 1868 Antonio
returned to his fathers plantation from
Baracoa with the information that the Cubans
mad rebelled Maceo, the father, being a
careful. man. at once advised his family to
remain strictly neutral. Antonio chaeel
under this restraint, but obeyed. So did his
brothers.
From time to time news Of the war reached
the little plantation at Barajagua. The Ma
ceos secretly eXulted over the successes Of
their countrymen in the field, and it may
have been that the Spaniards obtained an
linking of their sentiments At any rate
Spanish spies began to annoy them, and
more than once they were threatened.
How the MaceOs Went to War.
The revolution had been in progress for
some months, and the Spaniards were wild
over series of disasters, when there an
peared at the Maceo plantation a band OF
Spanish guerrllas, Led by Captain Campillo.
Senior Maceo and his oder sons were away
with niue train in the direction of Baracoa.
They returned at nightfall. AS the mules,
with their tinkling bells and heavy pack sad
dies, turned bend in the road and the
plantation came into view, horrifying sight
met the gaze of Maceo and his sons. Where
his home had been there was nothing but
smo.dering heap of ashes and embers. His
barns were burned, his crops destroyed, his
mules, sheep, horses, and cattle driven off,
But where are the members Of his family?
Out In the jungle woman screams Father
and sons rush in the direction Of the voice
Six young boys lie on the ground, bound
Bleeding, and sense:ess. The gray-haired
mother stands tied to a tree, moaning, with
a broken arm. Two young girls COVER, weep
Ing and half dead, in the bushes.
On the following day, the female members
OF the Maceo family being in the hands Of
friends, the father called his sons about him,
and exacted from each promise that they
would never lay down their arms until the
invader was driven cut and Cuba was free
A few days later Maxine Gomez, lying out
In the mountains Of Santiago with his small
and devoted following, was confronted by
,gaunt, haggard man, behind whom were half
a dozen tall, awkward boys. Little did Co.
crults there stood his future Lieutenant Gen.
eral. They were so green, SO taciturn, so
backward, that Gomez smiled as they walked
away from his hut. . ". .
He had asked them if they could fight
They smiled and said: "Perhaps." soon
afterward, near St. Augustin, some Spanish
troops were riding leisurely along with an
ammunition train, bound for Guantanamo,
Around the bend of the road, in front, swept
a flying body of horsemen, with their ma
chetes g!i,tering. They were guerr.l.as of
Gomez, and at their head rode the "aWkwar I'd
squad OF the Maceos.
Their First Battle.
But how they did fight! Right into the
heart OF the Spanish troops they drove pell
nell, cutting, s.ashing, and striking right and
left. When tae fight was ended the elder
Maceo lay dead on the ground. Before the ex-
plration Of two months, Manuel, Fermin, and
Justice Maceo had been killed in battle.
Raphael was so cut up by wounds tina: he
left the island to die an exile in Costa Rica
For six months after the death Of Justice the
remaining members Of the Maceo family
seemed to bear charmed lives. The "awk-
ward squad CT, rather, the survivors, had
become the foremost fighters under Gomez
The next death TO occur was that OF Miguel,
He was killed by bayonet thrust at the cap
tIre Of Une Vitas. A short time subsequent
ly Julio was shot dead in that bloody affair
a. Nuevo Mundo. Felipe and Tomas were SO
oau-y "Cunued That they became helpless
cripp.es in San Domingo.
Then, almost at the end Of the long ten
years war, Marcus was killed in gallant ma
cke;e charge. leaving Antonio Of all the "awk-
ward squad" Of lighters still in the field,
His brother jose was still too young to Join
his relative in the field.
The surviva. of Antonio Maceo was good
thing for Cuba. 1t was a survival of the 1T
test. No doubt the aged and bereaved mother
OF the Maceos, hiding in the forests with hun
drsds OF other Cuban refugees, echoed in her
heart the words of the Italian poetess:
Dead! One of them shot in the sea, by the east
a AND one of ;ienl shot in the west by the sea,
Both-both. my boys; when you sit at the feast
And are Wantin song for dear Cuba-free!
Let none look at me.
When Antonio Maceo first struck for free
dom he was 81 years old. He had great nat
urat aptitude as soldier, and but little educa-
ton. But Greek roots and Latin verbs do not
count for much in fighting for the liberty Of a
country. Military genius, like that Of the
poets, is born, not manufactured.
The Rise of Antonio Maceo.
It did not take long for Maceo's awkward
ness to rub off. His bravery was absolutely
dauntless. During his first twelve months OF
service he received sixteen Of the twenty-one
c-ose of the ten years' war. With great taci-
turnity, and apparent gruffness he combined
a magnetism that drew men to him
Within year he had been promoted through
the various grades Of Sergeant Lieutenant,
and Captain to that Of Major.
Soon after feceivig this honor, Maceo was
ordered to capture the upland town; Of I'll
Arriba. With only 400 men he made 4 he4 a.
long attack on the forts. and after 4 desnsr.