The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-02-24

est generals OF the day, considering ms
environment was Antonio Maceo the
Cuban mulatto hero, who for two years
kept the Spanish army at bay and led
them a lively quick-step through the
western provinces to the very gates OF
Havana. AS swift on the march as
Sheridan or Stonewall Jackson, as wary
and prudent as Grant himself, he had
inspirations of military genius whenever
crisis arose. 1t is not generally known
that Martinez Campos, who owed his
final defeat at Colisea to Maceo, was
second cousin of the black man. Ma
coos mother, whose family name was
Grinan, came from the town of Mayari,
on the north coast of eastern Cuba,
where all the people have Indian blood
in their veins. Colonel Martinez del
Campos, father of General Martinez
Campos, was once military governor OF
Mayari While there he loved a beauti-
full girl of Indian and negro blood, who
belonged to the Grinan family and was
first cousin to Maceo's mother. Marti-
nez Campos. Jr., the future general and
child of the Indian girl, was born in
Mayari The governor could not marry
his sweetheart, having wife and chill
llGu III SPAIN, puL WH6u liC iSlNl iSN W
the mother country he took the boy
along. According to Spanish law, the
town In which one is baptized is recog-
nized as his legal birthplace; so 1T was
easy enough to legitimatize the infant
Campos. He grew up in Spain, and
when sent to Cuba as captain general,
to his everlasting credit be it said that
one of his first acts was to hunt up his
mother. Having found her, old and
poor he bought a fine house in Campo
Florida, the aristocratic suburb of Ha-
vana established her therein, and cared
for her tenderly till she died. The cous-
ms, though on opposite sides of the war,
befriended each other in many in
stances, and it is said that more than
once Captain General Campos owed his
| life to his unacknoWledged relative.
Antonio Maceo's devotion to the cause
Of Cuba libre was like that of a mother
to her child. Money could not buy him
nor specious promises deceive, and he
died, as he had lived, standing nobly by
his principles. His half-brother, Jose
Maceo, was captured early in the war
and sent to that dreadful African pris-
on, Ceuta, whence he escaped, later on,
with Quintin Bandera and others of his
staff.
The last-named negro colonel is to-day
a prominent figure in Havana. "Quin-
tin Bandera" means Fifteen flags" and
the appellation was bestowed upon him
by his grateful countrymen after he had
! captured fifteen Spanish ensigns. Eve
rybody seems to have forgotten his real
name, and "Quintin Bandera" he will
remain in history While in the African
penal settlement the daughter of Span
ish staff officer fell in love with him.
The little blind archer who laughs at
locksmiths induced her to assist his es-
cape and flee with him to Gibraltar and
there he became a British subject and
married his rescuer She is of Spanish
and Moorish descent and is said to be
lady of education and refinement; at
any rate she taught her husband to
read and write. and feels unbounded
pride in his achievements.
The noted General Jesus Rabi of the
Cuban army is of the same mixed blood
as the Maceos--Indian negro and Span
ish. Another well-known negro COM
mander is General Flor Crombet whose
patriotic deeds have been dimmed by
his atrocious cruelties. Somebody has
aptly characterized him as the Dessa-
lines of Cuba, and Antonio Maceo it's
Touissaint FOuverature
Among all the gold-lace- bedizzened |
officers now swarming Havana, none at
tracts more admiring attention than
General Ducasse, tail, fine-looking mu-
latto, who was educated at the French |
military school of st. Cyr. He is of ex-
tremely polished manners and undena-
Bile force of character, can make a brill
liant address and has great influence
among the masses. To eject such a man
as he from a third-rate foreign restau-
rant in his own land would be deemed |
sufficient cause for call to arms. His
equally celebrated brother, Col mel Juan
Ducasse, was killed last year in the
Pinar del Rio insurrection.
Besides these sons of Mars, Cuba has
considered her history enriched by the
achievements of colored men in peace
full walks of life The memory of Ga
brel Conception de la Valdez, the mu-
latto poet, is cherished as that of
saint. He was accused by the Spanish
government of completely in the slave
of 1874, and condemned to
De SnOL IN MS native town, MatanZaS. 1
One bright morning in May he stood by
the old statue of Ferdinand VII. in the
Plaza dArmas, calmly facing a row of
along whose shining barrels the
sun glnted. The first volley failed to
touch vital spot. The brave victim.
bleeding from several wounds, still stood
erect and pointing to his heart said in a
clear voice. Aim here!"
Another mulatto author, educate and
profound thinker was Antonio Medina
4 priest and professor of San Basilio the
Greater He acquired wide reputation
as poet, novelist and ecclesiastic, both in
Spain and Cuba, and was selected by
the Spanish academy to deliver the ora
ion on the anniversary Of Cervantes' {
1eath in Madrid ,
His favorite Cuban pupil was Juan
Iualberto Gomez, the mulatto journal ,
st, who has been imprisoned time and c
again for offense against the Spanish :
press laws. Senior Gomez, whose home
S in MatanZas, Is now on the shady {
side of forty, specialized and scholarly ,
ooking man. After the peace of Zanjon |
lie elaborated in the periodicals. pub i
isIed by the Marquis of Sterling. In ]
70 he founded in Havana the newspaper t
"a Fraternidad, devoted to the inter- {