The Cuban Rebel Army was fairly well organised, although it never wore a specific uniform, troops normally had just a white shirt, although striped shirts have also been shown as worn, or jackets in pale colours with trousers in matching colours. The hats were made of straw or felt in a variety of styles, sometimes the brim being pinned up at the front and held in place by a small cloth Cuban flag. Major General Bartolomeo Maso had a dark blue pillbox cap with the Cuban arms embroidered on the front, this is on display in the City Museum.

Some rebels went barefoot with their trouser legs turned up to just below the knees, or even cut to this length. Shoes and boots were typical of this period, I saw no examples of Mexican/U.S. "cowboy" style boots though. Several officers wore high black leather boots to above the knee, some had this same style but as gaiters (could these have been created from older worn out boots with the feet cut off), other gaiters worn were more in line with the fashion of the time, below the knee with straps and buckles, laces or even with spiral leather straps.

Officers seem to have worn jackets of a vaguely military cut, as did men when they could obtain them, Adolfo del Castillo y Sanchez according to a portrait in the Guanabacoa Museum, wore a pale grey tunic with shoulder straps and brass buttons. Cespedes, an early leader of the revolt, had a modern looking "safari" style jacket with four patch-pockets, worn closed to the neck with a black "bow tie" over it.

A large painting by Juan Emilio Hernandez Giro of the Assembly of 10th April 1868, now in the Revolutionary Museum, shows a variety of two or four pocket "safari" style jackets being worn in grey and khaki with soft roll-over collars or stand-up type collars, all being buttoned up to the neck. The City Museum preserves Maximo Gomez's felt hats, one with a twisted cord and his white linen jacket with cloth Cuban flags as shoulder-boards. The jacket has a low standing collar and four pockets, without flaps, the one on the left breast is a vertical slit, the jacket is fastened by hooks and eyes, not buttons. Also displayed are 15 brass and iron 5 pointed stars that Gomez wore as rank badges. The white jacket of General Garoia has mother-of-pearl buttons and three brass stars on each side of the collar.

Cloth Badges

Both the Revolutionary and the town museums preserve a number of the cloth badges of rank which were worn by Cubans, some of these are quite complex. There is one that has a large cloth star with a small metal one in it's centre, another has a red cloth star with a smaller white star sewn on top of it, which in turn has a blue roundel in it's centre. Lt. Rafael Agosta Dominguez had a "cockade" consisting of three triangles - blue, white and red - with a small white star in the centre triangle made from the bases of the three joined. Other badges include the Cuban flag, sometimes pointed at one end (or both) and a red cloth square bearing a white "X". A photograph of a soldier in the Guanabacao Museum shows very large cloth chevrons sewn to the arms with a "rainbow" top, as worn by U.S. sergeant-majors. Quentin Banderas had a pair of gold braid trefoil epaulettes, while his uniform seems to have sported some form of gold lace.

A few officers carried swords, the one belonging to Antonio Maceo which is now in the Museo del Ejercito in Madrid, is a British 1796 - pattern light cavalry sabre; Jose Wu, a Chinese born Comandante had what appears to be a Spanish sabre, but the national weapon of Cuba and used by infantry and cavalry plus their officers was the machete. Fortunately, quite a few of these are preserved in Cuban museums but unfortunately my ability to draw does not let me do justice.

The main feature that distinguishes some as "military" is the cross-guard, this is usually of brass. Otherwise the hilt is mainly of horn or wood, the blades can be curved or straight while the length can almost equal that of a full sword, although it is often less. Some appear to have been made in the U.S. or Germany, and one in the City Museum has a particularly fancy eagle-headed pommel. Other are of much cruder workman-ship. A11 were worn in the way that they are today - high on the left hip from a frog attached from the waist-belt, the scabbards could be of brown or black leather with or without metal fittings.

Officers and cavalry would also have revolvers, many from the U.S. and carried in leather holsters, knives were rarer and generally fairly basic. Shoulder-arms were varied and some men lacked these in the early years of the struggle. Examples of these in the museums included a shotgun, a percussion blunderbuss, a U.S. 1873 "trapdoor" Springfield, a Winchester carbine, an 1887 "Marlin Safety" carbine (Winchester action), a Spanish made 1871 Remington, a 7mm Mauser repeating carbine and a Spencer carbine. Shoulder arms were either slung over the back by mounted men or carried on leather shoulder-belts like those of the U.S. cavalrymen during the Civil War.

Infantry personal equipment was scanty but would include looped belts or cartridges, cavalry and officers had Mexican style saddles, leather valises and pouches or bags worn over the shoulder, the latter were like contemporary European pouch belts or larger receptacle, some opening at the top like Gladstone bags, some were ornamented with a star. Spurs took on both European and Mexican styles while the bridles appear to be on the Mexican frontier style.

Signals were given by bugles, two of these survive, the one in the City Museum was made in Madrid, it is very small and wrapped with red cords.

Flags

The original Cuban flag was raised in Demajugua on the 10th October 1868, and consisted of a white top half and a blue bottom half, in a red canton was a white star. On the 10th April 1869 it was replaced by the modern flag that was carried by infantry and cavalry until 1898. The City Museum has a spectacular collection of about 30 flags from this period, the largest is about 10' by 6'. All are the plain national flag, sometimes swallow-tailed but there were three exceptions. The Legion Columbiona had this title on the white stripes of it's flag, the second is a Headquarters flag which is of a plain colour (now faded) with this legend in three lines, in white on it, "CUARTEL GENERAL", "E L", "5ø CUERPO" with a white star in the centre between the "E" and the "L". The third is a cavalry flag, no bigger than a lance pennon and it is a swallow-tailed version of the 1868 flag.

(One of the books which I received and had reviewed for this issue was Grover Flint's "Marching with Gomez", published in 1898, I will now take the liberty of including some of its text here that relates to these Cuban revolutionaries. T.D.H.)

In the spring of 1896 the "Liberating Army" extended through every district of Cuba, from Cape Maysi to Cape San Antonio. Six Divisions were organized, each under a General of Division, and operating, or campaigning in one of the six provinces. Antonio Maceo, Lieutenant-General of the Liberating Army, was given command of the forces in Pinar del Rio, a division, that, portioned off as it was by the big trocha from the rest of Cuba, conveniently constituted by itself a Department of the West. Aguierre commanded in Havana, Lacret in Matanzas, Carillo in Las Villas, Suarez (who was subsequently cashiered for cowardice) in Camaguey, and Jose Maceo in Oriente. Garcia landed near Baracoa at this time and a Department of the East, to include Camaguey and Oriente, was established for him, because from position and service in the last war he ranked both Maceo and Suarez. The convenient death of Jose Maceo, and reduction of Suarez, simplified Garcia's position in the East, and with the death of Antonio Maceo, he became by seniority second to Gomez.

Army Organization

Each division consisted of two or three brigades, commanded by Brigadier-Generals. Each brigade consisted of from three to four regiments, and a regiment comprised from three to four troops, or companies. It was the framework of an army, hastily organized with provision for indefinite extension.

The troops or companies, or fuerzas, as they were generally known, were local, and at that time nearly all cavalry. They operated in districts wherein both officers and men had always lived and were well known, as in the case of Andarje's and Rojas' commands. Two troops constituted a squadron, with a maximum strength (including non-commissioned officers) of one hundred armed men (armados, or bearers of long arms, rifles or shot-guns). Every force was allowed by regulation to muster desarmados to one-fourth of its strength of armed men. These desarmados (the impedimenta) included a servant, or asistente, for every commissioned officer under the rank of Major (two asistentes for Majors and above), and camp followers, roustabouts, ready to fetch water, cook, and do all sorts of work that might absorb the attention of the armados.

Anybody who has traveled with a cavalry troop knows how large a percentage of the force is daily occupied purely in camp duties, and will recognize the economy of arms attendant on this system. Moreover, these desarmados are always ready to take the long arms of the dead, and weapons coming to the force by capture and become available in the skirmish line.

Every squadron was supposed to muster a blacksmith; but in Matanzas and Las Villas there was great difficulty in getting horseshoes, even nails, and in Camaguey, owing to the softness of the forest roads, shoeing, especially in the rainy season, was not absolutely necessary.

In districts where horseflesh is scarce, a force contained a percentage of infantry, as Marto's force in Las Villas.

Besides the local forces, were the expeditionary regiments, recruited generally through the Island, men who had arrived on expeditions from abroad, Spanish deserters; in fact, everything that came along. These men usually were detailed to accompany general officers on their criss-cross marches, through their provinces or districts. The followers of Gomez and Maceo in their invasion of the four Western provinces, including the Orientales (Quintin Bandera's negro infantry), were all expeditionaries, and were termed at the time, The Invading Army"; or few local forces had then taken the field. When the Western provinces rose, local forces were organized everywhere and kept the country unpacified, while the expeditionary forces marched to and fro, making special demonstrations wherever necessary.

Officers and Men

The officers of a squadron, of a full company of infantry, were a Major (in command), a Captain, two Lieutenants and an Alferez, four Sergeants and eight Corporals, the number of officers and non-commissioned officers being large in proportion to the number of enlisted men. A squadron of two local forces acting in co-operation, or an unusually numerous force, was commanded by a Colonel or Lieutenant-Colonel.

Every general officer was entitled to an escolta, or bodyguard, to number from 40 to 80 men, usually expeditionaries appointed to this service.

On enlisting in the "Liberating Army" either as anarmado or an asistente, a soldier took an oath to support the constitution of the Republic. He was then furnished with a cedula, giving the date of his enlistment, his name and description.

A Corporal, Sergeant, or an Alferez was appointed by the General of Brigade, on application of his troop commanders, and received a formal warrant. Commissioned officers were appointed by the Commander-in-Chief, on application of the Generals of Brigade or Division, and received commissions. Naturally, owing to the difficulty of communication, many officers held rank on commissions signed by Generals of Divisions only; though such commissions were not in accordance with the regulations.

Generals of Brigade and Division held authority through appointment of the Cabinet Council and Minister of War, approved by the Commander-in-Chief. Both Gomez and his Lieutenant, Antonio Maceo, held authority through the appointment of the same convention that appointed Cisneros President, and paneled the first Cabinet.

The President of the Republic was, by the Law of Military Organization of January 27th, 1896, Commander-in-Chief of all the forces, ranking the General-in-Chief Gomez; but he could only put himself at the head of the army by consent of the Cabinet Council of War (Consejo de Guerra).

(The rank insignia for the Republican troops I found from "El Libro del Mambi", by Juan Padron, published by Editora de la VJC, La Habana, Cuba, 1988, thanks go to both Antonio Villalobos Aleman and Ferran Torres for their various photocopies from this book. T.D.H.)

Major General: 3 large gilt stars worn on collar
General of Division: 2 large gilt stars worn on collar
General of Brigade: 1 large gilt stars worn on collar
Colonel: 3 small gilt stars worn on pouch belt or machete belt over shoulder.
Lieutenant Colonel: 2 small gilt stars worn as Colonel
Comandante (Major): 1 small gilt star worn as Colonel
Captain: 3 silver stars worn as Colonel
Lieutenant: 2 silver stars worn as Colonel
Alferez (Sub. Lt.): 1 silver star worn as Colonel
1st Sergeant: 3 white horizontal bars on crossbelt
2nd Sergeant: 2 white horizontal bars on crossbelt
Corporal: 1 white horizontal bar on crossbelt

For the ranks of Colonel to Alferez their stars had a cloth backing in the designated branch colouring;

Infantry = Green
Cavalry = Scarlet
Artillery = Light Brown
Estado Major = Blue
Engineers = Dark Brown
Justice = B1ack
Gobierno Civil = White

These backing cloths could be square, triangle, circle or rectangle in shape, while although I've stated the junior officers as having gilt or silver stars these could also have been in lace or possibly even yellow or white cloth if in a poor region. Back to the Mr. Cairns original text. T.D.H.)

Spanish Forces, 1868 - 1898

There is also quite a large amount that can be learnt about the Mambrises' opponents, in the Museo de la Revolucion there is a rather crude picture of a Cuban Royalist from the "Cuerpo de Voluntarios". The overall look is that of a Peninsular regular, in pale jacket and trousers with straw hat and short white gaiters. The Museo de la Ciudad is a much richer source, in it are preserved three uniforms in the "rayadillo" cloth, a mix of white and blue stripes. Most contemporary and modern pictures suggest that the white predominated, but from the evidence of these garments this was not so, in all of them the blue is more dominant than the white, giving the uniform a fairly pale grey-blue appearance at any distance.

The first uniform is of Lieutenant de Bon, of the "Tiradores of the 7th Battalion of the Voluntarios de Cazadores de la Habana, 1876-1898." It is a gala dress, with green trouser stripes, cuffs, the rayadillo jacket has a fold down collar, 7 buttons along the front of the jacket, gold lace trefoil epaulettes. On the collar is a brass bugle-horn with a "7" in the centre on a red cloth patch on both collar ends, the cuff has a ring of gold braid with the points of 3 "sardineta" lace above it and those surmounted by two gold lace rank stars, as per the 1835 regulations.

Next is a uniform "de diario" of an artillery Lieutenant, 1884-1898, the cut of the jacket is the same, but the only facings are on the cuffs which are black or even very dark blue, the same colour as a trouser stripe, a brass grenade is on the collar ends and a simple gold lace shoulder cord, the cuff decoration is the same as Lt. de Bon except there are no "sardinetas" to denote an elite unite, the straw "jipijapa" hat has a black band, it's cockade is missing it would have been red-yellow-red, for Spain.

The last uniform is that of Ramon Herrera Sancibrian, Conde de la Montera, Colonel of the "5th battalion of the Voluntarios de Cazadores", the only date given is "last quarter of the l9th century". The uniform is basically the came as Lt. de Bon's but with three gold rings on the cuffs and the stars of rank on the cuffs rather than on the forearms above the "sardineta" lace as per the 1860 regulations. He also has a dark blue pill-box cap which is piped in bright green with three gold rank lace going around it near it's base. There is also the gala dress of a "Cazadore de Caballeria, 1884-92" but it seems to be the same as for the Peninsula troops.

The weapons displayed appear to be fairly standard for the Spanish army, but it is interesting to note that at least one Regiment of cavalry was still using lances with pennons as late as 1895-8, a pair of these were captured by the Cubans from the "Regimiento del Rey".

There are seven flags of this period on show, four of them are ceremonial only, but three of them appear to have been used during the war on campaign. One is of the "15th Infantry Regiment" and is the National flag with the Regimental name in the centre. Another is a small dark blue pennon, triangular in shape, belonging to the "1 Bat. 2n Cia. Cuerpo de Voluntarios de Mataneas", this legend being written in silver letters along all of the three outer edges, there is a silver bugle horn in it's centre. it is topped by a cross spear-point, and wrapped with a silver cord. Finally there is a flag of an unknown unit, it is a National flag with "8A" in the centre in red lace with a branch of laurel leaves on either side.

I do hope that some of my notes have been of some help or interest to members, yours C.T.Cairns.

Notes on a period that I'm beginning to find of interest and have done so for the past three years, have to try and find some other data to include on it in the future. Many thanks Mr. Cairns.

Also see pages 154 - 159, El Dorado Vol. V No. 4 for details of his visit to Cuba. T.D.H.

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