Cuban Liberation Army
The Cuban Liberation Army, colloquially known as the Mambí Army was an insurgent army which was formed in the last third of the 19th century and fought for independence from Spain and the abolition of slavery. It first saw combat in the Ten Years' War under the command of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, Ignacio Agramonte, and Carlos Roloff. The independentists were decentralized and operated within their own regions autonomously of each other, until the Assembly of Guáimaro established the Republic-in-Arms of Cuba and the Liberation Army's command structure. After the Pact of Zanjón, a brief uprising called the Little War saw Majors-General Calixto García and Antonio Maceo lead the Army of Liberation in another attempt at independence and the abolition of slavery, though unsuccessfully. Finally, during the War of Independence, the Liberation Army was once again organized to fight against the Spanish colonial government. The Liberation Army would reach its highest count of active members in the Spanish-American War, when an imminent Cuban-American victory caused hitherto anti-independence elites to join the Liberation Army. These recruits were nicknamed "Sunflowers" because they "point to where the sun is shining".
Uniforms and ranks
The Cuban Liberation Army did not have a widespread or universal uniform, especially when they first began their operations. However, by 1895, most officers and some soldiers had a uniform of some sort. Common among all soldiers were straw hats, which were necessary for protection against the hot Cuban sun. Some of these hats had the front folded upwards, upon which the Cuban flag or the Coat of arms of Cuba were displayed.The common dress uniform was a white or khaki drill tunic and trousers. The tunics would have folded collars, metal buttons, and pockets either on the breast or skirt. Upon the uniform, the men would wear any necessary accouterments and equipment, such as sheathes for machetes, pouches for bullets, and other supplies. In terms of footwear, military cobblers were producing boots for the combatants of the Liberation Army, but not everyone was able to get a pair. Straw sandals and bare-footedness were common.
Officers had distinctive insignia on their uniforms to identify their rank. Major-Generals, including the general-in-chief and lieutenant-general, wore three gold five-pointed stars on their collars. Divisional generals, which only became its own rank after the Little War, wore two such stars, and brigadiers, one.
Officers ranked lower than brigadier will wear a cloth patch backing on their machete sheath's sling, a tab on their shirt, or anywhere else visible. The color of the patch determines service branch. Blue means general staff, green means infantry, red means cavalry, light brown means artillery, brown means engineers, yellow means medical corps, black means judiciary corps, and white means civil government.
Colonels wear three gold stars on their patch, lieutenant-colonels, two, and commanders, one. Captains are designated similarly to colonels, but their stars are white rather than gold. Lieutenants have two white stars, and sublieutenants have one. First sergeants were designated similarly, but with horizontal bars instead of stars, which they had three of. Second sergeants had two bars, and corporals had one.
In 1895, there was a widespread rumor that the soldiers of the Liberation Army all wore nose rings. However, a fifteen-year-old plantation worker from Havana province went to see for himself, and returned with a definitive answer: the soldiers did not wear nose rings.
Weapons
The Liberation Army equipped itself with a wide range of weapons for its operations. There were always issues with standardization and equipment shortages, especially in the beginning of the Ten Years' War and all throughout the Little War. There were many methods of acquiring weapons. Many of those who would go on to become insurgents may have owned a shotgun, rifle, or blunderbuss for hunting or other activities before the ownership of firearms and importation of weapons was banned in Cuba. Aristocratic creoles or gentlemen who joined the army might have owned a sword or saber to bring with them, and might have also had some training in fencing. The iconic weapon of the Liberation Army, however, was the machete, the common tool of the peasants, indentured servants, and slaves.Firearms and Artillery
Besides local supplies and personal collections of guns that the insurgents might have owned, more weapons would be required to carry out successful military operations against the Spanish Army, one of the most powerful at the time. There were two main methods of acquiring firearms: armed expeditions which smuggled weapons into Cuba, or attacking Spanish columns, camps, trains and armories to steal guns and ammunition. Several expeditions were funded by organizations in the United States, such as the Revolutionary Junta in the Ten Years' War and the Cuban Revolutionary Party in the War of 1895.On 22 December 1868, General Manuel de Quesada led 71 expeditionaries in bringing 2,540 Enfield Rifles, 150 Spencer Carbines, half a million rounds of ammunition, a cannon, 300 grenades, and a great amount of gunpowder. Carlos Roloff was heavily involved in expeditions during the 1895 war. He was an expert of bookkeeping, organization, and deception, which allowed him to fool Spanish spies and American officials who attempted to arrest him and confiscate his expeditions. On one such expedition, which landed in Tayabacoa, Las Villas, on July 24, 1895, at 9:30 PM, carried 150 men, 300 rifles, 300,000 rounds of ammunition, and several pounds of dynamite. Popular rifles to smuggle included the Enfield, Springfield 1861, Springfield 1873, Winchester Rifles, Spencers, Krag–Jørgensens, Colt Lightnings, and others. Revolvers were also acquired for officers and cavalry forces.
During the Ten Years' War, the standard-issue rifle for the Spanish Army was the Remington Rolling Block in.43 Spanish. The Liberation Army would often raid for and capture these rifles and their ammunition for their own use. The same was done in the War of Independence, when the standard-issue rifle of the Spanish Army was the Mauser. The Remington was still in use with Volunteer units, which were typically Cuban Loyalists who fought for Spain, but could also be Basques who were born in regions which were not obligated by Spanish law to provide regiments to the crown.
In terms of artillery, cannons purchased in the United States were available in minuscule numbers. More common was the taking of Spanish cannons. In the War of 1895, the Spanish were by then using the Krupp gun, a breech-loading field gun. There was also native production of leather guns, which may have had a bronze or wooden barrel, which is then wrapped in leather. These were muzzleloaded, and had high risks of self destruction, especially after four shots. Carlos Roloff used these rudimentary cannons and 300 men to defeat a Spanish force of 700 at San Gil on February 19, 1869.
Bladed Weapons
Due to the general lack of firearms and ammunition, close-range weapons were needed to make up the difference. Indeed, some aristocratic individuals, like Ignacio Agramonte, would have owned a sword either to display their status or to use in duels. The more common sidearm, however, was the machete. Many different types were used, and each soldier used whichever he could get. At first, this meant the machetes used in the sugarcane fields to harvest the cane, but with time, other options would be made available. Workshops operated by the Liberation Army had the capability of producing machetes with blades that were specialized for combat. The preferred machete blade shape was single-edged and long, they also often had crossguards for hand protection. Machetes made by Collins & Co., a machete manufacturer from Hartford, Connecticut, were particularly popular with the insurgents, who purchased many models. The No. 22 was used by Cuban cavalry and, eventually, the Rough Riders and First US Volunteer Engineers. The Model No. 323 was especially made by Collins to circumvent Spanish weapon import bans. The machete used by Antonio Maceo was 73 centimeters long. Máximo Gómez's was 86. Most impressive, however, was the machete of José Guillermo "Guillermón" Moncada, which was 130 centimeters long.Machetes have been in combat in Cuba since 1762. When the British sieged Havana, the mayor organized Free Black and Mulatto Militias to face the British in conjunction with the regular army. When muskets ran out, the militias took up machetes. Early on, the militias were able to capture and kill a number of British soldiers and officers, but the siege was lost when reinforcements from the thirteen colonies arrived. It's been the weapon of the many slave rebellions both in Cuba and elsewhere. Cuban slaves, inspired by events in Haiti, would attempt slave revolts in the early 1800s, none of which succeeded. On October 25, 1868, then-sergeant Máximo Gómez prepared an ambush as part of the Battle of Pino de Baire. After firing one volley of rifle fire from concealed positions, 40 infantrymen wielding machetes came down upon the Spanish soldiers. The shock and terror within the Spanish ranks was such that 233 casualties were sustained before the routing of the unit. Gómez, having served in both the Dominican and Spanish armies, would have seen similar charges in the Dominican War of Independence and the Restoration War. For his service in this battle, he was awarded the rank of general.