Honorato del Castillo
Honorato del Castillo was a Cuban revolutionary and army general who played a key role in the Ten Years' War in Cuba.
Early life
Honorato Andrés del Castillo y Cancio was born in Sancti Spíritus, Las Villas, Spanish Cuba, on November 30, 1838.Castillo studied and subsequently taught at the "El Salvador" school led by José de la Luz y Caballero. He was multilingual and graduated as a Doctor of Medicine before the war.
Ten Years' War
Honorato del Castillo joined the war of independence against Spain following the Cry of Yara by Carlos Manuel de Céspedes on October 10, 1868.On April 10, 1869, he served as a delegate of Sancti Spíritus at the Guáimaro constituent assembly. He was among the citizen deputies who voted for the Guáimaro Constitution.
From the beginning, he was instrumental in the uprising in Cinco Villos and Sancti Spíritus. The Mambí brigadier commanded the first brigade of the Cuban Liberation Army's 3rd Division, Army of Las Villas, under Maj. Gen. Federico Fernández Cavada. It was one of the division's three brigades and operated in Sancti Spíritus. By summer 1869, he had set fire to several Spanish-owned plantations.