Serafín Sánchez
Serafín Sánchez | |
|---|---|
 Serafín Sánchez as a Major General | |
| Born | July 2, 1846 Sancti Spíritus, Captaincy General of Cuba, Spain |
| Died | November 18, 1896 (aged 50) Villa Clara Province, Cuba |
| Allegiance |  Cuba |
| Branch | Cuban Revolutionary Army |
| Years of service | 1868 — 1896 |
| Rank | Major General |
| Battles/wars | Ten Years' War Little War Cuban War of Independence |
Serafín Gualberto Sánchez Valdivia was a Cuban patriot, a participant of all three Cuban wars of independence, in addition to participating in the Gómez-Maceo Plan. He reached the rank of Major General.[1] He participated in more than 120 fights. He was also a surveyor and teacher. Brother of Colonel Sabás Raimundo Sánchez Valdivia and Brigadier José Joaquín Sánchez Valdivia . He maintained a solid friendship with Máximo Gómez and José Martí, who considered him a brother.
Early Years[]
Sánchez was born on 2 of July 1846, three in the city of Sancti Spiritus, Cuba . He was one of the 22 children of Don Joaquín Sánchez Marín and Doña Isabel María de Valdivia y Salas, who came from families from Spiritus with a well-off economic position.[2]
His youth passed between the city and the country. He completed primary studies at a Jesuit college in his hometown.
He managed to graduate as a surveyor, but he always longed to be a teacher, a job he would do in the heat of war. His ideals, ingrained since childhood, allowed him to shed a life dependent on his parents.
Ten Years' War[]
He rose in arms on February 6 of 1869 in the north of the present province of Sancti Spiritus with only 45 men. Four days after the first part in combat Mayajigua and then others such as Chambas, ,[3] , Naranjo, and Cascorro, among others.
In the midst of the difficult life in the jungle, he practiced his profession as a teacher, teaching literate peasants and freed slaves .
The 1 of October 1877 was promoted to colonel and 18 December of that year fought his last major action in this war to the Spanish attack a convoy heading to Sancti Spiritus Fort Taguasco . The 28 of February 1878 laid down his arms in Ojo de Agua, taking up the Pact of the Zanjón.
Little War[]
He remained in Sancti Spíritus and sporadically in Havana. In December 1878 he began to manage with the Spanish high command a decorous exit for the then colonel , who was still fighting in the jurisdiction of Sancti Spíritus without any possibility of success.
Simultaneously he conspired to prepare a new uprising in Las Villas, for which he used the pseudonym Magón. On December 8, 1878, Major General Calixto García, president of the Cuban Revolutionary Committee in exile in New York City, sent him the diploma of Brigadier General and the appointment of head of the revolutionary movement in the jurisdiction of Sancti Spíritus.
He was a signatory of the manifesto proclaimed by Ramón Leocadio Bonachea in the Protesta del Jarao, on April 15, 1879 .
He participated in the Little War together with other military leaders who opposed the Pact of Zanjón , obtaining the rank of Major General.
All attempts to revitalize the war failed, on August 1, 1880, he embarked on the north coast of Remedios for the United States.
Exile[]
After a few days in New York, he decided to settle in the Dominican Republic, where he stayed for more than eleven years. There he collaborated with the Gómez-Maceo Plan from 1884 to 1886, which finally did not bear fruit.
Later, he settled in Key West. In exile, he collaborated with José Martí, standing out as a writer, poet and journalist.
Sánchez later participated in the organization of the failed plan of Fernandina . Then he organizes an expedition together with General Carlos Roloff to return to his homeland. Sánchez disembarked in Cuban coast the 24 of July 1895 in the area of Punta Caney, Sancti Spiritus.
Cuban War of Independence[]
When Carlos Roloff was granted the position of Secretary of War, he became Chief of the IV Corps of the Cuban Revolutionary Army.[4]
At the end of the year 1896 he returned to his native province, where he carried out several combats causing new defeats to the enemy.
The 18 of November 1896, in the Battle of Paso de las Damas in the province of Las Villas against Spanish forces in large numbers exceeding the Mambisas.[3]
After the objective of the battle was accomplished, he ordered the retreat. At that moment, a Mauser bullet passed through him from his right shoulder to his left and he fell into the arms of . Some who came to his aid heard his last words: “They have killed me! It does not matter, that the march continues! ». He passed away at 5:15 pm
Legacy[]
He is considered with other figures like Gómez and Maceo, one of the main leaders of the Cuban War of Independence. His advanced ideology made him not only lash out at the Spanish forces, and racism and divisiveness within the Cuban forces, but also foresaw the US intentions to get involved in the Spanish-Cuban conflict. He stood out as a man of thought and action, of high ideological stature and political vision.
Currently, the square of the revolution in the city of Sancti Spíritus bears his name and a statue was erected in his honor.
Reference[]
- 1846 births
- 1896 deaths
- People of the Ten Years' War
- Cuban soldiers
- Cuban generals
- 19th-century Cuban military personnel
- Cuban independence activists
- Military officers
- Generals by war