CUBA LIBRE - MACEO THE MARTYR - 1898 PINBACK - RARE

Description

We are offering a
RARE
Cuba Libre Maceo The Martyr Pinback.
Circa 1898.
Antonio Macea y Grajales was not only a courageous fighter, but an honorable man and soldier who was, and is today considered to be Cuba's most revered hero.
Macea fought in Cuba's Ten Year War (1868-1878) for Independence from Spanish control.  After five years in the Cuban rebel army, he was promoted to brigadier general.
He participated in more than 500 battles, suffering over 25 war injuries, always continuing to fight even though he was injured.
In 1878, after ten years of battle, a treaty was signed with the Spain.  Maceo did not support the treaty because it did not address the reasons for the war in the first place - the abolition of slavery in Cuba and Cuban independence.  For a number of years, Maceo lived in Haiti, Jamaica and Costa Rica.  In 1895, Maceo returned to Cuba and gathered together a group of rebel soldiers who were joined by other rebel groups.  Maceo's Liberation Army broke through military trails, walls and fences built by the Spanish, and defeated them over and over again, even though the Spaniards were technically and numerically superior to the rebels.  The Spanish forced hundreds of thousands of Cuban peasants into concentration camps where nearly one-third of the Cuban population died.  This cruelty only encouraged many more people to join the Liberation Army.
Antonio Maceo died December 7, 1897 when a small party of Cuban rebels was ambushed by a Spanish patrol on the outskirts of Havana.
Maceo's legacy lives on for many Cubans and Cuban Americans today!
CONDITION: The pin (7/8") is in Very Good Condition.