The work carried out by Cuban doctors, and in particular by doctors from Camagüey, during the independence struggles is highly commendable. One of those men with such a praiseworthy function is Eugenio Sánchez Agramonte, who also obtained the rank of Brigadier General.

In the Necessary War, Eugenio Sánchez Agramonte, assumes different positions as General Headquarters Doctor, Chief of Health of the 3rd Corps. Without a doubt, his period as Superior Chief or Chief Director of Military Health stands out, a position also held on several occasions by other men from Camagüey such as the Luaces Iraola brothers, Rafael Argilagos Grinferrer, Gaspar Cisneros Betancourt, during the Great War.

Criteria differences

There are different criteria, regarding the date of occupation of the same, given that some sources suggest that he was appointed in 1895, while others support that in a meeting held in September of that year by a group of prestigious doctors, among whom was Eugenio, with the aim of organizing the “Military Health Corps”, Federico A. Incháustegui was elected and with his death Joaquín Castillo Duany.

In 1896, with the approval of the “Military Organization Law”, the Health Corps achieved a greater distribution, as it would be made up of a Major Plana or scientific staff made up of: pharmaceutical doctors and a Minor Plana or Sanitary Brigade made up of people who, although they did not have the necessary titles, they did have the aptitude and the disposition. It is at this stage that Eugenio Sánchez Agramonte assumes as Chief Director.

According to the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Military History of Cuba. Volume I, ceases in his functions in 1897 to meet abroad with his family, a departure that was used for other important purposes such as the mission to meet Ramón Emeretio Betances in Paris.

Betances gives Sánchez Agramonte a large sum of 10,000 pesos and also medicines, since he rejects the idea of ​​an invasion of Puerto Rico at that time, because he considers that it was necessary to focus on strengthening the Cuban independence cause. These resources are used in the organization of an expedition that leaves the port of Fernandina, in Florida and disembarks along the north coast of Camagüey.

In 1898 he assumes again as the head of the Military Health, a position with which the war ends, after having carried out different actions aimed at a better functioning of the Military Health Corps.

Bibliography

Abreu Ugarte, Jorge Eduardo. Experiencia aportadas por los médicos militares cubanos en las guerras por la independencia del siglo XIX. Historia de la Medicina Militar.

Mayo Márquez, Rubén Carlos. Médicos en el Ejército Libertador. Mediciego 2013;19 (Supl.1).

Diccionario Enciclopédico de Historia Militar de Cuba. Primera parte (1510-1898). Tomo I. Biografías. Casa Editorial verde Olivo, La Habana, 2014.

Translated by: Aileen Álvarez García