If in the East the Bayamés leader who led the outbreak on October 10th, 1868, had taken the initiative to attack Bayamo city, why wouldn’t the people of Camagüey carry out a similar audacious action that, far from frightening the Spanish troops, would make known the liveliness of the Liberation Army in Camagüey and the strength of the Revolution in the center-east of Cuba? A lot of revolutionary initiatives carried out by the people of Camagüey are engraved in our history pages, since 1820.

With his intellectual capacity and his knowledge of the military art forged by the responsible study of tactics and strategy manuals, Major General Ignacio Agramonte y Loynaz decided to attack the fortified city of Puerto Príncipe, an attack with the objective of causing astonishment among the command of the colonialist forces. The Revolution had to be made felt, and its announcement should not be political but military.

The required action analysis

Few historians have stopped to fully appreciate the strategic significance of the daring military action, not at all improvised, however, it is worth highlighting the genius with which El Mayor came out with this plan that was designed by him and where to the information provided by communicating agents scattered and active throughout the city were of great help; the domain of the land known by El Mayor consisting of roads and alleys that surrounded the city and made it connect with its access points and main bridges.

Studied the real defensive capacity that the Hispanic soldiers would put before him; his knowledge of types of infantry weapons and their firepower, quantity and types of existing artillery pieces, number of men, telegraphy service, among other enemy resources; entrances covered by posts and other Spanish fortifications; his accurate calculation of the probabilities of casualties in the insurgent ranks; precise count of weapons and quantity of ammunition that he had to count on for an attack of such magnitude to an urban area of ​​about 330 hectares; study of the guarantee of warnings or communications between the different attack groups; efficient analysis of the execution time in which the attack and the return of the rebels to the camps had to take place; among other elements of strategy that had to be previously calibrated between him and his subordinates.

Colonialist military forces and resources

The colonialist forces in Puerto Príncipe help to understand the risk that Major Agramonte would run when entering the territory subject to the Command and General Staff of the Military Department of the Central Region. Forces that consisted of a First Brigade that operated in the vicinity of the city and was made up of 4 infantry battalions, 4 cavalry squadrons, 1 guerrilla and 1 mountain artillery section.

A Second Brigade was added that made its movements between the Caonao River and San Jerónimo and a force to which 4 infantry battalions, 1 cavalry regiment, 1 guerrilla, 1 mountain artillery section and 1 company of engineers were integrated. Meanwhile, a half brigade would guard the Nuevitas-Puerto Príncipe railway line and to which would be added 1 infantry battalion and 2 militia battalions. A Third Brigade operated between the Najasa and Santa Cruz area, made up of 4 infantry battalions, 2 cavalry squadrons, workers and a transport section.

Moreover, the Fourth Brigade covered the territory between the town of Guáimaro and San Miguel de Nuevitas, and it was made up of 4 infantry battalions, 1 cavalry squad, 3 guerrillas, 1 artillery section and another of workers and a transport company.

Céspedes and Agramonte

Both of them were courageous, ready to make any sacrifice so that Cuba would be free and independent. Both leaders of the insurrection respected each other, both trusted each other in their capacities and abilities to achieve that goal; and the Bayamés Leader of October 10th knew that the Leading Lawyer of Camagüey was capable of undertaking any feat, hence he accepted his resignation from his seat in the Chamber in Guáimaro, in April 1869, and empowered him to lead the full command of Camagüey in Arms. Céspedes, after several meetings with him, had discovered the kind of man that Ignacio Agramonte was. Precisely, the attack on the city of Puerto Príncipe carried out masterfully at dawn on July 20th, 1870, would end up proving to the President of the Republic in Arms Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, elected in the Mayor’s home region and where he was loved, that Ignacio Agramonte was an ingenious military strategic.

Translated by: Aileen Álvarez García