Antonio Maceo, a mulatto leader, supports Gomez's plans and actions.

Under Gomez's direction, Maceo has developed into one of the most daring fighters of the Cuban army.

Showing extraordinary leadership and tactical capabilities, Maceo wins respect and admiration from his men, as well as fear and scorn from the Spanish troops.

He keeps tight discipline in his encampment, constantly planning and organizing future battles.

Maceo enjoyd outsmarting and outmaneuvering the Spanish generals, and on successive occasions he inflicts heavy losses on them.

Maceo's incursions into the eastern sugar zones not only help to disrupt the sugar harvest but more  importantly lead to the freedom of the slaves, who soon joins the ranks of the Cuban army.

Maceo has achieved the rank of general by 1872. His prominent position among revolutionary leaders soon gives rise to intrigue and suspicion.

Conservative elements that support the war effort begin to fear the possibility of the establishment of a black republic with Maceo at its head.

The example of Haiti still looms in the minds of many.

Dissension in the revolutionary ranks and fears of the blacks slow down the revolutionary effort.

Jordan had resigned from his Cuban post in February and returned to the United States, ending his long military career.

He will eventually settle in New York City and, continuing his interest in writing, will publish numerous articles on the Civil War and become the editor of the Mining Record.

Máximo Gómez is returned to his command and a new generation of skilled battle-tested Cuban commanders rises from the ranks, these including Antonio Maceo Grajales, José Maceo, Calixto García, Vicente Garcia González and Federico Fernández Cavada.

Cavada, who had served as a Colonel in the Union Army during the American Civil War, is named Commander-in-Chief of all the Cuban forces on April 4, 1870.

Máximo Gómez begins an invasion of Western Cuba in 1875, but the vast majority of enslaved people and wealthy sugar producers in the region do not join the revolt.

From the very onset of the war, there had been deep divisions with respect to its organization, which had become even more pronounced after the Assembly of Guáimaro with the dismissal of Céspedes and Quesada in 1873.

The Spanish have been able to exploit regionalist sentiments and fears that the slaves of Matanzas would break the weak existing balance between whites and blacks.

They have changed their policy towards the Mambises, offering amnesties and reforms.

The Mambises have not prevailed for a variety of reasons: lack of organization and resources; lower participation by whites; internal racist sabotage (against Maceo and the goals of the Liberating Army); the inability to bring the war to the western provinces (Havana in particular); and opposition by the U.S. government to Cuban independence.

The U.S. sells the latest weapons to Spain, but not to the Cuban rebels.

The protracted war has a profound effect on Cubans.

Many Creoles fight in parts of the island they had never even seen before.

Gradually, regionalism collapses and a common cause emerges; the little homeland (patria chica), with its stress on local loyalties, gives way to the fatherland.

The war also forces many to take sides on issues, thus accelerating the process of popular participation and integration.

Finally, the war provides numerous symbols that become part of Cuba's historical heritage.

The national anthem and flag as well as the national weapon, the machete, come out of this war.

In particular, the dedication of the mambises, who abandon position and comfort to fight Spanish power, become for future generations an example of unselfish sacrifice for the fatherland.

The war in Cuba has dragged on, with neither the Cubans nor the Spaniards able to win a decisive victory.

Finally, on February 11, 1878, the Pact of Zanjon ends the Ten Years' War.

Most of the generals of the Cuban army accept the pact; Maceo, however, refuses to capitulate and continues to fight with his now depleted army

On March 15, 1878, he holds a historic meeting, known as the "Protest of Baragua," with the head of the Spanish forces, Marshal Arsenio Martinez Campos, requesting independence for Cuba and complete abolition of slavery.

When these conditions are rejected, he again resumes fighting.

It is, however, a futile effort.

Years of bloodshed and war have left the Cuban forces exhausted.

Aid from exiles decreases, and Maceo now faces the bulk of the Spanish forces alone.

Realizing the hopeless situation, he leaves for Jamaica.

From there he travels to New York to raise money and weapons necessary to continue fighting.

He soon joins he activities of Major General Calixto Garcia, now organizing a new rebellion.

This uprising in 1879-80, known as the Little War (La Guerra Chiquita), will also end in disaster.

Maceo is kept in exile for fear of antagonizing the conservative elements in Cuba, and Garcia is captured soon after he lands on the island.

Exhausted and disillusioned after the long, bitter strug-gle and faced with a powerful and determined Spain, the Cubans ae in no mood to join this new and ill-prepared attempt.

The Cubans, after more than ten years of strife, are unable to overthrow Spanish power on the island.

The reasons for this failure are to be found partially in internal dissension, regionalism, and petty jealousies among the leaders, and partially in lack of internal organization and external support, which results in chronic shortages of supplies and ammunition.

The odds against the Cubans are also almost insurmountable.

They are fighting well-disciplined, well-organized, and well-equipped forces augmented steadily by reinforcements from Spain.

The Spaniards also control the seas, preventing the smuggling of reinforcements and weapons from abroad.

The Cubans are thus forced to carry on guerrilla operations in the hope of demoralizing the Spanish army or creating an international situation favorable to their cause.

The impact of the Ten Years War is particularly felt in the economic realm. 

The destruction caused by the fighting does away with the fortunes of many Cuban families.

Although the struggle is concentrated in eastern Cuba and many sugar plantations escape the ravages of war, the continuous development of a landed slavocracy in Cuba suffers a severe blow.

Numerous participants and sympathizers with the Cuban cause lose their properties.

Most Peninsulars side with Spain, and many estates pass from Creole to loyalist hands.

Because they have backed the Spanish cause, some Creole loyalists also profit from the losses of their brethren.

The growth and power of the Creole propertied class id further undermined in 1886 with the abolition of slavery.

The sophisticated and prosperous sugar industry in Cuba has long employed chattel slavery to produce 720,250 metric tons of sugar in 1868, more than forty percent of cane sugar reaching the world market that year.

Slavery had been maintained in Cuba, however, while abolition was underway elsewhere.

Independence from Spain had been the motive for the rebellion led by Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, a sugar planter, who had freed his slaves to fight with him for a free Cuba.

On December 27, 1868, he had issued a decree condemning slavery in theory but accepting it in practice and declaring free any slaves whose masters present them for military service.

The result of the rebellion has been a prolonged conflict known as the Ten Years' War.

The two thousand Cuban Chinese have joined the rebels.

The United States has declined to recognize the new Cuban government, although many European and Latin American nations have done so.

Following the end of the third Carlist civil war in 1876, Spain had dispatched additional troops to Cuba until they number more than two hundred and fifty thousand.

The impact of the Spanish measures on the liberation forces is severe.

Neither side in the war has been able to win a single concrete victory, let alone crush the opposing side to win the war.

After almost two years, General Arsenio Martínez Campos, in charge of applying the new policy, finally convinces most of the rebels to accept the Pact of Zanjón on February 10, 1878, signed by a negotiating committee.

The document contains most of the promises made by Spain, pledging various reforms throughout the island that will improve the financial situation of Cuba.

Perhaps the most significant is the pledge to free all slaves who had fought Spain.

A major conflict throughout the war has been the desire of both the rebels and the people loyal to Spain to abolish slavery.

The Maceo brothers refuse to sign the treaty and continue fighting until they take to exile to return later.

Calixto Garcia is released from Spanish prison.