Battle of Pino de Baire
| Battle of Pino de Baire | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Ten Years' War | |||||||
  Battle of Pino de Baire (Cuba) | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Ejército Mambí |
 Spain | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Donato Mármol Sergeant Máximo Gómez | Colonel Demetrio Quirós Weyler | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 1,100 | 700 men | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Unknown | 233 casualties | ||||||
The Battle of Pino de Baire, also known as the Primera Carga al Machete (English: First Machete Charge), occurred on 25 October 1868 during the beginning of the Ten Years' War. It was the first instance of the reputable machete charge in the war that became a common mambí tactic.
The events
[edit]A Spanish column of more than 700 men commanded by Colonel Demetrio Quirós Weyler was en route to Bayamo from Manzanillo[1] or Santiago de Cuba[2] to recapture the city from Carlos Manuel de Céspedes when ambushed by Máximo Gómez's forces, who were under the command of Donato Mármol, at Baire,[3] near Contramaestre.
The column was armed with swords and bayonets while the mambises carried mostly machetes, pitchforks, and other farming tools.[4] Due to the superior quality of Spanish equipment, Gómez decided to engage in close combat with machetes, a weapon he was familiar with from his service in the Dominican Republic.
The battle was disastrous for the Spanish column, who disorderly retreated after suffering numerous casualties. The column retreated to Santiago de Cuba with near one third of the men lost.[1] In this retreat the force left behind firearms, ammunition, and a train of artillery.[4] The mambises were left with a few men injured.
Film depiction
[edit]The battle was depicted in the 1969 black and white film La primera carga al machete directed by Manuel Octavio Gómez.[5]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Navarro García (1998), p. 26
- ^ Facts about Cuba: Pub. under the authority of the New York Cuban junta. Sun job printing off. 1870. p. 10. LCCN 03025487.
- ^ "Volume 22". Munsey's Magazine. Vol. 22. Frank A. Munsey Company. 1900. p. 217.
- ^ a b Walker (1875), p. 383
- ^ Murguía, O'Reilly & McMenamin (2020), pp. 284–285
Bibliography
[edit]- “La primera carga al machete, de Manuel Octavio Gómez: Cine, mito y revolución” Artículo de Santiago Juan-Navarro publicado en Cinéma et Révolution cubaine. Eds. Julie Amiot and Nancy Berthier. Lyon: Université Lyon 2 – GRIMH, 2006. 105–113.
- Murguía, Salvador Jimenez; O'Reilly, Sean; McMenamin, Amanda (15 January 2020). A Cuban Cinema Companion. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-5381-0774-4.
- Navarro García, Luis (1998). Las guerras de España en Cuba. Madrid: Ediciones Encuentro. ISBN 8474904749.
- Walker, Jeanie Mort (1875). Life of Capt. Joseph Fry, the Cuban martyr. Being a faithful record of his remarkable career from childhood to the time of his heroic death at the hands of Spanish executioners; recounting his experience as an officer in the U. S. and Confederate navies, and revealing much of the inner history and secret marine service of the late Civil War in America. Hartford, J. B. Burr.