turbances that took place up to 1868, and
Ascenio, his godfather, a prominent lawyer of Santiago City, was one
of the most active promoters of the ten-years' struggle that began in
1868.

After a boyhood spent in the best schools of Santiago de Cuba,
Antonio's seventeenth year found him engaged in business for his
father. The preparations for the war were then secretly going on, and
young Maceo, being thought to possess a discretion beyond his years,
was initiated into the movement. He labored hard for the cause then,
and when the time came for action he promptly took the field, at
eighteen years of age, with a few men whom he had organized and armed.

Maceo was really idolized by his men. For one thing, his magnificent
personal appearance and the halo of many glorious exploits had great
effect; but the real reason for his popularity was the care he took of
his men. No soldier was too poorly or too thinly clad to come right in
and talk to the General at any time. Maceo talked familiarly with his
stalwart men, listened patiently to all complaints, great and small,
and settled them in a quick, decisive manner. Particularly was he an
object of affection to his men because he was always the first rider
in a _machete_ charge. He was always the closest to the enemy in a
mountain fight, and was never to be found in a pitched battle anywhere
else but in the first trench when there was any firing going on.

Dispatches were received in this country on Saturday, January 16,
1897, confirming the report of the death of Gen. Antonio Maceo, the
valiant Cuban leader, who, with the rest of his staff, was reported to
have been brutally murdered through Spanish treachery. Having been
invited by the Spaniards to a conference, with a view of bringing the
terrific struggle for Cuban liberty to an end, he started for the
place of meeting. When nearly there he found himself surrounded by
Spanish forces, and received the command to surrender. Instantly
realizing that he had been drawn into a trap, he and his followers
made a terrible struggle for their freedom, but were outnumbered. As
they were fighting, Maceo received his death wound, and shed his
life's blood in the defense of his country, which he loved too well to
desert by surrender. Thus died brave Antonio Maceo, one of the
greatest generals of African extraction that ever lived.

Jose Antonio Maceo was born in the eastern province of Santiago, near
the city of Santiago de Cuba, in 1