Who was Carlos Manuel de Cespedes?

Carlos was the man who launched the very first war of independence in Cuba. This was in response to Spain increasing taxes and refusing to grant Cubans political autonomy. Carlos was a wealthy plantation owner. On October 10, 1868 Carlos called a meeting of all his slaves. He told the slaves they were going to be a part of his army and he declared they were free. The slaves chose to fight with him and slaves from other plantations joined the army. He also gained the support of other white landowners and merchants. They were not fond of the idea that they had to free their slaves but their hatred for Spain overpowered that. In order to weaken Spain’s economic power they freed their slaves to join the revolution. Carlos was killed by spanish soldiers in 1874 and the war ended in 1878. This war failed but this went on to fuel Cuban independence.Later on this war became known as the Ten Years War.