Explorer Christopher Columbus dreamed of reaching China, Japan, and India via a new westward water route. He sought to find spices, silks, gold, and other riches.
After years of petitioning Queen Isabella I and King Ferdinand II of Spain for funding, the royals granted his request, created an agreement, and gave him the seed money to begin. The king and the queen wanted to spread the faith of Christianity as did Columbus, and they also wanted to become wealthy from commerce. Part of this agreement would allow Columbus to keep 10% of any riches he found during his journey, and he could bestow any title upon himself during his voyages. On August 3, 1492, three ships known as the Niña, Pinta, and Santa Maria set sail from the port town of Palos, Spain. A little over a month later, Columbus and his crew reached the crystal-clear blue waters of the Bahamas, which he named San Salvador. Indigenous peoples that had populated the Bahamas islands and their name for these lands was Guanahani, which means small upper water lands.
A region that comprises Puerto Rico, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Bahamas, and Cuba within the Atlantic Ocean is known as the Greater Antilles. The indigenous peoples within this area are known as the Taíno. On October 27, 1492, Columbus and his crew landed on the north coast of Cuba and claimed it for Spain. He explored the Cuban islands and present-day Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) for about five months. The Spaniards began to inhabit the lands, colonize the people, and started to enslave the Taíno people of Cuba. Caciques, or leaders of the land, began to organize a resistance against the Spaniards from 1495 to 1496. The Taíno were outnumbered but continued to fight. Chief Hatuey, a cacique from Haiti, traveled to Cuba with others to warn the natives in Cuba about the Spanish invasion. Hatuey also spread a message to other chieftains against the conversion to Christianity, which the Spaniards encouraged the Taino peoples to accept.
Sometime in 1511, the Conquistadors arrived in Cuba. Hatuey was preaching to neighboring tribes, “the Spaniards are coming to pillage our people for gold, jewels, and what type of god encourages their people of such behavior?” He encouraged his people to throw their gold and jewels into the sea, and he continued to fight guerilla warfare against the Spaniards until his capture by Conquistador Diego Velasquez. He was burned alive at the stake in the town of Yara. Hatuey is remembered as Cuba’s first national hero and a freedom fighter who denounced colonialism.
The Spanish Empire reached its pinnacle around the mid-18th century. At one time, Spain’s portfolio of colonies included Mexico, Guatemala, Venezuela, Peru, Chile, Bolivia, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, Cuba, and more. They also controlled three-quarters of what is known today as the United States and parts of Canada known as the Louisiana Territory. In 1763, the Treaty of Fontainebleau ceded the western Louisiana Territory to Spain for an interim period and the eastern side to Great Britain. The middle portion of this territory was returned to France, and the Louisiana Purchase was completed on July 4, 1803, by the United States. The remainder of the western territory, which was still owned by Spain, was known as New Spain and was transferred to France. This officially completed the Louisiana Purchase, and Three Flags Day is celebrated between March 9 and March 10. Spain’s economic woes continued mounting due to war, and soon, French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Spain. When he occupied it from 1808 to 1812, many of Spain’s colonies had been plotting their escape from colonial rule. From 1810 through 1823, a majority of colonies that once swore allegiance to the King of Spain became independent. Spain continued fighting wars all around the world over the next few decades, hemorrhaging their treasuries. Starting in the 1860s, the people of Cuba started movements toward their independence. Cubans demanded social and economic reforms. No Cuban-born citizens were permitted to be in the Spanish parliament, and this added to the frustrations of the people. One person who sparked the revolution was José Morales Lemus. He was a businessman and lawyer who freed people he had once enslaved and became a staunch abolitionist. Lemus and a group of reformists went to Madrid, Spain, in 1866 to seek Cuba’s freedom. To no avail, he returned to Cuba empty handed without a deal. Sugar plantations, tobacco farms, and refineries provided the majority of taxes collected by the Spanish Crown. In 1867, the wealthiest plantation owner Francisco Vicente Aguilera, the mayor of Bayamo and a freemason, formed the Revolutionary Committee of Bayamo. His formation of this committee jump started the movement, which led to The First War of Independence being fought between Spain and Cuba.
The war began on October 10, 1868, in the city of Yara when a group of individuals led by sugar mill owner Carlos Manuel de Céspedes claimed independence from the Spanish Crown. This uprising is known as the “Grito de Yara” or “Cry of Yara,” which is the same town where Chief Hatuey was executed. Céspedes had written a manifesto that called on all the people of Cuba to join the uprising irrespective of race. His main points were that Cuba should have its own constitution, slavery should be abolished in the lands, reinvestment into the communities should be a priority, and all men should be equal. Céspedes is also credited with designing the first flag during the uprising known as La Demajagua. The flag has a single star, colors of red, white, blue, and it was the October 10 flag used for the entirety of this war. During this uprising, Máximo Gómez, a former Dominican Republic cavalry officer in the Spanish Army, taught the Cuban guerilla fighters known as Mambises the art of war. Mambisas were the women that played many important roles in the war as well. A method of warfare Máximo adopted was the “scorched earth policy,” which called for the burning of all vegetation on the lands. Another one of his most effective tactics was called the “machete charge,” which was effective in close-range hand-to-hand combat used at the Battle of Pino de Baire. These methods allowed the rebel forces to defeat the Spanish at this battle, and they collected guns, artillery, and ammunition that the soldiers abandoned. The war was now many months into 1869, and support for Cuba to become a free nation was quietly growing stronger throughout the world. Because of the growing tensions in Cuba, Lemus sought refuge in the United States. He formed a military revolutionist group called the Junta Central Republicana de Cuba y Puerto Rico in New York City at 71 Broadway Street. Lemus also headed the group that supported the revolutionists, and the secretary was a Puerto Rican named Dr. José Francisco Basora.
These two men issued bonds in various denominations with a fixed interest rate to finance the war. Each bond was personally signed by Lemus and today these bonds are collectible. Céspedes, the president of the Cuban uprising, instructed Lemus to create a paper currency that was intended to circulate between the liberated people and its armed forces. Many denominations were printed, and each note was purportedly signed by Céspedes or had a stamped copy of his signature. Use of the currency was dangerous, as people found with it risked being killed or apprehended by the Spaniards. Each note displays a coat of arms created by Miguel Teurbe Tolón in 1849. The key located in the ocean before the sun represents Cuba. In this illustration, to the right of the key is Florida, and to the left is the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico. Cuba has been referred to as the “Key to the Americas” or the “Key to the New World” throughout history.
Right: PCGS PR63 1870-P CT Cuba Provisional Copper ½ Peso. Click image to enlarge.
In 1870, the Junta Central Republicana de Cuba, headed by Lemus, commissioned 5, 10, 20 centavos, the ½ peso, and 1 peso pattern coinage denominations. All of these coins were struck in both silver and copper. Little information exists as to where the coins were officially minted. However, there is a book published in Miami, Florida, from 1966 that is titled The Coinage of Cuba 1870 to Date, which was authored by Thomas Lismore. In a 2020 auction listing for an 1870 PCGS PR63 copper 1 peso pattern that sold for $5,400, a notation from Stack’s Bowers Galleries states that the author Lismore “speculates that the engraver for this series was Clemente Toretti, an American engraver active during this time period in South America and Europe using the initials ‘C.T.’; he was the mint-master of the La Paz mint in 1868, presumably transferring the following year in 1869 to the Potosi Mint after the closure of La Paz and eventually in 1877 began working at the Brussels Mint.” All coins were struck in a proof finish, with the mintage of each coin struck in silver being 10, and the coinage struck in copper had a mintage of 40. All coins are considered rare by collectors of Cuban coinage.
A decree issued by the Spanish government on March 22, 1841, required some of the countries in the Upper Antilles (including Cuba) to countermark coins due to a devaluation of the real in Spain. The most common coins that are countermarked from this order are Spanish 2 reales and 4 reales. These coins were countermarked with a pattern that appeared as a lattice with a pointed sun in the middle that bore no date or ND. The coins are primarily attributed to Cuba but did circulate in other colonies as well. One PCGS Set Registry member named Jose Zargozi has a ND(1841) Cuban Countermark Coinage Set for members to view. During the Ten Years’ war, the practice of countermarking coins returned to Cuba.
The revolutionaries chose silver coinage from Mexico and the United States as host coins. These coins would be countermarked with a “key” and they are unlikely to be short of silver purity. Many different silver denominations were used as host coins, and two types of keys were used: a short key and a long key. One of the rarest examples of this type of coinage is a PCGS Genuine VF Details 1866 Maximilian Peso with a “short key” sold for $5,760 in January of 2022 via Stack’s Bowers Galleries. Another extremely rare coin in the same auction was the PCGS AU58+ 1873 Mexican 8 Reales with two “long keys” that sold for $8,400 and hailed from The Kyle Ponterio Collection. Individuals who produced or countermarked these coins are unknown, and Cuban pieces such as these are highly sought by many collectors over the world.
On February 10, 1878, The Pact of Zanjón was signed, effectively ending the La Guerra Grande or Ten Years’ War. A provisional government and constitution were agreed upon by the Spaniards and the Cubans. Even though both sides reached an agreement to stop warring, slavery was still not abolished, and freedom was not guaranteed by Spain. The war was not officially over as Lt. General José Antonio de la Caridad Maceo y Grajales and his brother Garcia would not concede. General Maceo was known as the “Bronze Titan” among his soldiers because of his physical prowess, and the Spaniards referred to him as “Greater Lion” or (el León Mayor). Maceo would fight and lead his men into war despite being wounded with bullet or knife injuries. On March 15, 1878, Maceo met with the Spanish Armed Forces in eastern Santiago with Spanish General Arsenio Martinez Campos, and said, “No, there is no misunderstanding between us,” as he did not believe that ending the war with a treaty would change Spain’s view about Cuba being a powerless colony. This meeting was known as the “Baraguá protest” and is still celebrated by the people of Cuba to this day. Maceo and his men continued to hold out, and Cuban revolutionary leaders wanted to protect them. The leaders understood Maceo and his men’s patriotism, but, with talks, they convinced Lt. General Maceo to surrender, and he fled to Jamaica. The Pact of Zanjón was officially in effect on May 28, 1878, and warfare ceased.
For some time, war was off the minds of both the Cubans and the Spanish. At least there was a pause in warfare, which did not last long. Calixto García Íñiguez was an integral part of the Ten Years’ War, and he was captured and imprisoned five years into the war. He was released when the Pact of Zanjón was signed, but his signature was not present on this agreement. Calixto refused to sign the pact, and in 1878, he issued a manifesto that denounced the absolute power of Spain. Tensions continued to mount, and on August 26, 1879, Guerra Chiquita or The Little War began. José Marcelino Maceo Grajales, Lt. General Antonio Maceo’s brother, led others in this second war. Unfortunately, the rebels faced many hurdles. The revolutionaries did not have munitions or artillery, the men were exhausted, and they did not have the monetary backing of any foreign powers. During this time, leaders in Cuba that backed the resistance to the Spanish Crown were being arrested, and the war ended on December 3, 1880. The rebels were defeated by the Spaniards, but the burning desire for freedom was not extinguished – nor forgotten.