The troops in Las Tunas were the last to lay down their arms in the bloody days of the so-called Ten Years War. It was June 6, 1878.
It all happened at the La del Medio farm, near what is today the town of Bartle. There, around 685 determined men, between officers and members of the troop, included in the provisions of the event the absolute freedom of those who had started the war-fighting as slaves.
The day after the event, at 8:00 am, the Major General from Las Tunas went into exile. He went on board the Guadalquivir steamer, from the port of Manatí. After a stopover in Baracoa of several hours, for food and water supplies, around 5:00 pm on the 8th, the vessel sailed to Puerto Plata.
The pilgrimage of the “Lion of Santa Rita” before he could hug Doña Brígida and arrive at Río Chico, in the Venezuelan state of Miranda, was intense. There he fostered a cocoa cooperative and lived to the end of his days.
Already, at that time, multiple ailments accompanied him; some typical of the age, and others, a direct consequence of the harsh rigors of the war. However, Vicente García’s determination to liberate Cuba was intact.
He had it at all times. That is why his yes to the young José Martí to join the fight of '95 was quick. True to the words that he wrote to Lieutenant Colonel Julián Santana before leaving Cuban lands, "... means to everyone that your memory will be in my thoughts and that wherever fate leads me, you can count on your faithful friend."
