Francisca Margarita Amalia Simoni Argilagos

Independent fighter for independence. Wife of Cuban patriot Ignacio Agramonte, whom she married in the parish of Nuestra Señora de la Soledad on August 1, 1868.

She was born in Puerto Príncipe, Camagüey. She was the eldest of two daughters from the marriage of physician José Ramón Simoni and Manuela Argilagos.

Daughter of a well-to-do family, she always maintained fervent patriotism and liberating aspirations for Cuba.

Wife of Cuban patriot Ignacio Agramonte, whom she married in the parish of Nuestra Señora de la Soledad on August 1, 1868. But to reach that moment they had to overcome the difficult obstacle that the girl's father represented. Ignacio, although without economic problems, was not well regarded by the head of the family, since his material wealth did not match that of the Simonis.

In a moment of tension before paternal opposition, Amalia expressed to him: I will not give you the displeasure, papa, of marrying against your will, but if not with Ignacio, with no one will I do it.

It can be said that even on the honeymoon, Ignacio went to the redemptive wilderness on November 11, 1868, to fight against Spanish colonialism.

On the first of December of that unforgettable year, the Simoni family decided to abandon their house-estate in Puerto Príncipe and move to the La Matilde farm. In the city they are marked by colonial authorities: the two sons-in-law of Doctor Simoni are leaders of the insurrection.

When campaign life allows it, La Matilde becomes a place of love for the couple, where their firstborn Ernesto was born on May 26, 1869, whom his father affectionately called Mambisito.

But the situation in that place had become complicated by the proximity of enemy operations. Agramonte, who by then was already a respected chief, decided to move them to a place he called El Idilio, in the vicinity of the Cubitas mountain range.

However, time would bring definitive separation: they were celebrating the boy's birthday when the imminent arrival of a Spanish column was announced. The wife of a soldier has to be brave, was the last thing Amalia heard her husband say.

If during the courtship period, when he studied or worked in La Habana and she remained in Puerto Príncipe, the letter exchange was intense and very emotional, during the war period it reaches a transcendence that endures through the overflow of love and patriotism.

Amalia was an active collaborator of the mambi forces and provided services in field hospitals. She also suffered the hardships of prison and later exile.

On one occasion, arrested by Spanish forces, already during the Ten Years' War, she was required to write to her husband, Ignacio Agramonte, so that he would abandon the struggle. Her response was categorical:

"I would rather have my hand cut off than write to my husband asking him to be a traitor."

"Easy are heroes with such women!" the Cuban Founding Father José Martí would say years later, upon learning of this incident.

When her stay in Cuba became untenable, she emigrated to New York, where her daughter Herminia was born, whom El Mayor never got to know.

On May 11, 1873, Major General Ignacio Agramonte fell in combat in the pastures of Jimaguayú, one of the principal and most beloved leaders of the independence struggle, whom his soldiers simply called El Mayor.

In Yucatán, Mexico, she learned of the fall in combat of her beloved and left a phrase of deep love for the homeland and family:

"It seems that when one has children, one loves freedom even more."

When the Great War (1868-1878) concluded, Amalia returned to her Puerto Príncipe, but in 1895 a new war broke out, organized by Martí, and the colonial government practically forced her to emigrate. They feared her example and her patriotism.

Back in the United States, she again raised funds for the struggle. During the season she performed as a soprano at De Garmo Hall in New York in benefit performances. She received good critical reception, which came to consider her voice among the best and most resonant of that time, according to her friend, poetess Aurelia Castillo.

When the war ended without independence, she tenaciously opposed Yankee interventionism and the Platt Amendment. She was offered economic aid for being El Mayor's widow, but she rejected it: "My husband did not fight to leave me a pension, but for the freedom of Cuba."

On February 24, 1912, an equestrian statue of Agramonte was unveiled in the main park of the city of Camagüey—formerly Puerto Príncipe—made by popular collection. The resemblance was such that she fainted.

At the age of 73, Amalia died in La Habana. She had asked to be buried next to her father in the Camagüey Cemetery, near where her beloved Ignacio might be, whose ashes were scattered in the cemetery by order of Spanish authorities, according to popular legend.

Since December 1, 1991, Amalia's remains have rested in her beloved Camagüey, where they were transferred from the Cuban capital.