José Fernández de Castro Céspedes

Brigadier General of the Liberating Army in the War of '95 for the Independence of Cuba.

He entered the Liberating Army on July 10, 1895 and held the position of chief of staff under the orders of then Brigadier General José Manuel Capote. He was promoted to colonel on August 16, 1895. On January 3, 1896 he was appointed head of the Carlos Manuel Regiment.

On February 24, 1896 he fought a column in Gallego, in the jurisdiction of Manzanillo. In October and the first days of November 1896 he made incursions through the eastern part of Camagüey province, as part of the forces commanded by Major General Calixto García, chief of the Eastern Department. There he participated in the attack and capture of Guáimaro and in the battles of La Conchita, Lugones and La Marina. On December 8, 1896 he took the position of inspector of the Second Corps.

On March 24, 1897 he was appointed chief of staff of the General Headquarters of the Eastern Department. He participated in the attack and capture of Las Tunas from August 28 to 30, 1897, accompanying the Céspedes Infantry Regiment (Second Brigade, Second Division, Second Corps). He was elected delegate to the Constituent Assembly of La Yaya on October 10, 1897 by the Second Corps.

Subsequently he served again as sub-inspector until March 25, 1898 when Calixto García appointed him chief of the zones and guerrilla forces of Cauto Arriba and Cauto Abajo. On April 17, 1898 he received promotion to Brigadier General. In the first days of July he was harassing a Spanish column that had left Manzanillo to reinforce the besieged city of Santiago de Cuba. He ended the war as head of the Bayamo Brigade. He was discharged on January 3, 1899.

In the Republic
He was elected mayor of Bayamo on June 16, 1900. He participated, as a delegate, in the Constituent Assembly of 1901. From 1902 to 1915 he was elected, on three occasions, representative to the Chamber for the province of Oriente. He served as vice president of that legislative body and also chaired the Commission on Military Affairs, all of which he resigned from in 1914. He died in Havana on January 11, 1916.