José Miró Argenter

Major General of the Liberating Army, historical chronicler and journalist. Member of the General Staff of Major General Antonio Maceo, he participates alongside him in the invasion. He writes the now canonical work War Chronicles, a testimony of his participation in the War of '95.

He was born in Sitges, Catalonia, Spain, on March 4, 1851. He studied high school in Barcelona, where he graduated in 1869. Later he studied two years of Medicine. As a member of the Carlist army in Spain, he achieved the rank of lieutenant and company commander.

He arrived in Cuba in 1874 and settled in Havana. Two years later he moved to Santiago de Cuba, where he met Major General Antonio Maceo at the farewell lunch held for him on May 8, 1878 before leaving the Island, after concluding his participation in the War of '68.

After the Pact of Zanjón he directed the newspaper "La Doctrina," with an autonomist orientation. He founded and directed in the city of Manzanillo the newspaper "El Liberal" and due to the virulence of his articles he suffered imprisonment in Santiago de Cuba.

He collaborated with the failed project to restart the conflict organized by Máximo Gómez and Antonio Maceo in the province of Oriente. He devoted several years to the practice of journalism and historical chronicle. He directed the newspaper La Democracia in Manzanillo (1898) and in San Luis he worked as an editor of El Cubano Libre.

In 1905 he took charge in Havana of the publication Vida Militar and collaborated in El Fígaro, between 1902 and 1918, as well as in the Diario de la Marina.

The best fruit of his intellectual work is the testimonial work War Chronicles—first published in 1909 and with several reprints throughout the 20th century—; a detailed account of military actions and his personal experiences, which he wrote between 1899 and 1909. War Chronicles constitutes one of the most valuable and informative journals of the so-called campaign literature of Cuba, which narrates and describes the invasion campaign from October 1895 to January 1896 and the campaign in western Cuba of General Maceo, in addition to offering one of the most complete versions, as well as controversial ones, about the death in combat of the Bronze Titan.

In its pages Miró Argenter consecrates for national history the figure of the brave eastern fighter, contributing to the construction of the image of Maceo consecrated by tradition. The work is required reading for those interested in the study of the Cuban wars of independence.

In the War of '95 he takes up arms on February 22, 1895 with Bartolomé Masó, in Manzanillo, at the head of a contingent of patriots. On April 14, 1895 he fights with a Spanish column at Ciego La Rioja, Marcano and Ojo de Aguas, already with the rank of colonel.

After the landing in Cuba, in the province of Oriente, of Major General Antonio Maceo on April 1, 1895, he ratified his military rank and incorporated him into his general staff.

He distinguished himself in the combat of Peralejo on July 13, 1895. He was designated as chief of staff of the invasion column, with which he departed on October 22, 1895 from Baraguá. He remained alongside Maceo throughout the invasion and in the campaign in the west. He distinguished himself in the combat of Iguará, in Sancti Spíritus, on December 13, 1895; in Pinar del Río he participated, among others, in the battles of La Lechuza, Cacarajícara, Rubí and Bejerano (Gobernadora). He escorted Maceo in the crossing by sea of the trocha from Mariel to Majana, on the night of December 4, 1896. Three days later he was wounded in San Pedro, where the Bronze Titan lost his life.

For his conduct in the combat of Mal Tiempo, on December 15, 1895, he had been proposed for the rank of major general; but it is not until the end of the war that the Council of Government grants it to him, with seniority.

Grieved by the loss of Maceo, he marches to Camagüey, to continue later to Manzanillo, where he shows little activity for the rest of the war. After it concluded, on January 23, 1899 he was appointed inspector of the Oriental Department. He also served as secretary of the Liquidation Board of the Liberating Army.

During the first years of the Republic of Cuba he was in charge of the archive of the Liberating Army.

He died in Havana on May 2, 1925.