Julio Sanguily Garitte

Major General of the Liberating Army.

On October 12, 1868, two days after the beginning of the War of 1868, he left Havana bound for Nassau, in the Bahamas, to come as an expeditionary on the schooner Galvanic, which landed on the peninsula of La Guanaja, on the northern coast of Camagüey, on December 27, 1868, under the orders of General Manuel de Quesada. Subsequently he was head of the escort and aide to Quesada, then Commander in Chief of the Liberating Army.

On July 20, 1869 he participated in the attack on Puerto Príncipe, under the orders of Major General Ignacio Agramonte, with the rank of Commander. As Lieutenant Colonel he founded, with a small group, the Cavalry of Camagüey.

On January 1, 1870 he took part in the combat of Minas de Juan Rodríguez (Tana), in Guáimaro, directed by Major General Thomas Jordan.

On June 4, 1870, in San Fernando de Pacheco, accompanied by only 15 horsemen he attacked a column of about 250 men of infantry and cavalry. In that encounter a rifle shot destroyed his left foot. From that moment on, due to his disability, he had to be mounted and dismounted from his horse in each combat. Shortly after, Major General Federico Fernández Cavada, chief of the General Staff, appointed him Chief of Operations for the southern district of Camagüey.

On October 8 of that year he was surprised by the enemy when accompanied by only two aides. They took him prisoner and hours later he was rescued by a group of 35 horsemen under the command of Agramonte. In that epic action he was wounded in the right hand. With Gómez he participated in the combats of La Sacra, Palo Seco, the second of Jimaguayú, Naranjo-Mojacasabe and Las Guásimas. With the rank of Second in Command of the column he invaded, in January 1875, Las Villas, where, among other actions, he participated in the combat of San Antonio del Jíbaro and the attack on Sancti Spíritus.

On February 28, 1876 he had a relevant role in the Combat of Loma del Jíbaro (Cafetal de González), where he was wounded and, a month later, together with Brigadier General Henry Reeve, he fought the one at La Crimea. Due to intrigues from the people of Las Villas who did not accept him as chief, he resigned from his posts and returned to Camagüey, on March 3, 1876. At the end of that year, the government commissioned him to leave for the United States together with his brother, Colonel Manuel Sanguily, with the objective of rehabilitating himself from the effects of his wounds and collaborating in the preparations for an expedition, in coordination with the Delegation of Cuba in that country. He left in a boat driven by Colonel Juan Luis Pacheco, from a point near Santa Cruz del Sur, heading for Jamaica, where they arrived on January 23, 1877. From there he sent some supplies. In New York he organized an expedition that was to leave aboard the steamship Stelle. The denunciation made by the Spanish ambassador caused the North American authorities to detain those involved in the matter, including him. When they were making the corresponding claims, the signing of the Pact of Zanjón surprised them. With peace agreed upon, he traveled to Spain; but returned shortly after to the United States.

For his action in the combat of Canalito, shortly after the landing of the schooner Galvanic, he was promoted to the rank of Sergeant; Commander; Being Lieutenant Colonel. On February 24, 1870 he was promoted to Colonel. On May 1, 1872, the Chamber of Representatives conferred upon him the rank of Major General, and on March 3, 1873 he was appointed Second in Command of the Camagüey Division. On May 11, 1873, upon Agramonte's fall at Jimaguayú, he took command of the Division until July 9 of that year when Major General Máximo Gómez took command from him, who ratified him as Second in Command. In December 1874, Gómez appointed him Second in Command of the column. He was appointed Chief of the First Division, Second in Command of the Third Corps of Las Villas and Second in Command of the Western Department simultaneously, under the orders of Gómez. From June 1, 1875 to July 15, 1875 he substituted for Gómez in the leadership of the Third Corps.

Years later he returned to Cuba, where he had a notable participation in the failed Conspiracy of the Manganese Peace, in 1890. In this conspiratorial stage, in which he used the pseudonym Genef, it is stated that because of the singular and controversial attitude assumed by him, José Martí arranged that they be compartmentalized, so that the most confidential data from the final phase of preparation of the uprising and the arrival in Cuba of the main leaders would not reach his knowledge.

On the morning of February 24, 1895 he was taken prisoner by the Spanish, in the City of Havana, and sent to the courts. The judicial process took place under pressure from the Volunteer Corps that was calling for the death penalty. Nevertheless, on November 27, 1895 he was sentenced to life imprisonment. Through multiple efforts made, which included the intervention of the government of the United States, because he had been a citizen of that country for years, the approval of the pardon was obtained, on February 25, 1897. He was immediately released with the commitment, signed by him, that he could not participate in the war. Two days later he departed for the United States on the steamship Mascotte. Upon arriving in New York he presented himself to the Cuban Delegation to enlist. The delegate Tomás Estrada Palma, after consulting with the Government Council of Cuba, denied his request, because the violation of the commitment contracted could harm the diplomatic negotiations with the United States, guarantor of said commitment. When he was still demanding his dispatch to Cuba, the United States declared war on Spain (February 20, 1898), which caused the loss of validity of the commitment. Then he enrolled in the expedition of the steamship Florida, which under the command of Division General José Lacret Morlot, landed at Banes, Oriente, on May 26, 1898. He was recognized with the rank of Major General and the war ended with the status of excess chief. During the Republic he did not intervene in politics nor hold public office.

In the preparation of the War of 1895 he was appointed Chief of the Uprising in the province of Havana and it was expected that he would take command of the western provinces (Pinar del Río, Havana and Matanzas), in case the struggle managed to begin throughout the region.

He died in the City of Havana, on March 23, 1906.