Chronology of the "Cuban Independence War" more commonly known as the"Spanish American War"
where Orestes Ferrara fought and became a Colonel of the Cuban Liberation Army.

1895	1895
February 24	Cuban insurgents raise against the Spanish Colony in Oriente, Santa Clara and Matanzas provinces in what became known as "Grito de Baire."
March 4	Spanish Coloney Govemor-General proclaimes martial law in Santiago and Matanzas. Julio Sanguily, J Aguirre and other suspected Cuban sympathizers arrested and incarcerated in Cabañas prison at Havana.
March 8	American mail steamship Alliance fired upon by Spanish gunboat.
March l0	First battle of the war at Los Negros between l,000 Spanish, under General Garrich, and 700 Cubans, under Colonel Goulet. Spaniards defeated. Spanish reinforcements arrive from Puerto Rico and 7,000 men from Spain. Spanish Colony Field Marshal Arsenio Martínez Campos appointed Captain-General to succeed Calleja, and sent to Cuba with 20,000 troops. Martial law proclaimed over whole island.
March 24	Pitched battle at Jaraguana between l,000 Spanish Colony troops, under Colonel Araoz, and 900 Cubans, under Amador Guerra.
March 31	Antonio Maceo, with Flor Crombet, Dr. Frank Agrarnonte, Jose Maceo and other officers, landed at Baracoa with expedition from Costa Rica in British schooner Honor. Schooner wrecked and captain killed by Spaniards. Latter attacked Maceo at Duaba but were repulsed. Agramonte captured. Provisional government proclaimed by General Antonio Maceo; Dr. Tomás Estrada Palma, president, José Martí, secretary-general, and General Máximo Gómez, military director and commander-in-chief.
April 13	General Máximo Gómez, José Martí and eight companions arrived from Haiti and landed on the coast southwest of Cape Maisi.
April 16	Captain-General Martinez Campos landed with reinforcements at Guantanamo and issued proclamation pledging reforms. Spanish parliament authorized government to raise 600,000,000 pesetas ($120,000,000) for war and decided to send 40,000 reinforcements.
April 16-18	Battles at and near Sabana de Jaibo. Cuban cavalry under Gomez defeated Colonel Bosch.
April 21	Battle of Ramón de las Jaguas, 100 Spaniards killed.
April 29	José Maceo ambuscaded 700 Spaniards at Arroyo Hondo; 150 Spaniards killed and heavy Cuban losses
May 6-14	Raids and fights at Jobito and Cristo by Maceo; Spanish Lieutenant-Colonel Bosch killed.
May 18	Insurgent Convention elected Bartolomé Massó president, Máximo Gómez general-in-chief, and Antonio Maceo commander-in-chief of the Oriental Division.
May 19	José Martí and party of 50 annihilated by colonel Ximenez Sandoval and 800 troops in a narrow pass; Gómez with reinforcements attempted to rescue Martí's body and was wounded; Cuban loss, 50 killed and l00 wounded. Dr. Tomás Estrada Palma elected to succeed Martí as Cuban Revolutionary Party delegate in the United States.
May 20	Colonel Lacret and Colonel Torres landed with filibustering expedition of 220 men from Jamaica.
June 2	General Maximo Gomez crossed trocha and entered province of Puerto Principe.
June 5	General Carlos Roloff's filibustering expedition, with 353 men, 1,000 rifles and 500 pounds of dynamite, landed by tugboat George W. Childs near Sagua Lachico, in Santa Clara.
June 12	President Cleveland issued proclamation warning citizens against joining or aiding filibustering expeditions
June 18	Province of Puerto Principe declared in a state of siege.
June 27	Spanish Colony Captain-General Campos asked Cabinet for 14,000 fresh troops.
July 1	Campos established Moron-Jucaro trocha to keep General Maximo Gómez out of Santa Clara Province
July 13	Captain-General Campos, at head of 1,500 troops, attacked but defeated by Cubans under General Antonio Maceo at Peralejo and compelled to retreat to Bayamo; Spanish General Santocildes and 119 men killed; Cuban loss, l00 men.
July 15	Cuban Provisional Government formally constituted and a declaration of independence proclaimed.
August 7	Cuban Convention at Puerto Principe elected the following officers: Provisional President of the Republic of Cuba, General Bartolomé Massó, Minister of the Interior Marquis of Santa Lucia; Vice-President and Minister of War, General Máximo Gómez, Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Gonzalo de Quesada; General-in-Chief, General Antonio Maceo.
August 31	Spaniards defeated by 1,000 men under José Maceo, near Ramon de la Jaguas
September 23	Constitution of Cuban Republic proclaimed by Congress of Delegates at Anton de Puerto Principe, and the following elected permanent officers of the government: President, Salvador Cisneros; Vice-President, Bartolomé Massó; Secretary of War, Carlos Roloff; Commander-in-Chief, Máximo Gómez, Lieutenant-General, Antonio Maceo.
October 2	General Antonio Maceo defeated superior force of 2,000 Spaniards at Mount Mogote.
October 9	Cuban loan of 15,000,000 pesos ($3,000,000) placed in Paris
October l0	Baracoa captured by Cubans
October 27	General Carlos Miguel. de Cespedes landed near Baracoa with filibustering expedition of sixty men, l00 rifles and l0,000 rounds of ammunition, fitted out in Canada. Laurada seized at Charleston, South Carolina, as a filibuster.
November 18-l9	Spanish forces under Generals Valdes, Luque and Aldave defeated at Taguasco, Spanish loss, 500
December 26	General Maximo Gómez invaded the loyal Province of Havana.
1896	1896
January 5	General Maximo Gómez passes the Havana-Batabanó trocha into Pinar del Rio.
January 12	General Maximo Gomez defeated Spaniards at Batallobo and recrossed trocha into Havana Province
January 12-20	General Antonio Maceo raided Pinar del Rio Province.
January 17	Spanish Colony Captain-General Canupos recalled to Madrid and General Valeriano Weyler appointed to succeed him.
January 26	Filibuster J. W. Hawkins, carrying General Calixto García and 120 men, sunk off Long Island and ten men drowned.
January 30	General Antonio Maceo recrossed Habana-Batabanó trocha; Spaniards severely defeated by Diaz near Artemisa.
February 10	General Weyler arrived at Havana on the cruiser Alfonso XIII and was enthusiastically greeted.
February 17	General Weyler issued three proclamations establishing rigid martial law.
February 18	General Antonio Maceo attacked and captured Jaruco; the next day he joined General Maximo Gómez, and together they marched eastward.
February 22	Eighteen non-combatants killed by Spanish troops in Punta Brava and Guatao, and two American correspondents who investigated outrage arrested.
February 24	Filibuster Bermuda seized by United States marshals, General García and others arrested, tried and acquitted.
February 28	US Senate adopted belligerency resolutions and requested the President to use "friendly offices" to secure Cuban independence from the Spanish Colony.
March 5	General Weyler issued proclamation offering amnesty to Cubans who surrendered with arms in hand.
March 8	Eighteen thousand Spanish Colony reinforcements landed at Havana.
March 12	Commodore landed a filibustering expedition from Charleston, South Carolina.
March 13	General Antonio Maceo captured the town of Batabanó.
March 15	General Antonio Maceo re-entered Pinar del Río Province and attacked the town of Pinar del Río.
March 22	General Maximo Gómez captures the town of Santa Clara and secures a large amount of military stores.
March 25	Bermuda landed General Calixto García with 125 men and arms in Cuba. Three Friends and Mallory landed a big expedition under General Enrique Collazo on the coast of Matanzas Province.
April 6	U.S. House of Representatives concurred in Senate's Cuban resolution.
April 25	American filibustering schooner Competitor captured off coast of Pinar del Río. Alfredo Laborde and three Americans taken prisoners.
April 27	Bermuda fired upon by Spanish gunboat while trying to land expedition under Colonels Vidal and Torres and forced to abandon the attempt.
May 14	General Maximo Gómez captures a whole Spanish battalion under Colonel Segura.
May 16	Laurada landed General J. F. Ruiz and expedition in Cuba.
May 19	Three Friends landed large cargo of ammunition in Santa Clara.
June 3	Consul-General Fitzhugh Lee arrived at Havana as the successor of Ramon O. Williams, resigned.
June 15	Expeditions under Zarrago, Castillo and Cabrera landed by Three Friends and Laurada.
July 5	José Maceo killed in an engagement at Loma del Gato.
July 15	General Inclan badly defeated by General Antonio Maceo at Cacarajicara, 200 killed and nearly 300 wounded.
July 30	President Grover Cleveland issues another proclamation against filibustering.
August 15	General Rabí defeats Spanish troops near Bayamo.
December 7	General Antonio Maceo and Francisco Gómez, son of the rebel commander-in-chief, are killed in an engagement with a Spanish detachment under Major Cirujeda just after Maceo had succeeded in passing around the end of the Mariel trocha. Dr. Zertucha, the only member of the staff who escapes, is accused of treachery. He surrenders to the Spanish.
December 15	Three Friends tried to land a large expedition at the mouth of the San Juan River, on the south coast of Cuba, but is attacked by a Spanish gunboat and compelled to put to sea again with her party, setting them down on a desert Florida key, where they were rescued by the Dauntless.
December 20	General Ruiz Rivera succeeded General Antonio Maceo as commander-in-chief of the Cuban army of the West.
December 28	Julio Sanguilly was tried and sentenced to imprisonment for life on a charge of conspiring against the Spanish Government.
December 31	Filibuster Commodore sailed from Jacksonville, Florida, with a small expedition for Cuba and sunk sixteen miles off the Florida coast. Most of the men were saved.
1897	1897
January 13	Spaniards under General Segura attack General Calixto García at Gabuquito, and are repulsed with a loss of 300 killed and 400 wounded.
February 4	Queen Regent of Spain signed a decree instituting reforms in Cuba.
February 21	U.S. Secretary of State Olney directed Minister Taylor, at Madrid, to demand a full inquiry into the case of Dr. Ricardo Ruiz, who was murdered in prison, in Guanabacoa, by the Spaniards.
March 4	General Valeriano Weyler returned to Havana.
March 21	Cuban Insurgents captures Holguin.
March 28	General Rius Rivera, who succeeded General Antonio Maceo, is captured with 100 men at Cabezedas by Spanish Colony General Hernández Velasco.
March 30	Laurada landed at Banes, on the north coast of Oriente, three dynamite guns, one Hotchkiss gun and a large quantity of ammunition.
April 17	General Valeriano Weyler declares that Santa Clara province and part of Puerto Principe are pacified.
May 12	Generals Calixto García and Rabí defeats Spanish troops under General Lonos and compels them to retreat on shipboard at Cabo Cruz.
May 17	President McKinley sent a message to the US Congress suggesting an appropriation of $50,000 to relieve the distress of American citizens in Cuba. It was passed by Congress and signed May 24.
June 21	General Valeriano Weyler sails from Havana for Santa Clara province, preceded by thirty-six battalions of infantry and strong forces of artillery and cavalry.
June 27	General Valeriano Weyler reaches the city of Santiago.
November 10	Marshal Ramón Blanco sends a cable to Senor de Lome, Spanish Minister at Washington, announcing that extensive zones of cultivation have been marked out, rations issued to the "reconcentrados," and promised that thereafter they would be fed and treated well
November 14	General Blanco sent envoys to insurgent generals to induce them to lay down their arms.
November 18	Crew of the American schooner Competitor captured in 1896 and all sentenced to death were released.
November 25	Dr. Frank Agramonte, Thomas J. Sainz and other Americans imprisoned in Havana were released by Marshal Blanco.
November 26	Queen Regent of Spain signs royal decrees granting political and commercial autonomy to Cuba.
December 2	Bishop of Havana appeals for food for starving "reconcentrados."
December 9	Antonio Rodriguez Rivera, an envoy send by Blanco to bribe the insurgents, is hanged by the insurgent leader Emilio Collazo.
December 10	Cuban insurgents captures Caimanera seaport town.
December 28	US President McKinley issues an appeal to the American people to aid starving Cubans.