Bayamo is retaken by the Spanish after…

Bayamo is retaken by the Spanish after three months on January 12, but it had been burned to the ground.

The Ten Years' War, the first serious attempt to achieve independence from Spain, and to free all slaves, is fought between two groups.

In the East of Cuba, the tobacco planters and farmers, joined by mulattos and some slaves, fight against the West of Cuba, with its sugarcane plantations (which require many slaves) and the forces of the Spanish Governor-General.

The peninsulares, backed by rich Spanish merchants, are a strong presence n the East; the criollos (creoles, born in Cuba) dominate in the West.