century. The Maceos enlisted as privates when the Ten Years' War began. Within five months, Antonio Maceo was promoted to commander (or major), and within a matter of weeks after that he was again promoted to lieutenant colonel. A promotion to colonel followed, and five years later he was promoted to the rank of brigadier general because of his bravery and ability to outmaneuver the Spanish Army. Maceo participated in more than 500 battles. However, the humble origin of Maceo and the colour of his skin delayed his raising to the rank of major general, due principally to the racist and class exclusiveness tendencies of several other patriots of an aristocratic or bourgeois origin. Men under Maceo's command began to call him “The Bronze Titan”, because of his exceptional physical strength and resistance to bullet or blade injuries. He recovered from more than 25 war injuries over the course of some 500 military battles, and none of Maceo's wounds diminished his willingness to lead his troops into combat. He had special recognition and admiration, as chief and war teacher, of the great Dominican strategist Máximo Gómez, who would become, in the years to come, the General-in-Chief of the Cuban Liberator Army. The use of the machete as a war weapon by Gómez as a substitute for the Spanish sword (also due to the scarcity of firearms and ammunition) was rapidly adopted by Maceo and his troops. Antonio Maceo rejected the military seditions of Lagunas de Varona and Santa Rita, which undermined the independence troops' unity and favoured a regionalism in Las Villas. This stood in contrast with the style of leadership exhibited by Vicente Garcia González, who eschewed front line heroics in favor of planning from behind the lines, and who also advocated a regional approach to secession. Divisionism and the imprecise designs of García were plainly rejected by Maceo when the former asked for support to constitute a “New Revolutionary Government”. Divisions, regionalism, and indiscipline were the main reasons for the decline of the Revolution, of which the Spanish General Arsenio Martínez-Campos y Antón, then already named Captain General of Cuba, drew considerable advantage. An officer of honour, he offered peace guarantees, amnesty for revolutionary men and legal reforms, in exchange for a cease of hostilities, which had already lasted 10 years (in 1878). At the same time, the Spanish Government continued the concentration of more forces to enclose