Adolfo Jiménez Castellanos

Adolfo Jiménez Castellanos (1844 – January 18, 1929) was a Spanish Governor General of Cuba. On January 1, 1899, he turned Cuba over to the United States.

Castellanos was born in Montilla, Córdoba, Spain. After completing studies as a Cadet in the Infantry Corps School (later Academy) of Toledo, he was posted in 1865 to Cuba where he joined the garrison of Puerto Príncipe (Camagüey).

In 1868, with the outbreak of the Ten Years' War, Castellanos already held the rank of Captain. During the War, he assisted in important military actions within the Central Department, the largest of the three regions into which the island is divided. He also married a Camagueyan, with whom he went on to have six children.

At the end of the Ten Years' War, other campaigns followed for Castellanos: the Protest of Baragua and the Little Wars. Between 1883 and 1886, he was Secretary of Sub-Inspection of Infantry and Militia in Havana, after which he returned to Spain upon the death of his wife.

Widowed and with six children, Castellanos spent the following nine years in charge of the Campaign section of the War Ministry in Madrid. He held this position until 1895 when Cuba's War of Three Years began. Captain General of the Island Arsenio Martínez Campos called upon Castellanos for his immediate presence in his capacity as a strategist with great knowledge of the country, accumulated seniority, and experience in war and Cuba’s famous circular campaigns.

Castellanos took command of the Port-au-Prince Commandant and participated in several major and important campaigns throughout the territory. In April 1898, he overtook the Trocha Division. With the American intervention in the conflict, the land battles in Santiago took place, as well as the sinking of the Cervera squadron in the bay, after which the Spanish surrendered. Castellanos handled the repatriation of the troops from Trochas until November when he took over as Captain General in Havana.

At the end of the battles, Castellanos attended to the repatriation of the 87,000 Spanish soldiers who still remained on the island. He personally ensured good behavior, accommodations, and provisioning, as well as oversaw the return of those who had been hospitalized. He liquidated what was possible, paid what he can, and maintained the soldiers as his priority. As the Spanish President of the Evacuation Commission, he slowed the American rush to take over Cuba.

On 1 January 1899, Castellanos had the sad mission - "in the name of his King" - to carry out the official handover of the island to the Americans:

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