Negro Rebellion

Negro Rebellion
Part of the Banana Wars
Date 1912 Location Cuba Result Cuban-American victory Rebellion suppressed Dissolution of the PIC
Belligerents
Cuba  United States	Cuban PIC
Commanders and leaders
José Miguel Gómez Lincoln Karmany	Evaristo Estenoz † Pedro Ivonnet †
Casualties and losses
Unknown	3,000–6,000 killed

Cuban-American victory

The Negro Rebellion (Spanish: Levantamiento Armado de los Independientes de Color, "Armed Uprising of the Independents of Color", also known as the Little Race War, the War of 1912, or The Twelve) was an armed conflict for several weeks during 1912 in Cuba between Afro-Cuban rebels and the armed forces of Cuba and the United States. It took place mainly in the eastern region of the island where most Afro-Cubans were employed. After a widespread massacre of Afro-Cubans by the Cuban Army and the intervention by the U.S. military brought an end to the rebellion in a matter of weeks. The leaders of Afro-Cubans rebels, Evaristo Estenoz and Pedro Ivonnet, were killed during the rebellion and their political movement, the Independent Party of Color, was dissolved.

Conditions in Cuba were poor for the black inhabitants, most of whom were employed in the sugarcane industry. Evaristo Estenoz led a movement to better these conditions which had begun in 1895 during the war for independence from Spain. Veterans of that war, primarily officers, organized the Independent Party of Color in 1908. Under the leadership of Estenoz, the party quickly gained the support of a large number Afro-Cubans in opposition to Cuban President José Miguel Gómez. Gómez ordered the party disbanded under the Morúa law, which outlawed political parties based on race. By 1912 the Independent Party of Color had regrouped to stage another armed rebellion.

In early 1912, the United States government sent a detachment of 688 US Marines, officers and enlisted men, to Guantanamo Naval Base, while, Estenoz and his followers were preparing an armed rebellion. Though they were lightly armed, the rebels numbered several hundred men, mainly peasants.

On 20 May, Estenoz and his men confronted the Cuban Army. Fighting took place mainly in Oriente Province, where most African Cubans lived, while there were also a few minor outbreaks of violence in the west, particularly in Las Villas Province. Initially the rebels were successful in engaging the Cuban forces, which included soldiers and militia. On 23 May, President Gómez requested aid from U.S. President William H. Taft, who sent additional marines. The first reinforcements arrived on 28 May, landing at Deer Point, Guantanamo Bay, to link up with Major Thorpe's battalion. Colonel Lincoln Karmany was in command of this new force, designated the 1st Provisional Regiment of Marines. It numbered 32 officers and 777 enlisted men.

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