Henry Reeve (soldier)

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Henry Reeve was an American volunteer in the Cuban Ejercito Libertador during the Ten Years' War. Born in 1850 in the USA, he arrived in Cuba in 1869 aboard an expedition which was ambushed by the Spanish Army while unloading. Reeve was taken prisoner along with many others, and the Spanish firing squad shot the group and left them unburied. Reeve was wounded but had enough strength to creep away, and was found by the Cuban Army. They knicknamed him "El Inglesito", and he quickly rose under the command of Major General Ignacio Agramonte. Reeve was the one who in turn gave Agramonte his knickname: "El Mayor".

Under Agramonte he participated in many combats, including the resounding rescue of Julio Sanguily in 1871. In one operation he jumped over a cannon battery, lifting the morale of the Cuban fighters but was seriously wounded on a leg. Under the harsh jungle conditions of the Cuban rebels, he was told he would never walk or ride a horse again. Reeve persevered and with metallic braces he was able to walk, and had to be strapped to his mount, but kept leading his cavalry troop. After Agramonte's death at Jimaguayú in May 1873, Reeve presented Máximo Gómez to the legendary Camagüey Calvary Corps. Under Gómez' command Reeve participated in the failed invasion of Western Cuba. Stranded in Matanzas province in 1876, the Spanish annihilated his small escort al Las Yagrumas; unable to ride, Reeve shot himself with his handgun before being captured. He was only 26 years old, and already a Colonel.

Henry Reeve was honored by the Cuban government in 1976 on the centenary of his death with a songle postal stamp.