These two brothers are perhaps my favorite since, as a fellow Cuban-American, they served not only with honor in the United States but also in the cause for Cuban Independence from Spain. Federico and Adolfo Fernández Cavada, alongside their other brother Emilio, were born in Cienfuegos, Cuba (then a Spanish colony) to Spanish father Isidoro Fernández Cavada and American mother Emily Howard Gatier of Philadelphia. After their father’s passing in 1838, they moved with their widowed mother to her native Philadelphia. Both brothers would end up following very similar paths and fates.
Adolfo Fernández Cavada was born on May 17, 1832. Enlisting in the Union Army in August 1861, he joined the 23rd Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment where he served as a Captain of Company C. In 1862, while serving with the regiment, he fought in the battles of Manassas, Williamsburg and Glendale as well as the Siege of Yorktown. After Fernández Cavada left the 23rd Pennsylvania in July 1862, he subsequently rose to the rank of Major and served as an aide de camp to General A.A. Humphreys. Fernández Cavada then served in the battles of Fredericksburg (December 1862) and Gettysburg (July 1863). At the Battle of Gettysburg, while he was riding his horse, the horse was shot and killed and he ended up wounded. Nevertheless, Fernández Cavada fought on, and in 1865, he rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.
In the years following the war, Fernández Cavada was appointed US Consul in Cienfuegos, Cuba, a position he served until around 1868 when the Ten Years War (1868-1878) broke out, one of the many Cuban uprisings against the Spanish authorities. Joined by his brother, Federico, they joined the Cuban people to fight for their independence from Spain. In February 1869, Adolfo launched an attack on the town of Palmira near Cienfuegos, and he led men in other subsequent battles in towns such as Altos de Potrerillo and Saltadero de Siguanea, including an attack on an armory located in Arimao. Several months later in November 1869, Fernández Cavada and his men took control of his home town of Cienfuegos, and subsequently a month later, they took over the town of Arroyo Blanco. In April 1870, he succeeded his brother Federico as the Commander in Chief of the Cinco Villas. A year later on December 18, 1871, while in battle, Fernández Cavada was killed at a coffee farm near Santiago de Cuba called La Adelaida.
Federico Fernández Cavada was born on July 8, 1831. He enlisted in August 1861 around the same time as his brother, Adolfo, as a Captain with the 23rd Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment. Unlike his brother, however, he was instead employed as an engineer since the young Federico had a talent for sketching and topography. During the war, he would often ride hydrogen balloons and sketch the positions of the Confederates from the sky. After leaving the 23rd Pennsylvania in July 1862, he then joined the 114th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment with the rank of Major. The following month, he rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. While with the 114th, he fought at the battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. During the Battle of Gettysburg, Fernández Cavada was captured as a prisoner of war on July 2, 1863 by the Confederates where he was sent to Libby Prison in Richmond, Virginia where he spent time until January 1864.
After he was released from prison, he briefly returned to the Army until he resigned in June 1864. Following the war, he was appointed US Consul in Trinidad, Cuba, a position he served until around 1868 when the Ten Years War broke out, around the same time as his brother Adolfo. He then served as General for the District of Trinidad with the Cubans who were fighting for their independence from the Spanish authorities. During the war, he became Commander in Chief of the Cinco Villas. Then In 1871, while at battle in Cayo Cruz in Puerto Príncipe (today known as Camagüey) province, he was captured by the Spanish gunboat Neptuno and was given a trial where he was found guilty. The Spanish then ordered for him to be executed by firing squad. He was executed on July 1, 1871 in Nuevitas, which also happens to be the birthplace of my paternal grandfather. His last words were “Adios Cuba, Para Siempre” which means “Farewell Cuba, forever”.
Both brothers followed similar destinies and similar fates, and they both ended up dying in their beloved Cuba. Both deserve to be remembered in both American and Cuban history since they fought alongside the likes of Cuban heroes of the time like Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, Calixto Garcia, Antonio Maceo and the Mambíses Army. While they are never talked about, these two heroes were not only great loyal warriors to the United States, but also to the cause of Cuban Independence.
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