[1] The signaling of the Yara uprising occurred near Manzanillo in the eastern province of Oriente, at the sugar plantation and mill of La Demajagua.

[3] Céspedes gave a passionate address, declared the independence of Cuba, and pledged to gradually end slavery.

He first liberated his own slaves and invited them to fight alongside him against Spanish colonial forces, initiating the Ten Years' War in Cuba.

[4] The Cuban insurrectionists remained at Demajagua, leaving the next day at dawn on October 11, 1868, with intentions to attack and occupy the nearby town of Yara.

[6] The Spanish garrison at Yara, situated between the cities of Manzanillo and Bayamo, fell to Céspedes in his first successful military encounter.