Commentary

1. Joaquín Aponte aparecerá de nuevo en este Libro, en las láminas XXXII-XXXIII. READ MORE

   Además, se destaca para esta historia militar al primer oficial negro, Juan José Ovando, nombrado en 1701.[86] La historia de las glorias militares de los batallones negros y sus héroes se articula en el Libro de Pinturas con la de los ejércitos abisinios en su conquista de la antigua Hispania. Lo notable es que presenta el episodio de este ejército negro triunfante en un mismo plano de composición que el episodio de la derrota del rey asirio Senaquerib (láminas XLIV-B y XLV). (Pavez Ojeda 2006b, 701)

2. Image 32-33 again portrayed the black militia defending the city against the British in 1762. READ MORE

   But the picture is not so straightforward. First, time and history are collapsed: José Ovando, the first black captain when the militia was established in 1701, is figured in front of all the troops. Yet sharing the page are the black militia members of 1762, as if they were all protagonists in a single history. (Ferrer 2014, 316)

3. The next two pages (pp. 32 and 33) include among other personages Captain Juan José Ovando, the first black soldier to wear the cassock of the milicias disciplinadas in 1701, and Aponte’s grandfather Joaquín Aponte, the officer in charge of the black troops stationed at the fortress of Marianao during the English siege of Havana in 1762. READ MORE

   Aponte Senior, who had been decorated for his participation in the Spanish capture of New Orleans under General O’Reilly, is depicted with his sword raised in commanding a tattoo. (Palmié 2002, 99-100)

4. Near the Punta, or Campo de Zamora, a woman appears, representing the city of Havana and acknowledging the black troops who defended her. READ MORE

   Authorities focused in particular on Aponte’s depiction and placement of the black troops in the picture. (Ferrer 2014, 316)

5. Why, they queried, had Aponte painted military camps belonging only to the black forces, including both infantry and cavalry camps? READ MORE

   Aponte replied that the infantry camp was that of his grandfather and black militia captain, Joaquín Aponte; the other was the cavalry camp of the white troops, “as none exists for blacks.” But, as authorities quickly noted, Aponte’s description did not seem to match the image before them. (Ferrer 2014, 316-317)

6. They pressed on, pointing out a glaring inconsistency: there were no whites in the camp that he said was the white cavalry camp. READ MORE

   Indeed, the only people there were three black officers on horseback and a few sentries, also black. How exactly was this the white cavalry camp?[93] Whatever the contradictory image may have portrayed about the black (and white) militias in 1762, Aponte used the image in another context to visualize what should happen in 1812. During the planning of the rebellion, Aponte showed this particular image to several of his co-conspirators: Clemente Chacón, Salvador Ternero, Francisco Xavier Pacheco, and Francisco Maroto. Perhaps when he did so he said something about the campaign of 1762. But what stuck in the minds of his companions was something else entirely. Aponte showed them the image as they discussed the details of how to organize their current rebellion, using the picture to illustrate how military camps should be organized and how each should have its own flag and guard.[94] In that moment, then, it is hard to say whether the men were consciously viewing a visual representation of an historical event or of something they themselves were about to do, or both.[95] (Ferrer 2014, 317)