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GENL. LOPEZ THE CUBAN PATRIOT GETTING HIS CASH.
   
Complete Explanation:
A satiric portrait of Venezuelan-born general Narciso Lopez, leader of an 1850 expedition to liberate Cuba from Spanish rule. Lopez's army of American volunteers captured the Cuban coastal town of Cardenas in May 1850. After a brief occupation Lopez's forces were driven out by Spanish troops, and fled to Key West.

Lopez is shown fleeing to the left, holding a sword and a bag marked $50,000 (an exaggerated reference to the small sum of money taken by his men from the Cardenas customhouse). A milestone points "To Cardenas Custom House" in the distance, where a battle rages.

Lopez says: "Well! we have not Revolutionized Cuba, but then we have Got what we came for, my Comrades came for Glory, I came for Cash, I've got the Cash, they've got the Glory, & I suppose we're all satisifed. I'm O-P-H [?] for the United States again. Cant Live under a Military Despotism."

Weitenkampf dates the print tentatively 1851, the year of Lopez's second Cuban expedition. Specific reference here to the Cardenas affair of the preceding year, however, is persuasive evidence for an 1850 date.


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