On May 19, 1895, José Marti was killed during a skirmish with Spanish forces commanded by Colonel José Ximenes Sandoval. Though ordered by Maximo Gómez to stay back, Marti, with a raw recruit named Angel de la Guardia in tow, galloped into the Spanish line of fire. The battle took place at a ranch called Dos Rios, within sight of the Contramaestre River.

His body was buried on the 20th, in a common grave in the nearby village of Remanganaguas. It was then exhumed by a Spanish medical examiner on the 21st, placed in a crude coffin, with a window over the face, and transported to the town of Palma Soriano, where it was publicly exhibited for several hours on the 24th. On the evening of the 26th, the body arrived in the city of Santiago de Cuba, where a number of people went to view it. It was laid to rest in the Santa Ifigenia cemetery there on the morning of the 27th. As the body was about to be placed in its sepulchre, Colonel Sandoval turned to the assembled multitude and asked, “Is there no friend or relative of the deceased here?” No one spoke.