The war was on. Marti and his comrades had planned to have a
simultaneous uprising in all six provinces on February 24. In each a
leader was appointed, an organization was formed, and such supplies as
could be obtained were provided. But in only three provinces did an
actual insurrection occur. These were Oriente, or Santiago as it was
then called, Santa Clara, and Matanzas; the extreme eastern and the two
central provinces. In Oriente uprisings occurred at two points, under
Henry Brooks at Guantanamo, and at Los Negros under Guillermon Moncada.
In Matanzas there were also two uprisings; one at Aguacate, on the
Havana borderline, under Manuel Garcia, and one at Ybarra. In Santa
Clara the chief demonstration was near Cienfuegos, under General
Matagas. The uprising in Havana was to have been under the leadership of
Julio Sanguilly, but in some way never satisfactorily explained he was
betrayed and arrested and the outbreak did not occur. There were not a
few who at first suspected and even charged that Sanguilly himself had
betrayed the cause, for Spanish money, but his sentence to life
imprisonment by the Spanish authorities seemed abundantly to disprove
this charge.
The insurgents naturally made most headway at first in Oriente. There
were fewer Spanish troops in that province and there were more mountain
fastnesses for refuge in case of enforced retreat, than in the more
densely settled and populated central provinces. We have already seen
that a numerous company of patriots marched from Baire to Santiago to
present to the Spanish commander there, General Jose Lachambre, their
demands for the independence of Cuba. That officer of course rejected
their demands, and on their retirement sent Colonel Perico Perez after
them with 500 troops, to capture or disperse them. But Perez and his men
did neither. Instead, they joined the insurgents under Henry Brooks, and
were among the foremost to do effective work against the Spaniards. Maso
Parra recruited a strong band near Manzanillo, but instead of fighting
there proceeded to Havana Province, accompanied by Enrique Cespedes and
Amador Guerra, in hope of raising the standard of revolution where
Sanguilly had failed. The Spanish forces were so strong there, however,
as to overawe most of the Cubans, or at any rate to make it seem more
expedient to put forward their chief efforts in other places. In
Matanzas the earliest engagements were fought by troops under Antonio
Lopez Coloma and Juan Gualberto Gomez, with indifferent results. Another
sharp conflict occurred at Jaguey Grande, and there were yet others at
Vequita; at Sevilla, where the patriots defeated 1,500 Spanish regulars
commanded by General Lachambre; at Ulloa, at Baire, and at Los Negros. A
belated uprising in Pinar del Rio under General Azcuy came speedily to
grief, as did another near Holguin. By the early days of March the
entire movement seemed to have subsided save in the southern parts of
Oriente.
The Spanish authorities had acted promptly and vigorously. The
revolution began on February 24. The very next day a special meeting of
the Spanish Cabinet was held at Madrid, as a result of which the
Minister for the Colonies, Senor Abarzuza, authorized Captain-General
Callejas to proclaim martial law throughout Cuba. This was in fact done
by Callejas before Abarzuza's order reached him, and he also put into
operation the "Public Order law" which provided for the immediate
punishment of anyone taken in the performance or attempt of a seditious
act. The Captain-General had at his disposal at this time nominally six
regiments of infantry and three of cavalry, two battalions of garrison
artillery and one mountain battery, aggregating about 19,000 men, and
nearly 14,000 local militia, remains of the notorious Volunteers of the
Ten Years' War; a total of nearly 33,000 men. But these figures were
delusive. Callejas himself reported, on his return to Spain two or three
months later, that half of the regular forces existed only on paper, and
that the militia was altogether untrustworthy. He had learned the latter
fact by bitter experience when at the very beginning Perico Perez and
his 500 men had deserted to the Cuban cause. The fact is that the leaven
of patriotism had begun to work even among the old Volunteers and still
more among their sons, and many of them came frankly over to the cause
which they or their fathers had formerly so savagely opposed. Callejas's
forces were very weak in artillery, but that did not greatly matter,
since the revolutionists at this time had none at all. He enjoyed the
great advantage of having possession of all the large towns and cities
along the coast with their fortifications both inland and seaward;
fortifications which were somewhat antiquated but still sufficiently
effective against ill-armed insurgents without artillery. The Spanish
navy in Cuban waters comprised five small cruisers and six gunboats; not
a formidable force, but infinitely superior to that of the
revolutionists, which consisted of nothing at all. It assisted in
protecting the coast towns, and served for the transportation of troops
and supplies, but its chief function was to guard the coast against
filibustering and supply expeditions.
Although the Spanish forces were very considerably superior to the
revolutionists numerically as well as in equipment and abundance of
supplies, Calleja realized that they would not be sufficient to cope
with the patriots on their own ground and in the increasing numbers
which he prudently anticipated would rally to their standard.
Accordingly early in March he sent to Spain an urgent call for large
reenforcements for both army and navy, declaring that he could not hold
his own, much less suppress the revolt, without them, and giving warning
that unless he received them promptly he would not be responsible for
the consequences. In response a battalion of regulars was immediately
transferred to Cuba from Porto Rico, and 7,000 more were sent from
Spain. All the civil prefects throughout the island were replaced with
military officers. In Havana and elsewhere all prominent Cubans
suspected of complicity or even sympathy with the revolution were
arrested and imprisoned. The Morro Castle at Havana was crowded with the
best citizens of the metropolitan province. But this attempt at
repression only added fuel to the flame. The revolution burst out anew
in the Province of Oriente, and when Callejas ordered the local troops
of Havana to proceed thither, they mutinied and refused to go. In such
circumstances Callejas, who at first had affected to regard the outbreak
as mere sporadic brigandage, now openly confessed that it was an
island-wide revolution.
Complications with the United States also speedily arose. The arrest of
Julio Sanguilly and others at Havana has been mentioned. These men had
been in the United States for years, and had become naturalized citizens
of that country, wherefore the United States consul-general at Havana,
Ramon O. Williams, made formal demand that they should be tried before a
civil court and should have the benefit of counsel, instead of being
summarily disposed of by court martial. This was a legitimate demand,
which had to be granted, but it incensed Callejas so much that he asked
the Spanish government to demand Williams's recall; which that
government very prudently did not do. At Santiago, also, two American
sailors, who had landed there in a small boat, and had been arrested as
filibusters, made appeal to the American consul there, who also insisted
that they should have a civil trial; as a result of which they were
acquitted.
[Illustration: LA PUNTA FORTRESS, HAVANA]
While thus careful to protect the rights of its citizens, native or
naturalized, the United States government was equally energetic in its
endeavors to prevent violations of the neutrality law by filibustering
expeditions, and went to great expense and pains therein. It watched and
guarded all Atlantic and Gulf ports to prevent the departure of such
expeditions, and gave hospitality to a Spanish cruiser which lay at Key
West to watch for and intercept them. Hannis Taylor, the American
Minister at Madrid, assured the Spanish government that the United
States would do all that was in its power to prevent such expeditions
from departing from its shores, and that promise was fulfilled with
exceptional efficiency. Indeed, the United States administration
incurred much popular censure for its energy in stopping the sailing of
vessels which were suspected of carrying supplies to Cuba; for it did
stop a number of them, to the very heavy pecuniary loss of the patriots.
Nevertheless some vessels were successful in eluding the vigilance of
the federal guards, and that fact gave umbrage in Spain; so that while
at home the American government was charged with hostility to the Cuban
cause, in Spain it was charged with too greatly favoring it.
With the receipt of reenforcements, Callejas made renewed efforts to
suppress the revolution; though he had little heart in the matter and
seemed to realize the hopelessness of the task. Practically all the
fighting was in Oriente. Colonel Santocildes made an unsuccessful attack
upon the patriots near Guantanamo on March 10, and a week later Colonel
Bosch had an equally unsatisfactory meeting with them under Brooks and
Perez near Ulloa. So strong were the insurgents becoming in that
province that they began to exercise the functions of civil government,
in the carrying of mails and the collection of taxes. Beside Henry
Brooks and Perico Perez, under whom were the largest forces, Bartolome
Maso, who had returned from Havana, held Manzanillo with a thousand
troops, Jesus Rabi occupied Baire and Jiguani with 1,500, and Quintin
Banderas, Amador Guerra and Esteban Tomayo had among them 2,000 more.
After his repulse at Guantanamo the Spanish Colonel Santocildes went to
Bayamo, where he was attacked and routed with heavy loss. A few days
later, on March 24, a battle was fought at Jaraguana between Amador
Guerra, with 900 Cubans, and Colonel Araoz, with 1,000 Spanish regulars,
in which the latter suffered the heavier losses, though they finally
compelled the Cubans to retire from the field.
At this time an effort was made by both the Captain-General and some
leaders of the Cuban Autonomists to make terms with the revolutionists.
With the assent and cooperation of Callejas a commission of Autonomists,
headed by Juan Bautista Spotorno,--who had once been for a time
President of the Cuban Republic, shortly after the Ten Years'
War,--proceeded to Oriente and sought a conference with Bartolome Maso
at Manzanillo. That sturdy patriot received them grimly. He listened to
their proposals in ominous silence. Then, in a voice all the more
menacing for its repression of passion, he addressed Spotorno:
"You were once President of the Cuban Republic in the Field?"
"Yes, Bartolome; you know that."
"You then as President issued a decree of death against anyone who
should seek to persuade the Cuban government to accept any terms short
of independence?"
"Yes, but...."
"Then, Bautista Spotorno, for this once, go in peace; but go very
quickly, lest I change my mind as you have changed yours. And be assured
that if you or any of your kind ever come hither with such proposals
again, I shall execute upon you or upon them your own decree!"
The next day Jose Marti and Maximo Gomez issued in Hayti the manifesto
which we have already cited, which had the result of assuring all
wavering or doubtful Cubans that the most authoritative leaders of their
nation were directing the revolution, and that it was to be indeed a
struggle to a finish. There was another result. The Spanish
Captain-General, Emilio Callejas, despaired of coping with the steadily
rising storm, and on March 27 he placed his resignation in the hands of
the Queen Regent of Spain. That sovereign immediately summoned a Cabinet
council, herself presiding. It was no longer the Liberal Cabinet of
Praxedes Sagasta. That body had fallen a few days before, in a
political crisis which had arisen in Madrid over a newspaper controversy
about Cuban affairs. An advanced Liberal paper, _El Resúmen_, had
imputed cowardice to army officers who, it said, were always eager to
serve in Cuba in time of peace, but shunned that island whenever there
was fighting going on. At this a mob of officers attacked and wrecked
the offices of the paper, and the next evening attacked the offices of
_El Heraldo_ and _El Globo_, which had denounced their doings. The next
day all the papers of Madrid notified the government that they would
suspend publication unless assured of protection against such outrages.
General Lopez Dominguez approved the conduct of the riotous officers and
demanded that the editors of the papers be delivered to him for trial by
court martial. The Prime Minister, Sagasta, replied that that would not
be legal, since all press offences against the army short of treason
must be tried before civil juries. Then Marshal Martinez Campos, who as
Captain-General had ended the Ten Years' War in Cuba, led a deputation
of army officers to demand of Sagasta that he should suppress _El
Resúmen_ and have more strict press laws enacted. Sagasta refused and,
finding his support in the Cortes untrustworthy in the face of military
bullying, offered the resignation of the Ministry, on March 17. The
Queen Regent invited Campos to form a Ministry, but he declined; though
he announced that all newspaper men attacking the army would be shot,
and he arbitrarily haled before military tribunals a number of editors,
while other journalists fled the country.
The Queen Regent then called upon Canovas del Castillo, the Conservative
leader, to form a cabinet, and on March 25 he did so, despite the fact
that his party was in a minority in the Cortes, and it was this
Conservative cabinet which the sovereign consulted four days later
concerning the resignation of Callejas and affairs in Cuba in general.
It was decided to accept Callejas's resignation, with special thanks for
his loyal services, to appoint Martinez Campos to succeed him, to ask
fresh credits of $120,000,000 for the expenses of the war, to send large
reenforcements to Cuba, and to increase the peace footing of the Spanish
army from 71,000 to 82,000 men. The troops in Cuba were at once to be
increased to 40,000 men, and 40,000 more were to be added, if needed, in
four months. Thus did Spain rouse herself to fight her last fight for
the retention of her last American possession.
It was not, however, until April 15 that Callejas received a message
from the Queen Regent, formally accepting his resignation, thanking him
for "the activity, zeal and ability" with which he had conducted the
military operations against the revolutionists, complimenting all the
forces under his command for their valor, and directing him to return to
Spain by the next steamer that sailed from Havana after the arrival of
his successor. And his successor landed the very next day, at
Guantanamo. There was much adverse comment among Spaniards in Cuba upon
this summary recall of Callejas. The explanation of it was that the
government regarded him as culpable for letting the revolution gain so
great headway, but it did not deem it politic to censure him publicly,
or at all until he was back at Madrid. As for Martinez Campos, he
promised on his acceptance of the appointment that he would quickly
suppress the revolt, as he had done the Ten Years' War; and doubtless he
expected that he would be able to do so.
Indeed, in sending Martinez Campos to Cuba, Spain "played her strongest
card." He had long been known as "Spain's greatest General," and also as
the "King-Maker," since it was he who had restored the Bourbon dynasty
to the throne. He was undoubtedly a soldier of great valor, skill and
resource. He was also a statesman of more than ordinary ability, and had
been for a time Prime Minister of Spain, and for fifteen years had been
making and unmaking ministries at will. Now, at the age of sixty-four he
was still in the prime of his powers and at the height of his popularity
and influence. His departure from Madrid for Cuba was attended with
demonstrations, both official and popular, which could scarcely have
been exceeded for royalty itself. He reached Guantanamo on April 16, and
on the following day assumed his office. It was not until a week later
that he reached Havana. There he was received with unbounded rejoicings
by the Spanish party, and with sincere satisfaction by the Autonomists,
while it must be confessed that many Cuban patriots regarded his coming
with dismay. There could be no doubt that it portended the putting forth
of all the might of Spain against the revolution, under the command of a
great soldier-statesman who had never yet failed in an undertaking.
On the very day after his arrival at Guantanamo the new Captain-General
issued a proclamation to the people of Cuba. In it he pledged himself to
fulfil in good faith all the reforms which had been promised in his own
Treaty of Zanjon and in subsequent legislation by the Spanish Cortes,
provided the loyal parties in Cuba would give him their support; this
admission of dependence upon the people being obviously a bid for
popularity. The parties in question were, of course, the Spaniards, who
were divided into Conservatives and Reformists, and the Autonomists, or
Cuban Home Rulers. They or their leaders at once pledged him their
support, and the Spaniards gave it, for a time. But a number of the
Autonomists were dissatisfied because he would promise nothing more
than the fulfilment of reforms which had never been regarded as
sufficient, and on that account refused him their support. Instead, they
gave it to the revolutionists, and many of them, especially the younger
men, actually joined the revolutionary army, or went to Jamaica or the
United States to assist in the raising of funds and the equipping of
expeditions. It was thus at this time that the disintegration of the
once influential Autonomist party began.
To the revolutionists he tried to be conciliatory. He offered full and
free pardon to all who would lay down their arms, excepting a few of the
leaders, and he doubtless expected that there would be a numerous
response. It does not appear that there was any favorable response
whatever. If any insurgents did surrender themselves--of whom there is
no record--they were outnumbered a hundred to one by the Autonomists who
at that time were transformed into revolutionists.
Campos did not rely, however, upon his proclamation for the suppression
of the insurrection. He set to work at once with all his consummate
military skill and his knowledge of the island and of Cuban methods of
warfare, to organize a military campaign of victory. He made General
Garrich governor of the Province of Oriente, with General Salcedo in
command of the First Division, at Santiago, and General Lachambre of the
Second Division, at Bayamo. He undertook the organization of numerous
bodies of irregular troops, to wage a guerrilla warfare against the
Cubans similar to that which the Cubans themselves waged successfully
against Spanish regulars. When he found his troops from Spain
disinclined toward such work, or unsuited to it, he sought the services
of young Spaniards who had for some years been settled in Cuba, such as
had been so ready to serve in the former war. They generally declined,
whereupon he sought to draft them into the service, and at that they
threatened mutiny. As a last resort he sent for Lolo Benitez, a life
prisoner at Ceuta. This man had been a guerrilla leader, on the Cuban
side, in the Ten Years' War, but had been guilty of cruelties which
caused the Cubans to repudiate him. He had been captured by the
Spaniards and sent to the penal colony in Africa for life. But Campos
brought him back and gave him a free pardon and commission as lieutenant
colonel in the Spanish army, on condition that he would conduct a
guerrilla warfare against his own countrymen. When this was done, and
when under this man were placed numerous criminals released from Cuban
jails, there were vigorous protests from Spanish officers against such
degradation of the Spanish army, and warnings that such unworthy tactics
would surely react against their author.
The official attitude of the Spanish government was at this time set
forth by the Spanish Minister to the United States, Senor Dupuy de Lome.
He belittled the reports of Spanish oppressions and of Cuban uprisings.
"There is very little interest," he said, "being taken in the revolt by
the people of Havana. I think the uprising will speedily be put down.
The arrival of General Martinez Campos has brought order out of chaos.
He has shown clearly to the people that their interests will be
protected, and as a result has caused a feeling of security. He is every
inch a soldier, not a toy fighter. He is loyal to his country, but he is
humane, and as far as possible he will treat his enemies leniently. In
the case of the leaders of the revolt, however, severe justice will be
meted out."
Meantime the revolution was proceeding. The most formidable figure in
its ranks in Cuba was that of Antonio Maceo, the mulatto general who
above most of his colleagues possessed a veritable genius for war, both
in strategy and in direct fighting. He had come of a family of fighters,
and had been born in Santiago in 1849, and had fought in the Ten Years'
War. He was highly gifted with the qualities of leadership among men,
with valor and resolution, with keen foresight and great intelligence.
He was probably the ablest strategist in the War of Independence, and
personally the most popular commander. At the end of March he arrived in
Cuba from Costa Rica with an expedition well equipped with rifles and
small field pieces. With him were his brother Jose Maceo, Flor Crombet,
Dr. Francisco Agramonte, and several other officers. The landing was
made at Baracoa, the Spanish gunboats which were watching the coast
being successfully eluded. Soon after landing the patriots were attacked
by General Lachambre's troops at Duaba, but the latter were repulsed
with considerable loss. A part of the expedition was then sent around by
sea to Manzanillo, on a British schooner. That vessel was wrecked and in
consequence its captain and crew were captured by the Spaniards, who put
the captain to death. Dr. Agramonte was one of several members of the
expedition who were also taken, but he, being an American citizen,
escaped court martial and was more leniently dealt with by a civil
court, on the demand of the American consul at Santiago.
In a short time this masterful leader, Antonio Maceo, had control of
practically all of the Province of Oriente outside of a few fortified
coast cities and camps. The Captain-General, vainly imagining that the
insurrection would be confined to that province, sent thither all
available troops, leaving Havana, Matanzas and the others with scarcely
more than police guard. Thus greatly outnumbered, Maceo wisely resorted
not so much to guerrilla warfare as to what may be called Fabian
tactics. He maintained his army in complete organization and observed
all the rules of civilized warfare. But he also maintained a high degree
of mobility, avoiding any general engagement, and wearing out the morale
of the Spaniards with forced marches, surprise attacks, and all the
bewildering and baffling tactics of which so resourceful and alert a
commander was capable. Early in April he was indeed in much peril, being
almost completely surrounded by superior forces near Guantanamo, and
actually suffering severe losses at Palmerito; but he cut his way out by
desperate fighting in which he also showed himself a master hand. The
most serious loss at that time was the death of the brave revolutionist
Flor Crombet. He was killed not by Spaniards but by a traitor in his own
command, whom Maceo presently detected and hanged. Soon after the affair
at Palmerito, however, Maceo captured El Caney, in the very suburbs of
Santiago, and seized the rich supplies in the Spanish arsenal at that
place.
The sending of so many troops from the other provinces to Oriente
emboldened the patriots of Havana and Matanzas to take up arms, and
uprisings occurred at various places, particularly at Cardenas and the
city of Matanzas. In the city of Havana itself a daring attempt was made
to seize Cabanas and El Morro, liberate the political prisoners, and
destroy the magazines if they could not be held. To encourage these
movements Maceo sent detachments of his forces from Oriente westward,
into Camaguey, then still known as the Province of Puerto Principe.
Jesus Rabi occupied Victoria las Tunas, near the boundary of the latter
province, and soon had bands operating beyond the border. There was an
Autonomist organization at Camaguey, which at first disavowed the
revolution and gave its adherence to the Captain-General, but it became
demoralized upon the approach of the revolutionary forces, and many of
its members were soon serving zealously in Maceo's ranks.
The arrival of Jose Marti and Maximo Gomez in Cuba at the middle of
April, as already related, almost simultaneously with the arrival of
Martinez Campos, was promptly followed by increased activity on the part
of the Cubans. Floriano Gascon organized a force of negro miners at
Juragua, and inflicted a crushing defeat upon a Spanish garrison at
Ramon de las Jaguas; the Spanish commander being afterward tried by
Spanish court martial and condemned to death for inefficiency. At the
end of the month a Spanish force was entrapped and almost destroyed by
Jose Maceo, near Guantanamo. The first half of May was also marked with
much fighting in the southern part of Oriente, in which the
revolutionists were generally successful. Railroads were destroyed to
break Spanish lines of communication, valuable supplies were captured,
and Martinez Campos was made to realize the formidable character of the
insurrection which he had so confidently promised to suppress.
Mention has already been made of the Provisional Government which was
proclaimed by Maceo early in April. On May 18 this was succeeded by
another organization elected by a convention of delegates consisting of
one representative of each 100 revolutionists actually in the field.
Bartolome Maso, who had been in control of the district of Bayamo since
early in March, was unanimously chosen President; Maximo Gomez was
designated as Commander in Chief of the army; and Antonio Maceo was made
Commander of the Division of Oriente. The next day occurred the tragedy
of Marti's death, whereupon Tomas Estrada Palma, who had formerly been
Provisional President, was named to succeed him as the delegate at large
of the Cuban Republic to the United States and other countries; Manuel
Sanguilly being later associated with him at Washington.
All through that summer the strife continued, steadily extending its
area westward into Camaguey and Santa Clara. Campos endeavored to
confine the war to Oriente, by stretching a line of 4,000 Spanish troops
across the island at the western boundary of that province, but on June
2 Maximo Gomez broke through that line, crossed the Jobabo River, and
entered Camaguey. There he was joined by a nephew of Salvador Cisneros,
Marquis of Santa Lucia, with a large force, and by Marcos Garcia, mayor
of Sancti Spiritus, who came across from the Province of Santa Clara.
With these reenforcements Gomez soon had control of all the southern
part of Camaguey, and on June 18 the Captain-General was compelled to
declare that province in a state of siege.
[Illustration: MAXIMO GOMEZ
The foremost military chieftain of the War of Independence, Maximo Gomez
y Baez, was a Cuban by adoption rather than birth, having been born at
Bani, Santo Domingo, in 1838. He was an officer in the last Spanish army
in that island, and went with it thence to Cuba. There he became
disgusted with the brutality of the Spanish officers toward the Cubans,
personally assaulted his superior, General Villar, and quit the Spanish
service, returning to Santo Domingo, where he engaged in business as a
planter. At the beginning of the Ten Years' War he returned to Cuba,
joined the patriots, and did efficient service, rising to the chief
command. After that war he returned to his plantation in Santo Domingo,
but in 1895 joined José Marti in leading the Cuban War of Independence.
Thereafter his story was the story of the Cuban cause. Declining to be
considered a candidate for the Presidency of the Republic, he retired to
private life after the establishment of independence, and died in 1905,
full of years and honor.]
Then Campos attempted a second barricade. He placed a line of troops
across the island from Moron to Jucaro, near the western boundary of
Camaguey, to prevent Gomez from going on into Santa Clara province. This
was the line along which was afterward built a military railroad, and on
which was constructed the famous "Trocha" or barrier of ditches, wire
fences and block houses. It almost coincided with the line of
demarcation between the two ecclesiastical dioceses into which the
island was divided. But this attempt to confine the insurrection was no
more successful than the other. Indeed it was folly to try to shut the
revolution out of Santa Clara when it was already there. Marcos Garcia
had left behind him many fervent patriots at Sancti Spiritus, and
these soon organized a formidable force under the competent lead of
Carlos Ruloff, and took the field, advancing northward and westward as
far as Vega Alta. General Zayas and other patriotic leaders operated in
the southern part of Santa Clara, and soon that province was almost as
fully aflame with revolution as Oriente itself. This was the more
significant, because it was a populous and opulent province, where the
inhabitants had much to lose through the ravages of war. But like the
Romans in the "brave days of old," the Cubans of the revolution "spared
neither lands nor gold, nor limb nor life," for the achievement of their
national independence.
Meantime in Oriente the Cubans were more than holding their own. They
suffered a sore loss in the death of the dashing champion Amador Guerra,
who was treacherously slain in the moment of victory at Palmas Altas,
near Manzanillo. But Henry Brooks landed supplies of artillery and
ammunition at Portillo; Jesus Rabi almost annihilated a strong Spanish
force in a defile near Jiguani and thus frustrated General Salcedo's
plans to surround Maceo's camp at San Jorge; and on July 5 Quintin
Bandera and Victoriano Garzon attacked and dispersed a newly landed
Spanish army and captured its stores of arms and ammunition. These
reverses for his arms exasperated Campos into the issuing of a
proclamation on July 7, in which, while still offering pardon to all who
voluntarily surrendered, he threatened death to all who were captured
under arms, and exile to African prisons to all who were convicted of
conspiring against the sovereignty of Spain.
Following this, Campos, "Spain's greatest soldier," took the field in
person. Of this there was need, for Maceo was besieging Bayamo,
capturing all supplies which were sent thither, and threatening the
Spanish garrison with starvation. Campos hastened to the relief of that
place with General Santocildes and a strong force. But Maceo did not
hesitate to measure strength with Campos. He attacked him openly at
Peralejo, out-manoeuvered him and out-fought him and came very near to
capturing him with his whole headquarters staff. Campos was indeed saved
from capture only by the desperate valor of Santocildes, who lost his
life in defending him: but he did lose his entire ammunition train and
was compelled to retreat with the remnant of his shattered forces into
Bayamo and there undergo the humiliation of being besieged by the
"rebels" whom he had affected to despise. There he remained for a week,
until General Suarez Valdez could come with an army, not to defeat the
Cubans but to help Campos to flee in safety over the road by which he
had come. Then, when the Spaniards had concentrated more than 10,000
troops at Bayamo for a supreme struggle the wily Maceo quietly and
swiftly removed his forces to another scene of action.
Meantime in the far east of the province the patriots besieged the fort
in Sabana and would have forced its surrender had not Spanish
reenforcements arrived from Baracoa for its relief. The fort was
destroyed, however, and the place had to be abandoned by the Spanish.
Also at Baire, where the revolution began, Jesus Rabi captured a Spanish
fort and its garrison. Everywhere throughout Oriente the Spaniards were
on the defensive, while in every other province, even in Pinar del Rio,
the revolution was ominously gaining strength.