CUBA. 



235 



chief made preparations for an aggressive summer 

 campaign against Maceo in Pinar del Hio they 

 created diversions in Sanla Clara or Santiago to 

 prevent the concentration <>f Spanisli troops. The 

 rebels were masters in the Sierra Maestra and the 

 hills commanding the roads from Bayamo. Rabi. 

 with his guerrilla.-. eoti-iantly attacked the Spanish 

 convoys and captured provisions and cattle. After 

 a rebel raid Spanish columns moved out to overtake 

 the rebels or assail their strongholds, but they found 

 only small skirmishing detachments so well j 

 in the hills that they inflicted considerable losses by 

 their rifle fire, and when the Spaniards forced these 

 to retire they returned to Bayamo. Several times 

 the Spaniards planned a movement upon the strong- 

 holds of Maceo. Gomez, or Garcia from two or three 

 directions at once, but in each case, instead of sur- 

 rounding and surprising the rebels, one or more of 

 the Spanish columns were caught in a ravine or on 

 an awkward declivity, led there perhaps by false 

 guides, and compelled to retreat before superior 

 forces. In Santa Clara Col. Oliver tired out his 

 forces marching between Kemedios and Seborucal, 

 but finally had to abandon the line of communica- 

 tions between Remedios and the provincial capital. 

 Col. Segura invaded the valley of Siguanca. but 

 could not long hold it. On June 9 Gen. Jimenez 

 Castallanos. with 3.500 men of all arms, met the 

 forces of Gomez and Calixto Garcia at Saratoga, 

 near Xajasa, and the battle lasted two days, at the 

 end of which the Spanish troops, driven from their 

 positions by incessant cavalry charges, fought their 

 way back to Puerto Principe in hollow squares. To 

 prevent the reinvasion of Santa Clara by Gomez, 

 (Jen. Hasan reconstructed the eastern tivcha. ! e- 

 tween Jucaro and Moron. Calixto Garcia, whose 

 first exploit was the defeat of a Spanish force on 

 the Canto river, where later a convoy of transports 

 was captured with stores and munitions, met the 

 force of Gen. Gasco near Venta de Casanova and 

 again near Bayamo and was both times victorious. 

 The first detachments of the new rebel troops from 

 the east entered Havana province in the beginning 

 of July under Zayas and Lacret. The railn >ad com- 

 munications of the Spaniards were frequently inter- 

 rupted when Gen. Weyler attempted to move bodies 

 of troops by rail. Several trains were blown up by 

 dynamite and many soldiers and passengers killed. 

 Although 25 per cent, of the Spanish soldiers were 

 on the sick list, Gen. Weyler made an energetic but 

 ineffectual effort to keep the rebels from invading 

 Havana province in force. In Matanzas a Spanish 

 column attacked the bands of El Inglesito. Betan- 

 court, and Sanchez in an intrenched position and 

 drove them into the Mogote hills. At Sabate de 

 Guanamon three Spanish battalions captured a rebel 

 camp. The forces of Aguirre were defeated by the 

 Sj laniards near Cardenas by Col. Albergota. In 

 an engagement near Gabriel the rebel leader Juan 

 Bruno Zayas was killed when leading a small force 

 that was surrounded and annihilated. In a skir- 

 mish near Maeagua Clotilde Garcia captured a part 

 of Col. Najera's force. 



In Santiago province a spirited engagement oc- 

 curred on July 5 at Loin a del Gato between the 

 forces of Jose Maceo and Perequito Perez and the 

 columns of Gen. Albert and Col. Vara del Hey. 

 The Cubans held their own. but Jose Maceo was 

 killed. On the same day a rebel force defeated Gen. 

 Gasco and captured a convoy of provisions and am- 

 munition between Manzanillo and Bayamo. A large 

 band of rebels under Pancho Sanchez defeated a 

 battalion of regulars and the guerrillas of Tejeda, 

 on July 8. at Banabacoa. 



Gen. Linares encountered the forces of Garcia 

 and Cebreco. 2.500 strong, and by a persistent as- 

 sault drove them into the town of Santa Ana, and 



again attacked them on the following morning, and 

 by the aid of hi* artillery dislodged them from a 

 strong position. 



(>n . I uly ':; den. Linares advanced from Santiago 

 upon the positions held by Garcia's men, with the 

 intention of capturing the Cuban general and his 

 camp, but the Cubans wen- enabled to take up an 



advantageous position while their sharps! tcrs 



held the Spanish column in check, and as they 

 gathered in greater force to intrench themselves oil 

 a higher hill farther back, where the artillery of tin- 

 Spaniards could not harm them. The Spaniards 

 attempted to carry this position by assault, in spite 

 of heavy losses, and on the following morning made 

 another attempt. After feigning a retreat to draw 

 the Cubans on. the Spaniards, re-enforced by the 

 column of Gen. Sandoval, which, however, had been 

 harassed by the cavalry of Perequito IVrez all the 

 way from Guantanamo. advanced anew on July 26. 

 but finally withdrew to Son go. having lost several 

 hundred men. A third Spanish column had marched 

 from Manzanillo to co-operate in an attack on the 

 positions of Garcia and Gomez, and this also en- 

 countered a strong insurgent force, the Cuban gen- 

 erals having been informed beforehand of the con- 

 certed movement. In Puerto Principe an important 

 convoy from Minas. escorted by Gen. Godoy, was 

 thrice attacked and a part of if captured before it 

 reached Guamaro by a large rebel force under Ave- 

 lino Rosa. 



During the muddy season, when no important 

 operations could be undertaken, the Spaniards made 

 frequent raids in the central provinces and the west, 

 destroying the property of rebels and capturing 

 cattle and food supplies. They sought out rebel 

 hospitals, one venturesome commander penetrating 

 the Cienega de Zapata. and the wounded rebels were 

 carried off as prisoners or killed on the spot. Gen. 

 Bernal attacked the insurgents intrenched in the 

 caves of Vacas and captured the camp and muni- 

 tions. The province of Pinar del Rio was devas- 

 tated by both armies, the insurgents destroying 

 Elantations and buildings, and the Spaniards the 

 uts of the peasantry and the gardens and fruit 

 trees. In a battle between Bernal's column and the 

 rebel bands of Varona, Gallo, and Ybarra at Sitto 

 Xuevo the latter were beaten and evacuated their 

 camp. On July 15 Gen. Suarez Inclan advanced 

 upon Maceo's position and was badly beaten by the 

 Cubans, who opened fire upon his troops unexpect- 

 edly when they were in an unfavorable position. 

 Maceo disposed his forces in the Vnelta Aba jo in a 

 line extending from Quebracha to the south coast, 

 Quintin Banderos commanding one camp. Bermu- 

 dez another. Socorras the next, Perico Delgado one 

 in the Rubi hills, and Xunez one south of Cayaja- 

 bos, while Maceo himself remained intrenched at 

 Cacarajicara. In Havana province the rebels ap- 

 peared again in August in considerable bodies, hav- 

 ing been able all along to control with their small 

 guerrilla bands the agricultural districts there as 

 well as in all other parts of the island. When the 

 dry season approached the insurgents took the of- 

 fensive on the trocha at Bahia Honda, at the very 

 doors of Havana, and in the neighborhood of Ba- 

 yamo. On A tic:. 1? a rebel force attacked 1.000 

 Spanish troops "at San Jose de las Lajas. 20 miles 

 from Havana, charging through their line and 

 taking up a position on an eminence from which 

 the troops could not dislodge them. Two days 

 later the rebels derailed a train on the railroad 

 between Havana and Pinar del Rio. and, driving off 

 a column of 500 soldiers that came to the relief of 

 the escort, burned the cars. The execution of many 

 hundreds of political prisoners and prisoners of war 

 in the fortresses of Cabanas and San Severino, tried 

 by summary court-martial and condemned of the 



