NICARAGUA. 



533 



equally strong, held the stronghold of Leon, against 



which" /t'laya's army >d out without waiting for 

 tin- rebels in open the campaign. The insurrection 

 .-pivail northward and westward from Lr 



The Government of Honduras sent 2.000 troops 

 to assist tlie President of Nicaragua in crushing 

 the revolt. The United States war vessel "Alert 

 proceeded to Corinto. where all business was stopped 

 by the rebellion, and landed marines on March 5 to 

 protect American interests. The Honduras troops 

 occupied Xueva Segovia on the same day. Presi- 

 dent Zelaya reconstructed his Cabinet, appointing 

 me/ as Minister of the Interior and 

 of Foreign Affairs. Dr. Lcopoldo Ramirez as Minis- 

 ter of Public Works and of Finance, and Gen. 

 Francisco Guerrero as Minister of War. The Lib- 

 erals in the Congress identified themselves with the 

 new movement and opened a session at Leon. 



The whole of the Pacific coast country was in 

 arms against the Government. The impressment 

 of laborers on the hcn-iriiddfi was actively carried on 

 by both parties, which stopped the gathering of the 

 crop and the exportation of coffee. Until the end 

 of February nothing took place but manoeuvres for 

 position and skirmishes in which a few shots were 

 fired. There was some hard fighting at Momo- 

 tombo. where the rebels attempted to seize a 

 steamer on Lake Managua and were beaten off by 

 the advance guard of Zelaya's army. The first bat- 

 tle was at Nagarote on March 1. The insurgents 

 took the offensive and advanced from Leon against 

 Managua. Their Commander-in-chief, Gen. Anas- 

 tacio Ortiz, announced that he would capture the 

 capital, make a prisoner of Gen. Zelaya. and deliver 

 the Government into the hands of Provisional-Pres- 

 ident Baca. The whole of the Government army. 

 now numbering 4,000 men, with 20 field pieces, con- 

 centrated at Mateares, marched out to oppose the 

 advance. The place where the forces met was 25 

 miles from the capital. The battle lasted all day, 

 and resulted in a disheartening defeat for the reb- 

 els, who were forced to retreat, leaving behind 4 

 Krupp guns. The Government losses were 30 killed 

 and 80 wounded. The regular troops then advanced 

 northward and eastward. The victory at Nagarote 

 caused waverers to give their adhesion to Gen. Ze- 

 laya and enabled him to borrow from capitalists 

 money of which he was greatly in need. The rebel 

 army fell back to La Paz and fortified themselves 

 there on the railroad. The Government forces took 

 up a position near by. but failed to follow up their 

 victory. President Zelaya promised to spare the 

 lives of all rebels who surrendered except the mili- 

 tary leaders. The whole country was under mar- 

 tial law, and all business was at a standstill. Ex- 

 President Zevala. whom Gen. Ortiz overthrew in 

 1892 and thus made way for Zelaya's succession, 

 now joined forces with Zelaya. A second battle 

 was fought at Pital, where about 1,500 were en- 

 gaged on each side, and the Government forces 

 under Gen. Paiz. Gen. Pablo Reyes, and Gen. Emi- 

 liano Herrere were again successful. The rebels 

 retreated, leaving 200 killed and wounded on the 

 field. On March 12 another engagement was fought 

 at El Jablon, where the insurgents lost 35 killed, 80 

 wounded, and 42 prisoners, and left a Krupp gun 

 and other arms and provisions in the hands of the 

 regulars. The principal families of Leon fled to 

 Honduras. Vice-President Prudencio Alfaro, of 

 Salvador, and Gen. ('anas were sent by President 

 Gutierre/ to endeavor to arrange terms of peace be- 

 tween the contending parties. The peace commis- 

 sioners were unable to effect an arrangement, but 

 continued their labors till April, when they returned 

 home. There were several other engagements in 

 the first two weeks of March, in which the Gov- 

 ernment forces generally outnumbered their oppo- 



nents and were successful, although the rein Is, who 

 were armed with modern weapons, infli'- 

 \OSSea "ii the regulars. Zelaya's army udv;: 

 against Leon mi March IT. and pressed the i 

 back, capturing Mora and several other towns, and 

 winning another battle at Metapa. The troop> of 

 Honduras after remaining still a long time, appar- 

 ently hesitating a- to whether to aid the Govern- 

 ment or join the revolutionists, came to the support 

 of Zelaya's generals and gave valuable assistance. 

 When nearly the whole country was in control 

 of the Government, troops were posted on three 

 tides of Leon. Both sides refused the inter- 

 vention of the Honduras commissioners, and the 

 rebels rejected Zelaya's demand for unconditional 

 surrender. The commissioners succeeded on March 

 25 in arranging a truce, which lasted till April 5. 

 On that day fighting was resumed at several p 

 near Leon. President Zelaya took the field in per- 

 son. Within a week he had won 5 or 6 engage- 

 ments, none of them decisive. On April 11 Gen. 

 Ortiz with 450 men attempted to capture the Gov- 

 ernment position near El Viego and was repelled 

 by the Honduranean troops under Gen. Bonilla, who 

 routed the rebels when they reformed for a final 

 desperate attack, and captured from them a large 

 quantity of stores and ammunition. Desultory 

 fighting was kept up till the end of April, and 

 every day Zelaya's army approached closer to the 

 rebel headquarters at Leon. New armaments, con- 

 sisting of 1,000 rifles and 7 field guns, arrived from 

 the United States and Germany for Zelaya's army. 

 The rebels made a final unsuccessful effort to cap- 

 ture the stronghold of El Convento. On May 1 

 Provisional-President Baca and Gen. Ortiz took to 

 flight, the resources of the revolution being at an 

 end. and boarded a gunboat bound for Guatemala, 

 to which the insurgents looked for aid that never 

 came. The rebels in Leon laid down their arms 

 and surrendered the city, but not unconditionally. 

 On May 6 President Zelaya made an entry into 

 the old capital at the head of his army. Many of the 

 public buildings had been destroyed. Gen. Benja- 

 min Ruiz, a Colombian, whose generalship had 

 helped most to overcome the resistance of the reb- 

 els, was appointed commander-in-chief of the army 

 and Governor of Leon. Many Conservatives of 

 that town were arrested in spite of the amnesty. 

 President Zelaya appointed a new Cabinet, as fol- 

 lows : Minister of Foreign Affairs, Manuel C 

 Matus : Minister of Finance. Luciano Gomez 

 Minister of Public Works, Leopoldo Ramirez 

 Minister of the Interior, Gen. Erasnio Calderon 

 Minister of War. Gen. Domingo Silva. 



When the rebel Minister of the Treasury had en- 

 deavored to levy a contribution in the form of a 

 loan on doubtful securities on the Leon branch of 

 the London Bank of Central America. Capt. Han- 

 ford, of the " Alert." assured the manager of the 

 bank that he would resist the forcible seizure of 

 property belonging to citizens of governments 

 friendly to the United States. When the same 

 minister on April 16 sent a force to seize $1.000.000 

 worth of merchandise in Corinto and carry it off to 

 Leon on the pretense of saving it from capture by 

 the Government forces, the commanders of the 

 "Alert" and the newly arrived British cruiser 

 " Conius " refused to allow the insurgents to re- 

 move it. After the escape of the rebel chiefs and 

 the capitulation of Leon, the disbanded soldiers, 

 maddened with drink, committed many outrages in 

 Corinto and threatened to attack the customhouse. 

 Hence 100 American and British marines were 

 landed on May 2. and these dispersed the rioters 

 and occupied Corinto till May 4. Meanwhile Gen. 

 Metuta arrived with 30 Honduras soldiers, but to 

 him the American and British commanders refused 



