CUBA. 



The Trochm. During the former insurrection a 

 SpanUh engineer conceived the idea of separating 

 that part of the island where thr Swinish were in 



operation from that j-rt of it win-re 

 was no insurrection. For tin* pur|H*e he proposed 

 the construction of a line between Jucaro. on the 

 south coast, and Monn. <> the .1 . t> near 



the north coast. By this line it was proposed to 

 confine the insurrect i..n to the ea-t. where it had 

 begun, and thus prevent its spreading, Tin- 1m. 

 was termed a trocha, which -impl\ 

 or path across a country without regard to it* topog- 

 raphy or other roads, such as is often mt through 



'.-si to designate the limits of a territory 

 mark a boundarv. The military authorities en 



, , . .' ; ,1 ,.:,. a! .'lice, and 



imiiK ii the 



1 tiring tin- i-m-iny with- 

 out risking any mil engagement-. The snoot 

 these : its was crowned by tin- treasonable 



.-'!! :it l'ela\o. \\ itll 



Bej an.l 'J B, For thi-'act the 



Spanish authorities -enteiieed ('apt. 1-Vijon. the 

 OOflUnajkUnf Ottoaf,tolifc imprisonment in chain-. 

 nil the morning oJ \ntoni.i Maeeo. \\iih 



apart of his force, simulated an attack upon the 

 trocli ;.- A vila, and as t In- Spaniards 



concent rated to gi\e battle at this point, tin- in-ur- 

 gents m.ti md an unprotected part of the 



line. ami. without losing a man or linns: a -h.it. 

 joined hands that same day with 

 and his followers. 



A 8TRT BCENK IN VIU.A CLARA. 



such stress was laid upon its construction by the 

 Spaniards that it came to be considered as im- 

 pregnable as the great wall of China. But when 

 numerous rebel chiefs had crossed it and recrossed 

 it, and the old warrior chief Maximo Gomez had 

 crossed it in company with his wife and servants, 

 the military authorities began to wake up to the 

 worthleesness of their trocha. So badly were the 

 plans of the originator carried out that upon his 

 ig the line he is reported to have exclaimed. 

 "This in neither a trocha nor a military line, but a 

 badly staked way which serves for nothing." Al- 

 though it was condemned by both Capts.-Cicn. Yal- 

 maccda and Campos, when "the latter returned to 

 the island in 1805 and found that the in-ui 

 counting upon greater cl. -merits than he had -im- 

 posed, had entered Camaguey, he hastily distrib- 

 uted nearly 50,000 soldiers along the ol.f lii 



i Jucaro and Moron, hoping to keep them 

 from entering the province of Santa Clara. Forts 

 were rapidly constructed, and trees and under- 

 growth cleared away for 200 yards each side of the 

 railroad track which ran along the line : and thin 

 came into existence for a second time the old trocha 

 as a military line. 



The Invasion. Scarcely did Campos get his 

 boundary line into effective shape before (i 

 with his retin -nit- crossed it 



into the jurisdiction of Sancti Spiritus, where he 



In the meantime Gens. Iloloff and Sam-lie/ had 

 successfully landed a large expedition of arm-. 

 men, and ammunition in the vicinity of Tunas, 

 Sancti Spirit us, and these, joining > "1 Go- 



mez, constituted then the entire army di-p.- 

 iimule that part of Cuba, garrisoned by overwhelm- 

 ing odds. A<-c,.rdini: t" Min>, Maceo's chiet of 



hi- entin- f..n-e nnmlu-reil sett ' " men. 



including servants without arms, soldiers, and ofli- 

 cers, which in the eyes of the leaders at that time 



> to have been a formidable force. The plan 



ieii adopted to carry the war into the western 

 province at once by dividing this army into small 

 bands. The<e Imnd n to march for 



by separate routes, and at every opportunity t hex- 

 were to make a j.reten-e of giving battle to the 

 enemy. My pre-.-nt ini: a -mall skirmi-li line, they 



: t" hiild in check any Spani-h column which 

 mit:lit attack them, while "the pack train, with tin- 

 bulk of the force, could make their retreat, and 

 then by a retrograde movement advance farther 

 into the provinces where there had hern no suc- 

 cessful insurrection. By continuing such move- 

 ments as these the insurgents were to avoid any 



is encounter with the enemy; but in certain 

 localities farther west they were to concentrate, 

 that the Spaniards, unprepared for them in that 

 locality, might be surprised and routed. Scarcely 

 had the plan been determined upon, when, on the 



