Our War with Spain for Cuba's Freedom

by Trumbull White

CHAPTER XX.

JOSE MARTI AND OTHER CUBAN HEROES.

A Cuban Patriot—A Life Devoted to the Cause—First Work for
Cuba—Banished From His Native Land—He Returns to Fight for
Freedom—His Death—Maximo Gomez, General-in-Chief of the Cuban
Forces—His Methods of Warfare—Antonio Maceo, the Colored
Commander—Other Military Men of Note in the Cuban Army.

When the day comes that Cuba shall take her place among the free and independent nations of the earth, Jose Marti, who probably did more than any other one man to arouse the insurgents to make the final struggle for liberty, will not be among them to share their triumphs. Struck down, by a Spanish bullet, almost at the commencement of the last revolution, he sleeps beneath the, southern skies, and neither the clash of swords nor the thunder of the cannon over his grave can disturb his rest.

Born in Havana, the son of a Spanish army officer, he was taught from his childhood days that the friends of Cuba's cause were rebels, deserving of death. But as he grew older he commenced to think for himself, and the more he learned of Spanish robbery, injustice and cruelty, the more determined he became to devote his life to the cause of his native land.

While yet a mere boy, he began the work. He published clandestine circulars, he wrote a play in which he depicted the wrongs inflicted upon the island people; "Free Cuba" was his thought by day, his dream at night. Through imprisonment and exile, in Spain, Mexico and the United States, every action of his life was guided by the one ambition.

On April 14th, 1895, in company with Maximo Gomez, Marti landed on the coast of Cuba, at Cobonico. His coming gave the insurgents new courage, and their numbers increased rapidly. He was made a Major General of the army, and in company with Gomez, who had seen service in the previous campaign, he led a number of successful attacks against detachments of the Spanish forces.

After organizing an expedition that was to march to Puerto Principe under Gomez's command, Marti intended to go to the seacoast in order to return abroad and continue his work there in favor of the secessionist revolution.

About this time a man named Chacon was captured by Colonel Sandoval, of the Spanish forces, and letters from the rebels were found in his possession, and some money with which he was going to make purchases for the insurgent chiefs. This man gave information regarding the enemy's location, and acting upon this knowledge, Colonel Sandoval, on the 19th of May, brought his army to La Brija. The Hernan Cortez squadron, under Captain Capa, was in vanguard, and attacked a band commanded by Bellito, which had come to meet the column.

When Colonel Sandoval heard of it, he advanced up to the plain of Dos Rios, and ordered his infantry to open fire. A spirited combat ensued, with fatal results to the insurgents, as the Spanish guide, Antonio Oliva, running up to help a soldier who was surrounded by a large group of the enemy, fired his rifle at a horseman, who fell to the ground, and was found to be Jose Marti. Captain Enrique Satue was the first to recognize him. A fight took place upon the spot, the rebels trying hard to carry the corpse away, but they were repulsed. Maximo Gomez was wounded in the encounter, which for some days led to the belief that he too was dead. According to one narrative, Gomez was in the midst of the battle from the beginning, and while hurrying to recover the corpse of Marti, he was slightly wounded. Others say that the famous chief, had already taken leave of Marti to go to Camaguey, when, passing at some distance from Dos Rios, he heard the report of musketry. He imagined what was happening, and ran to rescue the civil chief of the revolution, but when he arrived, Marti had been killed. Gomez being wounded, Borrero took him on his own horse, and in this manner carried him to a place of safety. The Spaniards, after their victory, moved to Remanganagaus, where the corpse of Marti was embalmed. From the latter town it was taken to Santiago de Cuba, and while on the way there, the troops had to repel an attack from the rebels, who intended to carry off the coffin. On arriving at the city, the remains of Marti were exhibited at the cemetery. Colonel Sandoval presided over the funeral ceremonies, and the dead leader was given a decent resting place. Here are Sandoval's words on the occasion:

Gentlemen:—In presence of the corpse of him who in life was Jose Marti, and in the absence of any relative or friend who might speak over his remains such words as are customary, I request you not to consider these remains to be those of an enemy any more, but simply those of a man, carried by political discords to face Spanish soldiers. From the moment the spirits have freed themselves of matter they are sheltered and magnanimously pardoned by the Almighty, and the abandoned matter is left in our care, for us to dispel all rancorous feelings, and give the corpse such Christian burial as is due to the dead.

MAXIMO GOMEZ, THE GENERAL-IN-CHIEF.

The General-in-Chief of the Cuban forces is Maximo Gomez, a man of scholarly attainments, great intellect, and long experience in military affairs. Formerly an officer of Spain, he explains his present position in the following words:

"When I gave up, in 1868, my uniform and rank as a Major of the Spanish Army, it was because I knew that if I kept them. I would have some day to meet my own children in the field, and combat against their just desire for liberty. Now, with my many years, I have come to lead and counsel the new generation to ultimate victory."

Of his methods in war, Thomas Alvord says:

"General Gomez never has more than 300 or 400 men with him. His favorite camp is near Arroyo Blanco, on a high plateau, difficult to approach, and covered with dense thicket. He posts his outer pickets at least three miles away, in directions from which the enemy may come. The Spaniards, whenever possible, march by road, and, with these highways well guarded, Gomez sleeps secure. He knows that his pickets will be informed by some Cuban long before the Spanish column leaves or passes the nearest village to attack him. A shot from the farthest sentry causes little or no excitement in Gomez's camp. The report throws the Spanish column into fears of attack or ambush, and it moves forward very slowly and carefully. Two pickets at such a time have been known to hold 2,000 men at bay for a whole day. If the column presses on, and General Gomez hears a shot from a sentinel near by, he will rise leisurely from his hammock and give orders to prepare to move camp. He has had so many experiences of this kind that not until he hears the volley-shooting of the oncoming Spaniards will he call for his horse, give the word to march, and disappear, followed by his entire force, into the tropical underbrush, which closes like curtain behind him, leaving the Spaniards to discover a deserted camp, without the slightest trace of the path taken by its recent occupants.

"Sometimes Gomez will move only a mile or two. The Spaniards do not usually give chase. If they do, Gomez takes a keen delight in leading them in a circle. If he can throw them off by nightfall, he goes to sleep in his camp of the morning, happier than if he had won a battle. The Spaniards learn nothing through such experiences. Gomez varies the game occasionally by marching directly towards the rear of the foe, and there, reinforced by other insurgent bands of the neighborhood, falling upon the column and punishing it severely. While his immediate force is but a handful, the General can call to his aid, in a short time, nearly 6,000 men."

A COLORED COMMANDER.

As soon as the rebellion had assumed such proportions as to make it possible to arrange a regular military organization among the insurgents, Antonio Maceo was made the second in command, under General Gomez, with the title of Lieutenant General. He had risen from the ranks to the position of Major General in the Ten Years' war, where, notwithstanding his colored blood, he had shown unusual ability as a leader of men. Sons of the first families of Cuba were proud to enlist under his banner, and to recognize him as their superior officer. Space is devoted in another part of this volume to an account of the treacherous manner of his death.

The following letter, written by him to General Weyler, soon after the arrival of the latter named in Cuba, shows that he could fight with his pen as well as with his sword:

Republic of Cuba, Invading Army. Second Corps, Cayajabos, Feb. 27, 1896.

General Valeriano Weyler, Havana:

In spite of all that the press has published in regard to you, I have never been willing to give it belief and to base my judgment of your conduct on its statements; such an accumulation of atrocities, so many crimes repugnant and dishonoring to any man of honor, I thought it impossible for a soldier holding your high rank to commit.

These accusations seemed to me rather to be made in bad faith, or to be the utterances of personal enmity, and I expected that you would take care to give the lie in due form to your detractors, rising to the height required of a gentleman, and saving yourself from any imputation of that kind, by merely adopting in the treatment of the wounded and prisoners of war, the generous course that has been pursued from the beginning by the revolutionists towards the Spanish wounded and prisoners.

But, unfortunately, Spanish dominion must always be accompanied by infamy, and although the errors and wrongful acts of the last war seemed to be corrected at the beginning of this one, to-day it has become manifest that it was only by closing our eyes to invariable personal antecedents and incorrigible traditional arbitrariness that we could have imagined Spain would forget forever her fatal characteristic of ferocity towards the defenseless. But we cannot help believing evidence. In my march during the period of this campaign I see with alarm, with horror, how the wretched reputation you enjoy is confirmed, and how the deeds that disclose your barbarous irritation are repeated. What! must even the peaceful inhabitants (I say noticing of the wounded and prisoners of war), must they be sacrificed to the rags that gave the Duke of Alva his name and fame?

Is it thus that Spain, through you, returns the clemency and kindness with which we, the redeemers of this suffering people, have acted in like circumstances? What a reproach for yourself and for Spain! The license to burn the huts, assassinations like those at Nueva Paz and the villa El Gato, committed by Spanish columns, in particular those of Colonels Molina and Vicuna, proclaim you guilty before all mankind. Your name will be forever infamous, here and far from here, remembered with disgust and horror.

Out of humanity, yielding to the honorable and generous impulses which are identified with both the spirit and the tendency of the revolution, I shall never use reprisals that would be unworthy of the reputation and the power of the liberating army of Cuba. But I nevertheless foresee that such abominable conduct on your part and on that of your men, will arouse at no distant time private vengeances to which they will fall victims, without my being able to prevent it, even though I should punish hundreds of innocent persons.

For this last reason, since war should only touch combatants, and it is inhuman to make others suffer from its consequences, I invite you to retrace your steps, if you admit your guilt, or to repress these crimes with a heavy hand, if they were committed without your consent. At all events, take care that no drop of blood be shed outside the battle field. Be merciful to the many unfortunate citizens. In so doing you will imitate in honorable emulation our conduct and our proceedings. Yours, A. MACEO.

This letter could have been written by none but a brave and honorable soldier, resolved to present the cause of the oppressed non-combatants, even when he probably knew that his appeal was powerless to lessen their sufferings in the slightest degree.

LOVE AND WAR.

Among the many brave leaders of the insurgents there is perhaps none who has shown more heroism than young De Robau. After the breaking out of the revolution he was one of the first to join the standard of independence. At that time he was engaged to be married, yet with him the call of duty was paramount over every selfish consideration. After having served for some months with conspicuous credit, he was sent with his command into the neighborhood of his fiance.

The men hitherto, it may be imagined, had not paid much attention to their appearance, but now there was a regular conventional dress parade. A barber was requisitioned, accoutrements were furbished up, and weather-beaten sombreros were ornamented with brilliant ribbons. When the metamorphosis was complete, De Robau placed himself at the head of his dashing troop, and went in state to call upon the lady of his affections.

His march was a triumph, as everywhere he was attended by crowds of enthusiastic people, who had long known him, and who now hailed him as a distinguished champion. How he sped in his wooing may be gathered from the fact that an orderly was soon dispatched for the villa cura, and that there was a wedding which fairly rivaled that of Camacho, so often and so fondly recalled by the renowned Sancho. Since then the Senora de Robau has accompanied her husband throughout the campaign, sharing the hard fare and the dangers of the men, and adding another to the noble band of patriotic Cuban women, who vie with their husbands and brothers in fidelity to their native land.

OTHER COMMANDERS OF NOTE.

The cause has many other brave leaders, among whom may be mentioned General Calixto Garcia, General Serafin Sanchez, Francisco Corrillo, and Jose Maria Rodriguez. They are all veterans of the war of 1868-1878, and are ready to sacrifice their lives in the struggle for liberty.