Hearing no news of his superior officer, Crittenden at first made a desperate attempt to escape by sea, but, being frustrated in this, he took refuge in the woods.
At last he and his little force, now reduced to fifty men, were forced to capitulate.
The United States Consul was asked to interfere in the case of Crittenden, but refused to do so. It was said at the time that there were two reasons for this: First, there was no doubt whatever as to the nature of the expedition, and secondly, the consul, who does not appear to have been particularly brave, was alarmed for his personal safety.
The trial, if trial it can be called, and condemnation followed with the utmost, almost criminal, celerity.
In batches of six, Crittenden and his fifty brave surviving comrades were shot beneath the walls of the fortress of Alara.
When the Spaniards ordered Crittenden, as was the custom, to kneel with his back to the firing party, the heroic young Kentuckian responded:
"No! I will stand facing them! I kneel only to my God!"
It is stated that the bodies of the victims were mutilated in a horrible manner.
There was no inconsiderable number of Cubans who sympathized with Lopez, but, held as they were under a stern leash, they did not dare to intercede for him.
He was garroted at Havana, being refused the honorable death of a soldier. Some others of his comrades were shot, but most of them were transported for life.