It is said that at the beginning of the war, before being driven to reprisals, the Cubans behaved with all humanity. They took many Spanish prisoners of war, but paroled them. On the other hand, the Cuban prisoners were treated with the utmost treachery and cruelty. In all parts of the island, no Cuban taken a prisoner of war was spared; to a man they were shot on the spot as so many dogs.
Valmaseda, the Spanish general, in April, 1869, issued the following proclamation, which speaks for itself:
"Inhabitants of the country! The re-enforcements of troops that I have been waiting for have arrived; with them I shall give protection to the good, and punish promptly those that still remain in rebellion against the government of the metropolis.
"You know that I have pardoned those that have fought us with arms; that your wives, mothers and sisters have found in me the unexpected protection that you have refused them. You know, also, that many of those I have pardoned have turned against us again.
"Before such ingratitude, such villainy, it is not possible for me to be the man I have been; there is no longer a place for a falsified neutrality; he that is not for me is against me, and that my soldiers may know how to distinguish, you hear, the orders they carry:
1st. Every man, from the age of fifteen years, upward, found away from his habitation and not proving a justified motive therefor, will be shot.
2d. Every unoccupied habitation will be burned by the troops.
3d. Every habitation from which does not float a white flag, as a signal that its occupants desire peace, will be reduced to ashes.
"Women that are not living at their own homes, or at the house of their relatives, will collect in the town of Jiguana or Bayamo, where maintenance will be provided. Those who do not present themselves will be conducted forcibly."
The second paragraph was flagrantly untrue. Those who had fought against the Spaniards had not been pardoned. On the contrary, they had been put to death. Fearful atrocities had been committed in Havana and elsewhere. To cite only a few instances: The shooting of men, women and children at the Villanuesa Theatre, at the Louvre, and at the sack of Aldama's house.