Valmaseda's proclamation raised a storm of protest from all civilized nations, and the Spaniards, stiff and unbending, never wavered, but the policy embodied in Valmaseda's proclamation remained their tactics until the end of the war.
The United States was especially roused and disgusted. Secretary Fish, in a letter to Mr. Hale, then Minister to Spain, protested "against the infamous proclamation of general, the Count of Valmaseda."
Even a Havanese paper is quoted as declaring that,
"Said proclamation does not even reach what is required by the necessities of war in the most civilized nations."
The revolutionists were victorious in almost every engagement for the first two years, although their losses were by no means inconsiderable.
It has even been acknowledged recently by a representative of Spain to the United States that the greater and better part of the Cubans were in sympathy with the insurrection. This opinion appeared in a statement made by Senor De Lome (whose reputation among Americans is now somewhat unsavory) in the New York Herald of February 23, 1896.
The Cubans were recognized as belligerents by Chili, Bolivia, Guatemala, Peru, Columbia and Mexico.
There were two important expeditions of assistance sent to the Cubans in the early part of the war. One was under the command of Rafael Quesada, and, in addition to men, brought arms and ammunition, of which the insurgents were sadly in need. The other was under General Thomas Jordan, a West Point graduate and an ex-officer in the Confederate service. By the way, the South, with its well-known chivalry, has always evinced warm sympathy for the unfortunate Cubans. To their glory be it spoken and remembered!
Quesada managed to reach the interior without resistance. But Jordan, with only one hundred and seventy-five men, but carrying arms and ammunition for two thousand six hundred men, besides several pieces of artillery, was attacked at Camalito and again at El Ramon; he succeeded in repulsing the enemy and reaching his destination.
Soon after, as General Quesada demanded extraordinary powers, he was deposed by the Cuban congress, and General Jordan was appointed commander-in-chief in his stead.