"To His Excellency, the General Martinez Campos:
"Dear Sir—Anxious to give careful and efficient attendance to the wounded Spanish soldiers that your troops left behind on the battle-field, I have ordered that they be lodged in the houses of the Cuban families that live nearest to the battle-ground, until you send for them.
"With my assurance that the forces you may send to escort them back will not meet any hostile demonstrations from my soldiers, I have the honor to be, sir,
"Yours respectfully,
"Antonio Maceo."
While Maceo was thus maneuvering in the eastern part of the island, the general-in-chief, Maximo Gomez, was fighting in Camaguey. The population in the provinces of Puerto Principe and Santiago de Cuba had risen almost to a man, and the movement was well under way in the province of Santa Clara.
Several encounters took place, the most important being the attack upon the little city of Cascorro, which Gomez succeeded in capturing. He found there a large quantity of arms and ammunition, of which the Cubans were greatly in need.
Gomez proved himself quite as magnanimous as Maceo. The wounded were all cared for to the best of his ability, and the prisoners were returned to the Spanish leaders. This example, however, seems to have been utterly lost upon the Spaniards.
The insurgent forces, under Gomez, were at this time divided into six portions, operating in the six provinces, and commanded by Antonio Maceo, Aguerre, Lacret, Carillo, Suarez and Jose Maceo. Suarez was afterwards cashiered for cowardice, and replaced by Garcia.
In August, 1895, Maceo joined his chief at a place called Jimaguaya, where Gomez had called to him a large proportion of the Cuban forces, which numbered at that time about thirty thousand.
And against these undisciplined soldiers was arrayed a regular army of over eighty-five thousand men, not counting the armed volunteers.