Out of two hundred thousand men sent to Cuba in two years, only in the neighborhood of ninety-six thousand, capable of bearing arms, were left the first of March, 1897.
During our own civil war one and sixty-five one-hundredths per cent. of all those mustered into the United States service were killed in action or died of their wounds; ten per cent. were wounded, and a little less than two per cent. died of wounds and from unknown causes.
That we lost during the civil war, 186,216 men from disease is terrible enough, but to equal the percentage of the Spanish losses from the same cause, during twice the time that our war lasted, would bring the total up to a million and a half of men.
From the very beginning, the insurgents held possession of the two eastern provinces, Santiago and Puerto Principe. It was only by unremitting efforts and the loss of many lives that the Spaniards retained their hold on the district about Bayamo.
Late in 1890 General Calixto Garcia, now second in rank to Gomez, and playing an important part in the aiding of the American troops, landed on the island with strong reinforcements. Garcia, who was also a veteran of the Ten Years' War had several more or less important engagements with the Spanish, in almost all of which he was victorious.
Antonio Maceo, in order to consult with Gomez, crossed the trocha on the night of December 4, 1896. The next day, at the head of five hundred men and within an hour's ride of Havana, he was killed in a skirmish, just as he had made the declaration that all was going well. A young son of Gomez, who was suffering from an old wound, and who refused to leave the ground until his chief was carried away, was also killed.
There is not the shadow of a doubt but that this double catastrophe was due to the treachery of one of Maceo's companions, a certain Dr. Zertucha.
One of Maceo's aides tells the story as follows: "Firing was heard near Punta Brava, and Zertucha, who had ridden off to one side of the road, came galloping back, crying: "Come with me! Come with me! Quick! Quick!" Maceo at once put spurs to his horse, and, followed by his five aids, rode swiftly after the physician, who plunged into the thick growth on the side of the road.
The party had only ridden a few yards, when Zertucha, bent low in his saddle, and swerved sharply to one side, galloping away like mad.
Almost at the same moment, a volley was fired by a party of Spanish soldiers hidden in the dense underbrush, and Maceo and four of his men dropped out of their saddles, mortally wounded."