But the cargo was not landed, for the reason that the insurgents were unable to meet the landing party at the rendezvous, and Captain Dorst was compelled to return to Key West with his cargo. The second attempt was more successful. Nearly 400 men, with a pack train and a large quantity of arms and ammunition, sailed on the Plant line steamer Florida from Key West, on the night of May 21. These men and the equipment constituted an expedition able to operate independently and to defend itself against any body of Spanish troops which might oppose it.
The expedition was under the command of Captain Jose Lacret, formerly insurgent commander in Matanzas province. He assumed the direction of affairs immediately on the landing of the expedition. Until then General Joaquin Castillo was in control.
In the landing of the expedition the United States army was represented by Captain J. A. Dorst, and Tomas Estrada Palma was represented by J. E. Cartaya, who has been the landing agent of nearly every filibustering expedition for more than a year. Messrs. Castillo, Cartaya and Dorst returned to Key West. General Julio Sanguilly, on his way to report to General Maximo Gomez, was also on the boat.
MOST POWERFUL OF THEM ALL.
This was the most powerful anti-Spanish expedition sent to Cuba up to that date. About 300 of the men were Cubans, the others Americans. The engineer corps of the expedition was composed entirely of Americans under Aurelian Ladd.
The men were dressed in canvas uniforms furnished by the United States government, and the commissary department had rations enough to last fifteen days after the landing. The pack train consisted of seventy-five mules and twenty-five horses. The expedition carried 7,000 rifles and 3,000,000 rounds of ammunition for General Calixto Garcia.
GENERAL SANGUILLY'S RETURN.
General Sanguilly's return to Cuba is a remarkable incident in his extraordinary career. His gallant services in the Ten Years' War, his arrest in Havana at the beginning of the present insurrection, his sentence to death and his release at the intercession of Secretary Sherman on a promise to remain outside of Cuba have made him a conspicuous man.
The expedition was convoyed by the cruiser Marblehead, the torpedo-boat destroyer Eagle and other warships. Two younger brothers of the late General Nestor Aranguren are with the expedition.