The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-05-10

IAtAus ioF the tunAp-AEoops AFom
Spain Suffering Terribly From
Marches Under the Hot sun and
Lack OF Proper Food Supplies and
Camp Equipment.
From the stan Correspondent Of the Uni
ted Press
Santiago de Cuba, May 2. via Tampa,
Fla. May 9-Instead Of the short. sharp
and decisive campaign which Gen.
Martinez Campos was to have inau-
guratcd. the Spanish forces have shown
their utter inability to put down the in
surrection. and Il is now plain that the
struggle is to be long continued and at
tended with the sacrifice of many lives and
the expenditure of many millions of dol
lars of Spanish money; even then there is
no certainty that Spain will retain the
Island Of Cuba. for from the moment Gen.
Campos landed and issued his proclama-
ton, alternating the support OF the autono-
mists there have been large accessions to
the insurgent ranks, and now that Macco,
Gomez and Marti have reached the base Of
operations, people are leaving the panta-
ttons and towns by hundreds TO Join them,
so that the rebel chiefs have more men
than they can arm.
The plantations at Santa Anna and all
and the sugar crop Is unfinished. Among
those now In the camps OF the insurgents
are many who fought In the rebellion Of
eighteen years ago. The Insurgents In
the field are nearly all blacks or mulat-
toes, but they are courageous, they obey
orders, they know how to handle a gun
and their skill with the machette Is marvel
Gus. Their warfare is that of the guer-
rilla, but IL IS systematic and effective.
Antonio Maceo Is major general and SUI
preme in command OF the rebel forces m
the nrONinp9 of Santiago de lfnhu h1qxl-
mo Gomez holds the same rank and posi-
tiOn in Puerto Principe which Is ex-
frontier. Jose MaceO Is a general, Gar
cion. Perez. Goulet and Planez are colo
nels and there are majors and leutenants
as In a regular army.
With each band are some mounted men
and Bandera, in the Manzanilllo district,
is said to have 800 horsemen. In all their
recent fights with Spanish troops the
guerrillas have chosen the position and in
most cases caught the regulars unawares.
Gen. Maceo has ordered his chiefs 10 take
no risks by giving battle IN the open field,
but 10 fight only when I'm superior position
or having superior numbers.
Maceo's proclamation, issued from
Jaragueca last week, Is as follows:
To arms, courageous Cubansi / address
Spanish forces during the memorable
struggle of ten years.
1t is an honor to me to invite you to a
contest newly begun for our national SOW
ereignty. l advise you that the princi-
pies / bring engraved in my heart. with
characters of the purest patriotism, will
never be blemshed with unproductive
transactions and shameful conventions
IL is that noble and sincereprinciple which
means for Cuba to be free and indepen-
dent. You must remember that the false
promises Of Gen Martinez Campos took
you TO the scanold to deportations and to
prison in great numbers, and you were
also prosecuted by several Spanish gem
erals, who spread terror and desolatiop
in the private homes Of Cuban families,
destroying your own future. DO not admit
more exploitation that will degrade you,
break forever from that ignominous and
oppressive yoke and depend upon your
continued and true friend, A. Maceo.
To fully understand the failure of the
Spanish troops in the field one should
follow regiment for week after its
arrival from Spain; that interval trans
forms plump red-cheekea soldiers info
wan, wasted wretches. foot sore, weak and
utterly incapable of fighting rough noun
taineers. In the first place, the Spanish
army is an undisciplined mob The youth
ful conScr1pts are never drilled and know
nothing of range or volley firing They
are treated with greatest of inhumanity by
their officers. The army has absolutely
nothing in the shape Of camp equipment,
and there Is no commissary department
for field work. Troops are fed when they
are at the barracks, when they make
long marches into the interior they 90
without food. An interval of three daye
between rations is not uncommon ana
this is while the troops are marching over
leTIlDiN TOuBn IOduS, under a boiling sun.
with no protection at night from the heavy
dews. Gen. Salcedo's expedition in pur-
suit of MaceO last week was a failure
and fair instance of the manner Spain
treats her troops Fifteen hundred men
were rushed in box cars to Songo. tho
end of the road, twenty-five miles from
mere. Ihey were then marched twenty
miles further TO JaTagueca, where they
encountered Maceo's rear guard exchane.
ed shots and followed 10 Ensenada. Then
they marced back to, Songo. Had they
hGx
ended IN defile in the mountains where
Macoo had set a trap for them. AS IL
was they were IN a pitiable condition when
they reached Songo. They had scarcely
any food while away from Songo. ana
ate Ike starved men upon their return
They lay around on the ground In the
shade all day last Sunday resting ana
nursing their blistered and swollen feet
Your correspondent saw dozens of men
who had thrown away their shoes and
torn uD blankets and underclothing and
wrapped about their feet Twenty men
were placed in the hospital with yellow
fever, as the result of their exposure.
Sunday night Gen Salcedo returned TO
Santiago by train and the troops were
to follow on later trains A wreck on the
road delayed all trains and the troops
were ordered to march here. They arrv-
ed Monday evening nearly dead and were
at once loaded on a steamer and sent to
Manzanillo. Similar treatment and the lack
of cleanliness has caused yellow fever to
appear before the rainy season has set in
and must before II was expected by the
residents. There are forty cases in the hos
pital here. although the authorities will
not admit il. The sending OF large bodies
of troops to Gibara on the north coast ard
Manzanilo on the south coast are un-
derstood to be for the purpose OF throwing
a line Of Spanish soldiers across the is
land to prevent the insurgents from ex-
tending their operations westward. The
line VIII follow the railroad from Gibara
to Holquin and then be continued south
west through Vicente and Ia Mula to
Bayamo, which IS the center Of the Man
zanilli district Gen. Valdez Is I'm command
at Gibara and Gen. La Chambre at Baya-
mo. A ntonio MaceO Is fully adj
vised as to this programme
and said he knew plenty of places
I'M the mountains where he could pass such
q line at any time. He had no difficulty in
passing the line in the last rebellion
Additional troops arrive from Spain
nearly every day now. Few of them re-
main here They are sent to other coast
cities or TO points along the railroads,
reaching into the interior. At Songo a
railway terminus, 300 men are stationed,
and the authorities have levied a SUBJ
scription upon the inhabitants to pay for
the construction Of a fort, as the point Is
one Of great strategic value and Will be
utilized as a base of supplies for opera
tions against Maceo's encampment. At
San Luis Morrun, Dos Caminos Christie
and other railroad towns forts are to be
built.
The insurgents have not interfered with
fha railroad here thus far. II Is owned