The Windham County reformer. (Battleboro, Vt.) 1876-1897, 1896-02-07

W. r.. Maunix, representing TIL,
Army and Navy Journal writes sine,
the invasion OF Matanzas, two weeks
ago, the number OF rebel troops hal
Increased about 5000. The tota
number of men under Gen Come.
will not exceed $1,000. Ii certainl,
IS very near the truth TO say that a,
present in the field engaged fighting
Spalin's army of II, 600 men are 80, 00(
Cubans.
Now, in the provinces Of Matanzas
and Havana, under the immediate
command OF Gomez and Maceo, are
about 1850 men, of whom IL, 600 are
cavalry, with good horses but a great
lack OF saddles. The cavalrymen are
armed with the machete weapon OF
different patterns and makes, but all
OF length nearly equal to that OF
the American cavalry saber. There are
no rifles, but small carbines and revolv-
ers are carried by the majority.
Nine out of ten of the horsemen are
white. The infantry of this division
are most black, but they are hardy
fellows and, remarkable as it may
seem, they are able to keep up with
the cavalry. At least they have been
so during the past two weeks, when
the army marched every day from
early morning until late at night,
and some days covered distance of
forty miles.
About 1000 of the rebel infantry have
the best Mauser rifles most of them
captured FROM the Spanish troops.
The remaining assortment of arms
Remington, Springfelds, Martins,
shot guns, and breech loading mus
kets and various weapons dating from
the ancient days. Every infantry man
carries a machete.
Because of the great diversity of
fire arms and the numerous calibers
ammunition to suit is hard to obtain,
and there have been but compare
lively few deaths in the Spanish
ranks caused by bullets. The machete
has thus far done the principal work,
and it is superior, as handled by the
Cubans, to the bayonet of the Span
lard. Where the Spanish squares are
deep the Cuban cavalry and infantry
charge together, infantrymen run
ning alongside the cavalry horses.
With this division of the rebel army
are several small field pieces of an old
make, but very little ammunition for
their use. Before the battle at Colon
your correspondent witnessed the max
ing of "cannon balls" of barbed wire
taken from the fences of nearby plan
tations.
There are no tents, not even for Go
mez Maceo, and these officers as well
as many of the the soldiers, sleep in
hammocks swung from trees. The
great majority of the army, however,
are well supplied with rain coats, and
in these they lie upon the ground.
they are exposed to frequent rains.
but apparently do not mind it. and
not a soldier makes a change of pc,
sition, even though it pours upon him
while he sleeps. The men as a rule
are we'll clothed, taking into consider
alton the mild climate of Cuba, but
majority of the black troops and
many of the whites are barefooted.
This is not hindrance to their
movements, however, as large numbers
of them never wore foot covering.
Recent events have proven that the
Cuban generals employ tactics far SUI
perior to the governments offices. |
Few OF them are military graduates, |
but all have seen service in other wars. |
Maxine Gomez, the General in |
Chief, is graduate of SPANS West |
Point, Segovia Military School, and
was for many years an off Ger in the
Spanish regular army, serving in
San Domingo and later in Cuba
When the Cuban revolution of 1868
broke out Gomez commanded reg
iment at Bayamo Because of diff
culties with the government he joined
the insurgents, was made a Brigadier
General, and several years later sue
reeded the American, Gen. Jordan, as
Commander in Chief. Upon the close
Of the war, in 1878, Gomez went to
San Domingo, where he resided up to
the breaking out of hostilities, Febru
lry % last.