Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1898-12-06
CUBAN CAMPAIGNING.
SPANlSH-lNSuR0ENv WARFARE DE.
 sCRIBED BY A CUBAN COLONEL.

The Cuban Soldiers Heroes in the Eyes of
 the North If They Are Poorly Armed and
 Fed and Weak in nNumbers-Gave up Land
 and Possessions to Join Insurgent Army.
 The Cuban soldiers, poorly armed and poorly fed and weak in numbers, have become heroes in the eyes. of the kind North. True. we have heroes among us, and we all try to fight brave " for our country. We willingly give Up lands, professions and quiet to join the torn ranks of the little army; and we win many wonderful victories. These victories are due, to great ex- tent, to the fine qualities of our own men-to their dash and skill-but partly to the inexperience of the troops sent against us by the Spanish govern ment. Boys of IF and under are forced to take up arms against men for whom they have no real feeling of enmity. They are rushed about through coun- try they do not know; they are treat- ed like dogs by most of their officers, and harassed by uA from daylight till lark. Few of their old troops are left to fight us. They were men of mettle and knowledge of warfare, and often proved too much for us, man for man. But the new recruits are fighting un- willingly, in cause they do not love, and if we have any pity to spare from our own people it is for them.
 The Cuban in his early boyhood is trained in the use of the maehete. Tn time of peace he uses it to cut cane and fireWood, and as a tool in carpentry work; but when he rides to war it be- comes more deadly than the American army sabre or the old-time rapier. Every eountryman, white or black, owns machete, so in this respect our men are easily armed. Many of our cayalrymen are without carbines, but IS the wild charge is the most effective method of breaking the enemy in our guerilla fighting, the man with noth- ing but his machete is not entirely use- less. When the Spanish commanders hear that we are somewhere in the vie oinity and march into the hills to sub- due us, our horsemen divide into small squads of ten or twelve and our infan- try lie in ambush. When the Spaniards are near enough to make sure targets we open fire on them from the brush. Sometimes they answer this vol1ey and charge at the smoke, and sometimes they turn back and make a dash for safety. In either case our little band of horsemen break in upon them from every side and cut and retreat. The Spanish officers may try to form their men into squares, but very often their attempts are unsuccessful, so we cut them down as they run. This is our way of coping with the superior num- bers of Spanish regulars sent out to beat us back into servitude. Some- times the victory is ours, often it is theirs-for once in the open their num- bers tell. We would not be able to carry our system of ambush and dead ly attack into operation but for our re- lays of scouts, who keep the main body of our army notified of every move ment of the enemy.
 Most of the colored soldiers fighting tor the Cuban cause are III the lnfan- try, being too poor to own mounts of their own-and in our army every man supplies his own horse, or else goes on foot We have been under arms for over three years, and during all that time have known no such thing as pay tay.
 Americans have too great a fear of catching yellow fever in Cuba. The truth of the matter is that our pastoral districts and our hills are as healthy as any country in the world, and that the disease rages only in the vicinity of Havana, and there 1t is partly due to their sanitary arrangements.