The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-06-04

FIGHTING CONDITIONS IN CUBA.
Explained by Lieutenant Colonel Gil
bergO of the Cuban Infantry.

Explained by Lieutenant Colonel Gil
bergO of the Cuban Infantry.
Tampa Letter in New York Independent.
The Cuban soldiers, poorly armed and
poorly fed and weak in numbers, have be-
come heroes in the eyes of the kind
North. True, we have heroes among US,
and we all try TO fight bravely for our
country We willingly give up lands, pro-
LESSONS and quiet to join the torn ranks
of the little army; and We win many Won
derful victories. These victories are due,
to a great extent, 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 Span
ish government. Boys of II
and under are forced to take up
arms against men for whom they have no
real feeling of enmity They are rushed
about through a country they do not
know; they are treated like dogs by most
Of their officers and harassed by us from
daylight till dark Few of their old troops
are left to fight us. They were men of
mettle and knowledge of warfare, and Oft
en- proved too much for us, man for man.
But the new recruits are fighting unwu-
lingly in a cause they do not love, and if
we have any pity to spare from our own
people, ID Is for them
The Cuban in his early manhood is
trained in the use of the machete. In
time of peace he uses It to cut cane and
hrewood and as a tool in carpentry work.
but when he rides to war il becomes more
deadly than the American army saber or
the old time rapier. Every countryman.
white or black, owns a machete. so IN
ON mol ,.-Er
Many of our caValrymen are without car
mnes, but as the wild charge is the most
effective method of breaking the enemy In
our guerrilla fighting the man with moth
ing but his machete is not entirely use.
less. When The Spanish commanders hear
that we are somewhere in The vicinity and
march INTO the hills TO subdue us our
horsemen divide into small squads or Ten
or twelve and our infantry lie in ambush
When the Spaniards are near enough 10
make sure targets. we open fire on them
from the brush. Sometimes they answer
This Volley and charge at the smoke. ana
! sometimes they turn back and make 4
| dash for safety. In either case our little
| bands Of horsemen break in upon them
| from every side, fire and cut and retreat.
| The Spanish officers may try to form their
| men INTO squares but very often their nj
| tempts are unsuccessful, so we cur them
| down as they run. This is our Uav NJ
!
| ish regulars sent out to beat us back into
| servitude. Sometimes the victory is ours
| often il is theirs; for once ia the open their
| numbers tell. We would not be able n,
! carry our system of ambush and deadly
/ attack into operation but for our RELAYS
! and scouts who keep the main body of our
army notified of every movement OF the
! enemy.
Most of the colored soldiers fighting for
| the cuban cause are in the infantry. being
! TOO poor to own mounts Of their own-and
| IN our army every man supplies his own
! morse or else goes on foot. We have been
! under arms for over three years. and Jur-
! ing all that time have known no such
! thing as pay day.
Americans have too great a fear of
| catching yellow fever in Cuba. The tru7h
| of the matter is that our pastoral dis
! tricts and our bills are as healthy as
| any country in the world. and that Tic
| disease RACES only in the vicinity of Ha-
! vana and there il is partly due to the
! carelessness of the Spanards in their
! sanitary arrangements. If the American
| soldiers who come over 10 help us sain
| our liberty keep under canvas at nignt
! drink spring or distilled water. and avoid
! eating too much fruit. they will he
| spared for the Spanish bullets But those
| Spanards! Pshaw! Kindly lombard Ha
! vana with d few of your big ships ana
! give US al the rifles we have wanted 30
| long and we Will win the island.