The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-01-08
REBELS INVITED FIGHTING.

Operating against this force a month
ago were only three columns of Spanlards-
These never succeeded in reaching the
rebels stronghold in the hills until Gen
eral Parade took the field. The only
fighting was when the rebels invited 1t;
From Cuzso l proceeded through the
Cuban lines TO Havana. l experienced
no difficulty in entering the capital
Havana and ,Matanzas provinces are I'M
der the command of General Alexandra
Rodriguez, chief of the fifth army corps.
Under General Rodriguez are Juan Du-
casse, Rafael Cardenas, Jaconto Her
nandez, Juan Delgado, Alberto Nordasse
and Nestor Aranguren.
THE total force under these leaders Is
1000 infantry and 1,20O cavalry, all we'll
equipped. In Matanzas, which belongs
also to the fifth army corps, are Brlgadier
General Betancourt, Colonies SangIully
and Valenci. with 1900 infantry and 300
cavalry. Only about half this force Is
armed. This is a difficult province to
operate in. The men remain i'll the hills,
cultivating the soil or watching the coast.
These western provinces have been
familiar to me for. the last year, during
which time | have been continually with
the rebel forces, except what time was
necessary to carry dispatches to Havana.
l can youch for these figures. On the
trip to the Orient 1 broke new ground,
but the figures given are from actual OBJ
Servation.
GENERAL ARANDO.
Il took the field in Santa Clara from
light with guides and within an hour was
with the insurgent forces under Cen
eral Arando. That evening returned
with General Arando to q suburban town
for supper. Arando had 100 infantry and
% cavalry detailed to burn sugar cane.
THE next morning l rode 80 miles and
Joined Colonel Alvarez, who had 1000 in
fantry and 100 cavalry. Here L met DR.:
Joaquin Caneda. the private physician of
General Gomez. on his way to join the
general travelled with him the rest of
1oH oil in
Alvarez's camp the day previous had
sacked the town of San Juan de Yerro.
ESQUERRA.
1.-The next day 1 rode 20 miles to the
camp of Eupenio Esquerra in the
Plantano hills, two leagues north of the
town OF Manicaragua- Esquarra is the
chief of the Cienfuegos brigade and had
in camp 400 infantry and $50 cavalry
From there I rode three days through
the long grass and over the mountains, 50
miles tc the camp of Brigadier General
Nunez, in the Trinidad hills. Nunez has
100 infantry and % cavalry engaged in
raising vegetables.
L next proceeded to the camp of
Roberto BermudeZ in the Montague hills. |
He had 100 infantry and 20 cavalry.
Then l went to the camp of Brigadier !
General Monteagudo. He had GOO men in |
camp, and assured me that his whole di- /
cavalry. l believe that he told the truth, /
because riding in a straight line through /
he five camps just mentioned, l actually /
saw 1,S70 men. /
MAIN CUBAN STRENGTH.
1T is in the two eastern provinces that /
he main strength of the Cuban insur I
gents lies not only in the number of men, /
)ut in the condition of the country, and a /
plentiful supply of food is easily found. I
There are living in the mountains of Pu- |
.rto Principe and Santiago fully 900 peo-
Die not actively engaged in warfare. but I
the soil, as If there was no /
var, and contributing supplies to the reb- /
IS All the cavalry 1 saw on the trip /
we're well mounted well, and all fully /
lrmed. In two instances the regiments
we're badly off for clothing.
with regard to the food supplies-a
rood MANY of the troops sometimes go .
hungry for one day, but seldom for a
onger time. There is absolutely no chance .
# starving the rebels out. In western
santa Clara they subsist chiefly on vege-
ables and fruit and species of animal
omething like an opossum, the jutia. The
.nimals are found by the thousands in
he east. There are plenty of cattle.
CIGARETTES SCARCE.
In several instances l saw regular
ones of cultivation in the hills, never mo-
ested, and supplying considera bic guam
ity of food. In the small valleys in the |
Mountains / saw many small portable SUI
ar mills at work. | also saw numerous
mall tobacco crops, but cigarettes are
sorth their weight in gold among the SOL
iers.
After leaving Monteagudo. I entered
THAT is called the first division of Santa
lara, under command of Jose Miguel Co
lez- The whole strength of the first di-
iSion is 2,fe0 Infantry and 700 cavalry. /
id not meet lose Gomez but near Ell
Tango I struck the camp of Teyo San
hez. who had 200 infantry and 100 cav
Try.
Near Remedies entered the camp of
eneral Garlic, chief of the Foruth army
orps, or the whole Santa Clara province.
ariilo had in camp 600 men. The whole
trength of his command, as shown by
revious figures, is ZOO men. Two days
rom Garlic, l rode into the camp of Col
mel Vesla. who is in charge of the out
osts of General Gomez camp, and a day
tier l had the pleasure of saluting the
in chief. General Gomez has
his camp $50 infantry and 100 cavalry
Ie seldom has more.
From official returns shown me in Gen.
camp. ] estimate that in Puerto
rincioe. where the Cuban government
are established. the rebel
,rce numbers 200 cavalry. with only an
significant number of infantry. In San
ago there are 1000 cavalry and fully TO-
o infantry. These figures are conserva-