The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1898-06-01
FLORIDA EXPEDITION
Successfully Landed in Cuba With
.. Arms and Ammunition. -.
JULIO sANGUILLY INTHE PARTY.
The Brave Cuban VIII Humble Him.
self Before General Gomez, and VIII
Probably Be Ordered to Fight In the

The Bravo Cuban VIII HumDle Hln.
self Before General Gomez, and VIII
Probably Be Ordered to Fight In the
Key West, June 1.-The steamer
Florida returned here yesterday, after
having successfully landed most i'm
portant expedition In Cuba. The Flor
Ida sailed on the night of May 81 with
nearly 400 men. These men and the
equipment constitute an expedition able
to operate Independently and to de-
fend itself against any body of Spanish
troops which might oppose 1t.
The expedition was under the COM
mand of Colonel Jose Lacret. formerly
insurgent commander in Matanzas
province. He assumed the direction Of
affairs Immediately on the landing of
the expedition. Until then General
joaquin Castillo was in control.
In the landing Of the expedition the
United States army was represented
by Captain J. A. Dorst and Tomas
Estrada Palma was represented by J.
L. Cartaya, who has been the land
Ing agent of nearly every filibustering
Messrs. Castillo, Cartaya and Dorst will
return to Key West. General Juii)
Sanguilly. on the way to report to Cen
eral Maxine Gomez. was also on the
boat. This is the most powerful anti
Spanish expedition ever sent to Cuba.
About 300 of the men are Cubans. the
others are Americans. The engineer
corps of the expedition Is composed
entirely of Americans.
The men were dressed in canvas
uniforms furnished by the United
States government, and the commits
sary department had rations enough
to last Is days after the landing. The
pack train consisted Of rs mules and 25
horses. The expedition carried 1000
rifles and 100000 rounds of ammuni-
tion for General Calixto Garcia.
General Sanguilly's return to Cuba
is a remarkable incident in his extra
ordinary career. His gallant services
in the ten years war; his arrest in
Havana at the beginning of the present
insurrection his sentence to death and
his release at the intercession Of Sec
retary Sherman on promise to remain
outside of Cuba, have made him con-
spicuous man. About six months ago
General Gomez ordered him to report
for duty, and he did not obey. Now
he is going to humble himself before
"the old man." and Cubans say that
General Gomez is likely to receive him
gruffly, take away his sword and order
him to fight in the ranks.
The expedition was landed on the
coast of Cuba on Thursday morning.
May 20. When the Florida. escorted by
the Osceola drew up close to the shore
at the place selected for the landing
she sent scouts to see If all was clear.
These scouts were greeted by Generals
Ferris and Rojas, with some $500 armed
insurgents. Consequently. far from
there being any hostile demonstration
upon the part of the Soaniards, the
landing of the expedition was in the
nature of triumohal invasion. The
Cubans who were waiting for the party
had a brass band and welcomed the
new comers with national airs. While
the cargo was being unloaded the Osce-
ola, an auxiliary gunboat, with her
guns ready for action, secuted about
the vicinity, looking for an enemy, but
the Spanards apparently had no sus-
picion of what was taking place
A prominent Cuban here has receiv-
ed letter from his son, who is mem-
ber Of the Florida expedition, dated
May %. In part as follows:
"At last we are in Cuba libre, in the
midst of our brave and valiant BROTH
ers. The Spanards operate but little
in this section, and always with dis
astrous results to their arms. Since
our arrival it has ralned incessantly,
and under these transforms we are
working like Titans, having had no rest
since our arrival on the morning of
the Goth. Our cargo Is the largest
landed to date, not only as concerns
arms and ammunition, but also pro-
visions.
1.-The moment we landed we estab-
lished communication with the Cuban
forces, and were Joined yesterday by
Brigadier General Feria and his troops.
Today we expect further reinforce
ments.
vegetables and fruits abound in this
zone, especially plantains. Horses are
also plentiful, but cattle are scarce.
We are told, however. that oxen are
very plentiful in Camaguay.
1.-THE Spaniards are abandoning the
less important villages and are retir-
ing from the sea coast. At this place
we found the forts abandoned and in
ruins.
1.-THE Spanish general in command of
the forces in this vicinity has only 1000
or 5000 men. The natives are dest-
tute, many not even having clothes
with which to cover their bodies They
relate unheard of cruelties and atro-
cities of Spar. sh soldiers. The native
population consists principally of wild
ows and mothers whose husbands and
sons have been massacred by Spanish
soldiers. l heard of one family of II
whose number was reduced to four in
one day. A few days ago d child IL
years old was seized. killed and quar-
tered by the soldiers.
General Sanguilly leaves camp to-
day to report to the seat of govern
mcnt."
Spnin's Cadiz Fleet.