The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1898-04-29
THE CUBAN INSURGENTS
An Estimate Of the Present
Strength Of Their Forces.

An Estimate Of the Present
Strength Of Their Forces.
INCIDENTS FROM CAMP AND FIELD.
Thomas II. DswIsy. ira Expsrisncs with
Gensrsl Qomss--yaius Of Spanish xsti-
mates = Bs~ = Cuban xaborants ne
duesd His Figures % 0snsral Bsts.-
courts Army From 1--WE rhsusaad Men
TO Ono rheuss.d--An Amsriesn's Ezbrts
TO Join the Insurgsnts.
There seems to be q diversity Of opin-
ion concerning the strength of the Gu.
ban insurgents. Various accounts have
been published on this subject, and IL
may be Of interest at this time to note
the following estimate given by Thorn
as r. Dawley, Jr., in the New York
Evening Post:
The prevailing idea Is that there is a
marked difference between the Spaniard
and the Cuban, and that all our army
has to do is TO land upon the island.
and there. finding the Spaniards on one
side Of q we'll defined line and the Gu.
bans on the other, they have only 10
step between and tell the Spaniards to
60 away and leave the others to govern
themselves But when our troops do
invade Cuba they may find IL q much
more difiicult task to separate these peo-
pie than any our government officials
have counted upon. AS an illustration
may be cited IN incident Of Senator
Thurston' g experiences In Cuba and his
subsequent statement on the floor Of the
senate, In which he gave, as an exam
pie Of the discipline Of the Spanish ar
my. bis purchase Of . maohete from
Spanish soldier. As q matter OF fact
man sold his machete to the senator on
the wharf at Matanzas, but he was nei-
ther Spaniard nor Spanish soldier.
The man wore blue uniform, was
Cuban and was appointed by the Cuban
governor to escort the party Of Ameri.
can visitors around the city, and bis
duties correspouded to those Of our own
municipal police.
Upon my setting out TO find Gomez,
his headquarters was designated to nae
upon the map Of Cuba, where he was
represented to be making . bold stand
against the combined forces Of General
Weyler. After travelling several weeks
through . desolated and depopulated
part Of the island which was being over
run by Spanish soldiers, / found the in
surgent chic In palm grove, surround
cd by his army Of 1870 armed men and
some 200 naked servants, mostly black,
termed the impedimenti. While with
Gomez we were joined by the renowned
General Quintin Bandera, who, Gen.
eral Gomez bad previously stated, was
on his way from the east with q force
of 2, 400 volunteerA But upon review
ing General Bandera's new contingent
found that he had but $50 men. most.
ly naked negroes. In the two weeks that
passed with Gomez the army occupied
itself in selecting appropriate camping
places where there was grass and water
for the horses and wild cattle for the
men. During the day the horses were
kept constantly saddled ready to mount
and run upon the approach Of the Span
ish troops, who were almost constantly
wandering about the country looking
for ua
AS for the number Of insurgents nm.
der arms. we have never had any figures
except those given by the insurgents
themselves and the various estimates
placed upon them by the Spaniards. As
to tpo vaius of the Spanish estimates.
may cite an instance where I have
known the entire garrison Of q city to
be placed on the defensive. report hav-
ing come in that large force of rebels
was oamped within q short distance.
Upon evading 10 sentries and joining
the insurgents found that the large
force consisted of . major and four men,
three of them armed. On another occa-
sion ! have been with ten insurgents at
the top of o mountain, keeping back
Spanish column, which undoubtedly,
tearing the overwhelming numbers Of
the enemy. failed to come up and drive
the ten men away.
In one so called battle between the
forces of Maxine Gomez and Spanish
column. in which I participated to
certain extent. the Spanish general in
bis official report Of the engagement
gave out that he had counted s5 of our
dead abandoned upon the field Of battle.
The truth was that in this particular
engagement our side did considerable
running. led by the old chief In person.
while so of his men tried to check the
oncoming Spaniards. OF the 60 who
were actually In the fight but two OF
them were wounded. The Spaniards
pursued us till night the next day re-
turning to their headquarters, where
they reported their victory.
have before me the report of the in
mrgent chief Of staff, Miro. ut the be-
ginning of the invasion in November,
1895, In which he states that the insur-