Home › Outline History of Cuba from May, 1896, to January, 1897 › Outline History of Cuba from May, 1896, to January, 1897: Weyler

Outline History of Cuba from May, 1896, to January, 1897: Weyler

It was hardly possible to invent charges that were not made against Campos, but the most effective of the many accusations was, that he was too moderate and considerate and tender toward rebellious Cubans, and did not display the higher order of military strategy, enterprise and energy. Weyler was announced and denounced as a man of another stamp, uniting untiring vigor with unrelenting severities. He began cautiously, with the view of disproving the horrible stories circulated of him, and proceeded vigorously and hopefully, as has been recorded, assuming in conferences with business men that he would soon be able to pacificate the sugar regions, so that the most important of the industries of the Island could be resumed; and it was avowed his purpose was to complete the conquest of the West End and confine the flagrancy of rebellion to the east end, in which it originated. (In order to get a bird's-eye view of Cuba we should remember it is about the size of the State of New York and eight hundred miles long, divided into six provinces, answering closely in comparative proportions to the New England States. Stretch New England out in tropical seas, with Marine East and Connecticut West, let East Massachusetts answer to the Province of Havana, and Boston to the great Cuban city, and the least luxuriant part of the Cuban country is Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, corresponding to Santiago de Cuba, Puerto Principe and Santa Clara, where revolution has been organized and is most obstinate. Until this war the Spaniards have been able to prevent the disorganization of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut, and this would locate the scene of Maceo's struggles for nine months in Connecticut, and the place of his death in Rhode Island-the trocha being a military line drawn to separate Connecticut (Pinar del Rio) from the rest of the Island. This "diagram" fails in many particulars to parallel the map; but it is instructive, if not pursued too closely and far.) It was in the month of February that the Weyler administration began, and now it is December--ten months passed--and we hear again that the Captain-General is about to suppress the insurrection in Pinar del Rio and Havana and Matanzas Provinces, in the order in which they are named, and then there is to be sugar-grinding, Spanish reform, and a rule of beneficence; but the reports, so far as they are intelligible and within the limitations of reasonable authenticity, do not prepare us for the immediate appearance of the repeatedly promised results. The two great features of the Cuban war have been the raid of Gomez, taking the Island lengthwise last year, and the fight of Maceo this year in the Western Province. The Spanish nation has made great sacrifices, sparing neither men nor money. Indeed, the power and persistence displayed by Spain have been remarkable, and show a greater vitality than we were prepared to observe. The army now in Cuba, with the volunteers, still fifty thousand strong--the whole two hundred thousand men--would be formidable in the fields of Europe, but seems as a rule helpless in the deep mud roads and terrible jungles, and the swamp and mountain ambuscades of Cuba, especially in the rainy season, which is two-thirds of the time. It is a foolish error to undervalue the Spanish troops. They are not of a bad quality, are well armed, fairly drilled, clothed and fed, and the officers are devoted, many of them very intelligent, and it is a stupid falsehood to say they are cowards; yet they seem to be the victims of a mysterious immobility. But the mystery is mitigated when we realize the absence of roads, and the fatal system that is expressed in the trocha--that of fortifying lines across the narrow Island, separating it into districts with military fences. Upon these the Spaniards have insisted, as though the art of war was building pens, and they have labored as if aggressive campaigning consisted in the construction of extended fortifications, and after all pains taken the Cuban chieftains hold in contempt, and cross the line when they please, as Gomez did in his celebrated western march, and as Maceo did just before he found death in a skirmish. The construction of the trocha is thus described:

The forest and dense underbrush were cut down, leaving an opening, varying from one hundred to eight hundred yards wide. A platform of palm-boards eight feet wide was built through the swamp, following the eastern bank of the big ditch. Forts or block-houses were erected about every five or eight hundred yards. They are very elaborate affairs, built of logs cut in the neighboring woods, and covered outside with dressed lumber. A narrow opening runs around the fort to permit firing, and a few feet above is an opening about three feet in height to allow a free circulation of air within. A galvanized zinc roof covers the yellow painted forts, and this is surmounted by a small sentry-box, which also serves as a ventilator. Piles were driven to give a solid foundation for the buildings. Each fort has a garrison of about one hundred men, commanded by a sub-lieutenant, whose duty it is to patrol the platform. The Spanish soldiers never leave the forts or bridge to explore the swamp, and any person seen near the line is considered an insurgent and fired on. The way the insurgents pass this line in the swamp is stated as follows by one who made the passage:

Passing the trocha in the swamp is not so dangerous as it is disagreeable. The insurgents are generally from one to four days in crossing, and have to wade through mud, slime, and water up to their waists for more than twelve miles. A misstep causes them to sink up to the neck. Arriving near the platform, an opportunity is waited for, and then a quick dash is made while the sentinel is at the further end of the beat. About half a minute is consumed in swimming the ditch, and jumping over or diving under the bridge. Little fear of being hit by a bullet is entertained by the Cubans, as the Spaniards are famed for bad shooting. The jungle on the other side once reached there is no fear of pursuit, as the Spaniards will not hazard a chase through the swamp. Major Raul Marti, the first Cuban to cross the line with despatches from Gomez to Maceo, had a trying time. Twice he was attacked by the alligators that infest the southern part of the swamp, and could only defend himself with his machete, as the report of a rifle would have disclosed his presence to the enemy. The sentries were very vigilant, and he and his three companions were compelled to wade through the water, with only their heads out, until they arrived at the bridge. As the unsuspecting sentry passed they pounced on him and ran him through with a machete from behind, and the poor fellow dropped without a sound. The Cubans then noiselessly made their way across. Major Sainz, who crossed with one hundred and fifty men, left such a large trail behind, and made such a noise in crossing that the Spaniards were at last convinced that it was a comparatively easy matter to pass. A fort was immediately built at the point where Sainz crossed. The day that the fort was completed I, with nineteen companions, crossed under cover of dusk. We had been two days inside the swamp, without food, and slept with half our bodies under water. The crossing was made with a great amount of noise, and although we could hear the soldiers talking and singing inside the fort, we were not discovered.

We must take note that the country lends itself wonderfully to partisan warfare. The growth of trees, and shrubs and vines and bushes, and grasses--and all the rank vegetation that is caused by enormous quantities of moisture and perpetual summer--with the paths deluged for months and the sun flaming forth, after the profuse rains--the endless impedimenta check the operations of Spanish columns, and provide myriads of lurking-places, and every bit of woodland is an almost impregnable fortification. Roughly estimated there are three times as many insurgents, who have taken up arms now, and twice as many Spaniards in the field, as during the ten years' war. On both sides there is hotter passion and more desperate resolves than in other troubled times; and there have been greater losses of life and more widespread devastation during the eighteen months since the present conflict began than for all the time from 1868 to 1878.