n; Maximo Gomez, an able soldier;
and several more whose presence gave fresh spirit to the rebels. The
movement, which had as yet been a mere hasty outbreak, was now assuming
the dimensions of a regular war, hundreds of patriots joining the ranks of
these able leaders, until more than six thousand men were in the field.

Almost everywhere that they met their enemy they were largely outnumbered,
and they fought mostly from ambush, striking their blows when least
expected and vanishing so suddenly and by such hidden paths that pursuit
was usually idle. Much of their strength lay in their horses. No Cossacks
or cowboys could surpass them as riders, in which art they were far
superior to the Spanish cavalry. Many stories are told of women who rode
in their ranks and wielded the machete as boldly and skillfully as the
men, and in this there is doubtless much truth. Their horses were no show
animals, but a sore-backed, sorry lot, fed on rushes or colla, there being
no other grain, left standing unsheltered, rain or shine, but as tough and
tireless beasts as our own bronchos, and ever ready to second their riders
in mad dashes on the foe.

The favorite mode of fighting practised by the insurgents was to surprise
the enemy by a sharp skirmish fire, their sharp-shooters seeking to pick
off the officers. Then, if there was a fair opportunity, they would dash
from their covert in a wild cavalry charge, machete in hand, and yelling
like so many demons, and seek to make havoc in the ranks of the foe. This
was the kind of fighting in which Maceo excelled.

Through 1895 the war went on with endless skirmishes and only one affair
that could be called a battle. In this Maceo was the insurgent leader,
while Martinez Campos, governor-general of Cuba, a man looked upon as the
ablest general of Spain, led the Spanish troops. Maceo had caused great
annoyance by attacks on train-loads of food for the fortified town of
Bayamo, and Campos determined to drive him from the field. Several columns
of Spanish troops were set in motion upon him from different quarters, one
of these, fifteen hundred strong, led by Campos himself. On the 13th of
July the two armies met, Maceo, with nearly three thousand men, being
posted on a stock-farm several miles from Bayamo.

The fight began with a sharp attack on the Spaniards, intended to strike
the division under Campos; but by an error it fell upon the advance guard,
led by General Santocildes, which was sal