Gomez arrived at Cape Maisi, Ap ril 13th, with eighty
men. When the movement began, the Spanish captain
general, Emilio Calleja Isasi, had only 19,00x3
troops at his command, 9000 of whom were in the
eastern department; and though martial law was
proclaimed in Matanzas and Santiago and several
arrests were made, the revolt gathered head in the
latter province. A battalion of 7000 men was brought
from Puerto Rico, and Calleja was superseded by
Marshal Martinez Campos, who had ended the
former rebellion, and who now came out with reinforcements
from Spain. He landed at Guantanamo,
April 16th, to take personal command in the field.
T h e insurgent leaders effected a junction and
drummed up recruits in the eastern provinces, most
of them negroes.
T h e first care of these leaders was to organise a
semblance of civil government. A t a formal meeting
at Mejorana on the 4th of May, in which Marti,
Gomez, and Antonio Maceo took part, a call was
issued for the selection of representatives of the
Cuban people to form a Constituent Assembly.
Marti was killed in a skirmish with a Spanish force,
encountered on the way to the coast, where he was
to embark for Jamaica with the intention of going
to the United States. This event delayed proceedings
somewhat, but members of the Constituent
As semb ly were chosen, and it met at Jimaguayu,
September 13, 1895, declared the independence of
Cuba and its separation from the Spanish monarchy
as a republic, and adopted a provisional constitution
which was to have effect for two years unless the
freedom of the island was sooner accomplished.
T he Assembly chose the venerable Salvador Cisneros
y Betancourt of Puerto Principe as president
of the new-born republic, and Bartolomé Masso as
vice-president. Heads of administrative departments
were also named, and Maximo Gomez was
elected commander-in-chief of the army, and A n tonio
Maceo second in command with the title of
lieutenant-general. Tomas Estrada Palma, head of
the Gran Junta, was chosen to be “ delegate plenipotentiary
and general agent abroad of the Cuban
Republic .” A capital was established in the mountains
of Cubitas, and a form of civil administration
for provinces and prefectures was organised and
carried out in part, though the actual governing
power was chiefly exercised through the military
officers.
In the meantime military movements were actively
afoot. T h e insurgents got the advantage in the
first encounters in the east, including one with a
part of the forces of Campos near Bayamo, in which
the Spanish general Santocildes was killed. T h e y
made their way into the province of Puerto Principe,
while General Lacret succeeded in landing with
an expedition from Jamaica, and Roloff and Sanchez
arrived with another from K e y West.
Baffled by the elusive tactics of the insurgent
bands, General Campos prepared for the fall campaign
by rehabilitating and strengthening the old
” trocha ” across the island from Jucaro to Moron,
clearing timber away from the line, establishing
forts and blockhouses at short intervals, and plan