ched battle with General Navarro, near Santa Clara, and a few days
later Gomez similarly fought General Suarez Valdes in the same region.
These were two of the greatest battles of the war, in point of numbers
engaged and losses suffered, and were both handsomely won by the
Cubans.

In view of these losses, Campos welcomed the arrival of 30,000
additional troops from Spain, under General Pando and General Marin. He
also resorted to recruiting troops in some of the South American
countries, particularly in Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, thinking to
find them hardier and better able to endure the climate and the
hardships of Cuba than men from the Peninsula. Such recruiting was not
regarded with favor in those countries, where sympathy was generally on
the side of the Cubans; but a considerable number of adventurers were
found who were willing to serve for good pay as soldiers of fortune.
More and more, too, the Spanish soldiery indulged in excesses against
the inhabitants of Cuba as well as against the revolutionists in the
field, and the conflict showed symptoms of degenerating into the
savagery which marked it at a later date. It is to be recalled to the
credit of Campos that he resisted all such tendencies, and that he
indeed sent back to Spain two prominent Generals, Bazan and Salcedo,
because of their barbarous methods and their criticisms of his humanity.
General Pando, on arriving with the fresh troops from Spain, was placed
in command at Santiago; General Marin was assigned to Santa Clara;
General Mella operated in Camaguey; and General Arderius was charged
with the hopeless task of guarding Matanzas, Havana and Pinar del Rio
from invasion by the revolutionists.

The Cuban government, of President Cisneros and his colleagues,
established its headquarters at Las Tunas, and there approved another
military proclamation by the Commander in Chief, ordering the burning of
all cane fields and the laying waste of all plantations which were
providing or were likely to provide supplies to the Spaniards, and
threatening with death all persons found giving the Spaniards aid or
comfort. One notable blow was struck at the south, before the final
advance was made toward Havana and the west. This was at the middle of
December. Campos himself was at Cienfuegos, with 20,000 troops, and
Gomez and Maceo decided to give him battle. The redoubtable negro
farmer, Quintin Bandera, from Oriente, who at the age of sixty-three
years had b