ecome one of the most agile, daring and successful guerrilla
leaders, raided the Spanish lines and drew out a considerable force,
upon which the Cubans fell at Mal Tiempo, thirty miles north of
Cienfuegos. Only a couple of thousand men were engaged on each side, but
it was one of the most significant battles of the war, because it was
the first in which the Cubans relied upon the machete, and the result of
the experiment made that fearful weapon thereafter their favorite arm,
particularly in cavalry charges, and it struck a terror into the hearts
of the Spanish soldiers such as nothing else could do. The machete was
an enormous knife, as long as a cavalry sabre or longer, with a single
edge as sharp as a razor on a blade almost as heavy as the head of a
woodsman's axe. It had been used on sugar plantations, for cutting cane,
and was so heavy that a single stroke was sufficient to cut through half
a dozen of the thickest canes. Swung by the expert and sinewy arm of a
Cuban soldier, it would sever a man's head from his body, or cut off an
arm or leg, as surely as the blade of a guillotine. At Mal Tiempo a
whole company of Spanish regulars was set upon by Cuban horsemen armed
with nothing but machetes, and every one of them was killed.

Turning swiftly away from Mal Tiempo, where they had both been present,
Gomez and Maceo led their troops swiftly to the northwest and before
Campos realized what their objective was they were raiding and defeating
Spanish troops around Colon, in the east central part of the Province
of Matanzas, between Campos and Havana. The distracted Captain-General
hastened thither and, learning that they were retiring eastward toward
the town of Santo Domingo, in Santa Clara, directed his course thither;
only to find himself outwitted by the Cubans who had really moved
further toward Colon. At last he came into contact with them, and with
Emilio Nunez who had joined them, near the little village of Coliseo,
and there he was badly worsted in the fight, and came near to losing his
life, his adjutant being shot and killed at his side. The coming of
night saved him from further losses. But then the Cubans, pursuing
Fabian tactics, withdrew to Jaguey Grande, in Santa Clara, well content
with their achievement, where they took counsel over plans for the great
drive which was to carry them through Matanzas and Havana clear into
Pinar del Rio.

Campos made the best of his way hastily back to Havana, in a far