his colleagues possessed a veritable genius for war, both
in strategy and in direct fighting. He had come of a family of fighters,
and had been born in Santiago in 1849, and had fought in the Ten Years'
War. He was highly gifted with the qualities of leadership among men,
with valor and resolution, with keen foresight and great intelligence.
He was probably the ablest strategist in the War of Independence, and
personally the most popular commander. At the end of March he arrived in
Cuba from Costa Rica with an expedition well equipped with rifles and
small field pieces. With him were his brother Jose Maceo, Flor Crombet,
Dr. Francisco Agramonte, and several other officers. The landing was
made at Baracoa, the Spanish gunboats which were watching the coast
being successfully eluded. Soon after landing the patriots were attacked
by General Lachambre's troops at Duaba, but the latter were repulsed
with considerable loss. A part of the expedition was then sent around by
sea to Manzanillo, on a British schooner. That vessel was wrecked and in
consequence its captain and crew were captured by the Spaniards, who put
the captain to death. Dr. Agramonte was one of several members of the
expedition who were also taken, but he, being an American citizen,
escaped court martial and was more leniently dealt with by a civil
court, on the demand of the American consul at Santiago.

In a short time this masterful leader, Antonio Maceo, had control of
practically all of the Province of Oriente outside of a few fortified
coast cities and camps. The Captain-General, vainly imagining that the
insurrection would be confined to that province, sent thither all
available troops, leaving Havana, Matanzas and the others with scarcely
more than police guard. Thus greatly outnumbered, Maceo wisely resorted
not so much to guerrilla warfare as to what may be called Fabian
tactics. He maintained his army in complete organization and observed
all the rules of civilized warfare. But he also maintained a high degree
of mobility, avoiding any general engagement, and wearing out the morale
of the Spaniards with forced marches, surprise attacks, and all the
bewildering and baffling tactics of which so resourceful and alert a
commander was capable. Early in April he was indeed in much peril, being
almost completely surrounded by superior forces near Guantanamo, and
actually suffering severe losses at Palmerito; but he cut his way out by
desperate fighting in