which he also showed himself a master hand. The
most serious loss at that time was the death of the brave revolutionist
Flor Crombet. He was killed not by Spaniards but by a traitor in his own
command, whom Maceo presently detected and hanged. Soon after the affair
at Palmerito, however, Maceo captured El Caney, in the very suburbs of
Santiago, and seized the rich supplies in the Spanish arsenal at that
place.

The sending of so many troops from the other provinces to Oriente
emboldened the patriots of Havana and Matanzas to take up arms, and
uprisings occurred at various places, particularly at Cardenas and the
city of Matanzas. In the city of Havana itself a daring attempt was made
to seize Cabanas and El Morro, liberate the political prisoners, and
destroy the magazines if they could not be held. To encourage these
movements Maceo sent detachments of his forces from Oriente westward,
into Camaguey, then still known as the Province of Puerto Principe.
Jesus Rabi occupied Victoria las Tunas, near the boundary of the latter
province, and soon had bands operating beyond the border. There was an
Autonomist organization at Camaguey, which at first disavowed the
revolution and gave its adherence to the Captain-General, but it became
demoralized upon the approach of the revolutionary forces, and many of
its members were soon serving zealously in Maceo's ranks.

The arrival of Jose Marti and Maximo Gomez in Cuba at the middle of
April, as already related, almost simultaneously with the arrival of
Martinez Campos, was promptly followed by increased activity on the part
of the Cubans. Floriano Gascon organized a force of negro miners at
Juragua, and inflicted a crushing defeat upon a Spanish garrison at
Ramon de las Jaguas; the Spanish commander being afterward tried by
Spanish court martial and condemned to death for inefficiency. At the
end of the month a Spanish force was entrapped and almost destroyed by
Jose Maceo, near Guantanamo. The first half of May was also marked with
much fighting in the southern part of Oriente, in which the
revolutionists were generally successful. Railroads were destroyed to
break Spanish lines of communication, valuable supplies were captured,
and Martinez Campos was made to realize the formidable character of the
insurrection which he had so confidently promised to suppress.

Mention has already been made of the Provisional Government which was
proclaimed by Maceo early in April. On May 18 th