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44 Marching with Gomez
mounted on all sorts of beasts, small donkeys, even
mares in foal, and with feeble-limbed little colts
neighing and scampering after them. One negro
wore an antique Spanish dragoon sabre attached to
his waist by twine, and a single gilt spur tied over
his bare instep, with which he constantly goaded his
horse to greater exertions by an upward jerk of the
knee.
A rear-guard of fifty more armados ended the
procession. The rest of the force explored the
country for a league ahead as scouts, or rode
the fields to right and left of the column as
flankers, foraging in potato patches and leading off
horses on lariats wherever they found them. The
force, as usual, had marched on an empty stomach,
but sugar-canes cut on the way made a frequent and
refreshing " long breakfast."
As we journeyed along, dead horses by the roadside, gaps torn in the yellow limestone walls, chips
and scars on trunks of trees, marked scenes of long
retreats-and frequent skirmishes. Vultures floated
lazily over the pastures or watched us from fence
and gate post with sleek indifference. The frequent
banquets of the war had dulled their appetite.
One noticed that the houses of all who could
allowed to march with us, until they could be left in some comparatively safe camp
in the swamps of the south shore. Later, west of the Hanabana river, near Coco-
drillos, I met a party of three hundred refugees, the overflow of Matanzas impedimenta. They were marching on foot from the swamps, which a scarcity of wild pigs
and the first floods of the rainy season had rendered uninhabitable for so great a number together, toward the forest-clad highlands of the interior, where they hoped to
survive the summer. Nearly all these men were negroes, naked, destitute, — not
half a dozen revolvers or fifty good machetes among them. Even their officers, two
mulatto lieutenants, looked discouraged. With proper arms, this mob might have
become a formidable force.
| Title | Marching with Gomez |
| Creator | Flint, Grover |
| Publisher | Lamson, Wolffe and company |
| Place of Publication | Boston, New York [etc.] |
| Date | 1898 |
| Language | eng |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Title | 00000079 |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Transcript | 44 Marching with Gomez mounted on all sorts of beasts, small donkeys, even mares in foal, and with feeble-limbed little colts neighing and scampering after them. One negro wore an antique Spanish dragoon sabre attached to his waist by twine, and a single gilt spur tied over his bare instep, with which he constantly goaded his horse to greater exertions by an upward jerk of the knee. A rear-guard of fifty more armados ended the procession. The rest of the force explored the country for a league ahead as scouts, or rode the fields to right and left of the column as flankers, foraging in potato patches and leading off horses on lariats wherever they found them. The force, as usual, had marched on an empty stomach, but sugar-canes cut on the way made a frequent and refreshing " long breakfast." As we journeyed along, dead horses by the roadside, gaps torn in the yellow limestone walls, chips and scars on trunks of trees, marked scenes of long retreats-and frequent skirmishes. Vultures floated lazily over the pastures or watched us from fence and gate post with sleek indifference. The frequent banquets of the war had dulled their appetite. One noticed that the houses of all who could allowed to march with us, until they could be left in some comparatively safe camp in the swamps of the south shore. Later, west of the Hanabana river, near Coco- drillos, I met a party of three hundred refugees, the overflow of Matanzas impedimenta. They were marching on foot from the swamps, which a scarcity of wild pigs and the first floods of the rainy season had rendered uninhabitable for so great a number together, toward the forest-clad highlands of the interior, where they hoped to survive the summer. Nearly all these men were negroes, naked, destitute, — not half a dozen revolvers or fifty good machetes among them. Even their officers, two mulatto lieutenants, looked discouraged. With proper arms, this mob might have become a formidable force. |
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