On March 8, 1896, General Valeriano Weyler, Cuba’s Spanish Governor, issued a military report announcing that the island’s Western provinces were now under the Spanish army control and that the rebels were in full retreat. It read: “Our troops have chased the rebels, caught up and defeated them on the field. The remnants of their army are now thoroughly demoralized and retreating toward Oriente.”
The Weyler report was announced in haste and turned out to be false and dishonest. On March 14, General Antonio Maceo’s forces took the offensive and attacked the port of Batabanó, in Havana province. Led by General Quintin Banderas’ infantry, they fought their way into the town’s central plaza. The Spanish garrison was surprised and confused by the unexpected and furious advance of the infantry from Oriente, that had fought its way into the Western provinces. By midnight the Cuban soldiers left Batabanó with a large supply of weapons and food.
Before moving back into Pinar del Rio mountains to continue the offensive in the western province, Maceo’s forces attacked several towns, fought over 15 encounters with Spanish columns, and blew bridges and railroad tracks, disrupting the capital communication networks. It was a display of Maceo’s tactical genius and unlimited courage, and a terrible blow for the credibility of Valeriano Weyler’s military reports.
