Territory of Sancti Spiritus, November 6, 1895.

Animated by the spirit of unchangeable resolution in defence of the rights of the revolution of redemption of this country of colonists, humiliated and despised by Spain, and in harmony with what has been decreed concerning the subject in the circular dated the 1st of July, I have ordered the following: 

ARTICLE I. That all plantations shall be totally destroyed, their cane and outbuildings burned, and railroad connections destroyed.

ARTICLE II. All laborers who shall aid the sugar factories—­these sources of supplies that we must deprive the enemy of—­shall be considered as traitors to their country.

ARTICLE III. All who are caught in the act, or whose violation of Article II shall be proven, shall be shot.  Let all chiefs of operations of the army of liberty comply with this order, determined to furl triumphantly, even over ruin and ashes, the flag of the Republic of Cuba.

In regard to the manner of waging the war, follow the private instructions that I have already given.

For the sake of the honor of our arms and your well-known courage and patriotism, it is expected that you will strictly comply with the above orders.

  (Signed) MAXIMO GOMEZ,
  General-in-Chief.

To peace-loving souls, all this sounds very brutal, but all war is brutal and barbarous.  In our strife in the Philippines, from 1899 to 1902, many of us were proud to be told that we were conducting a “humane war.”  There is no such thing.  The very terms are contradictory.  Gomez had declared that if Spain would not give up Cuba to the Cubans, the Cubans would themselves render the island so worthless and desolate a possession that Spain could not afford to hold it.  Short of further submission to a rule that was, very rightly, regarded as no longer endurable, no other course was open to them.  Another proclamation appeared a few days later.

  HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY OF
  LIBERATION

  Sancti Spiritus, November 11 1895.

To HONEST MEN, VICTIMS OF THE TORCH: 

The painful measure made necessary by the revolution of redemption drenched in innocent blood from Hatuey to our own times by cruel and merciless Spain will plunge you in misery.  As general-in-chief of the army of liberation, it is my duty to lead it to victory, without permitting myself to be restrained or terrified, by any means necessary to place Cuba in the shortest time in possession of her dearest ideal.  I therefore place the responsibility for so great a ruin on those who look on impassively and force us to those extreme measures which they then condemn like dolts and hypocrites as they are.  After so many years of supplication, humiliation, contumely, banishment, and death, when this people, of its own will, has arisen in arms, there remains no solution but to triumph, it matters not what means are employed to accomplish it.