Cuba Libre 1898

244 troopers of the 1st Regular Cavalry and 220 of the 10th Colored Cavalry, Leonard Wood and Theodore Roosevelt's 'Rough Riders' (1st Volunteer Cavalry, 530 strong) aided by several hundred Cuba Libre soldiers executed a difficult offensive engagement against over 2,000 entrenched Spanish infantry and artillery. The Spanish were arrayed in three successive lines along Las Guasimas Ridge. To their backs and a mile west of their position was the small village of La Rodonda.

Major General Joseph 'Fightin' Joe' Wheeler (US Volunteers), a sixty-two-year-old former Confederate Major General in the War of Rebellion and currently 8th District Congressman from north Alabama, commanded the V Corp Cavalry. He personally directed this technically 'maverick' mission. The standing order from V Corp Commander, Major General William R. Shafter, was that Wheeler's and his cavalry, the first ashore, were to entrench inland of the beach and cover the landing operation. The horse troopers were to watch and not engage.

Alerted to the dangerous position of the Spanish, they were to do more than watch and wait. Cuba Libre General Demetrio Castillo Duany reported to General Wheeler the disposition of the entrenched Spaniards with artillery on the heights of Las Guasimas. This ridge runs roughly parallel to the landing beaches three miles to the northwest. General Castillo advised General Wheeler of the Spanish plan to bombard and attack the landing Americans.

General Wheeler with three of his staff, did a personal reconnaissance of the Spanish positions to confirm this information. The feisty cavalry veteran saw nothing special in the ride deep into enemy territory. He called it, 'Just a little vedette.' Good readers, 'vedette' is an old cavalry word meaning 'a mounted scout forward of position to observe and report enemy movements'. His personal scouting mission validated the threat reported by General Castillo."