reconcentration under that infamous order of Captain General
Weyler. They have been the real historians of Cuba.

It is to all of these sources and others that the information
contained in the present volume is owed. The writer takes pleasure
in acknowledging the courteous permission to use salient facts
contained in some volumes of merit published prior to this time.
But more than all the obligation is to the newspaper
correspondents who worked with him in Cuba in the days when the
war was but an insurrection and afterward when the insurrection
became our own war against Spain for the liberty of Cuba. They are
the ones who have gathered the most exhaustive information on the
whole subject of Cuban affairs. They have been able by virtue of
their intimate knowledge of Cuba and the Cubans to be of
invaluable assistance to the commanders of army and navy alike,
not only in advice as to the forming of plans, but in executing
them. One who has seen the things knows that to exaggerate the
horrors of Spanish cruelty and the oppression of Spanish rule in
Cuba is an impossibility. No newspaper could have printed the
plain truth of a score of shocking affairs, simply because the
public prints are no place for the exploiting of such tales of
vicious crime against humanity as have been perpetrated. The most
sensational tales have never reached the limits of the truth.

It is hoped that the reader will find in this volume not only a
comprehensive current history of our war with Spain for Cuba's
freedom, but also much of the other matter that will be of
interest and value in considering the future of the liberated
island. Its history, its people, its resources and other salient
subjects are included, with certain matter on Spain and her own