Fully illustrated. Dispatched by William Randolph Hearst to cover the guerilla war in Cuba for Hearst's newspaper the New York Journal, Richard Harding Davis filed dramatic reports that may have brought the United States into the conflict, launching the Spanish-American War. A truly interesting account of war-torn Cuba. Excerpt: "When the revolution broke out in Cuba two years ago, the Spaniards at once began to build tiny forts, and continued to add to these and improve those already built, until now the whole island, which is eight hundred miles long and averages eighty miles in width, is studded as thickly with these little forts as is the sole of a brogan with iron nails. It is necessary to keep the fact of the existence of these forts in mind in order to understand the situation in Cuba at the present time, as they illustrate the Spanish plan of campaign, and explain why the war has dragged on for so long, and why it may continue indefinitely."