130 THE POLITICS OF INTERVENTION
ering 5,300 miles. During October and November, at the
height of the rainy season, the Army had all its units out on
two consecutive twenty-one day hikes with all animals, guns,
and transport. Under the existing weather conditions "...
the natives believed it impossible to carry on operations," but
the soldiers negotiated the sticky roads and swollen streams
. .i n such a manner as to amaze the populace."
18
The Army of Cuban Pacification had brains as well as feet,
and it put great emphasis on creating a nationwide intelli
gence system. Even before the occupation was underway,
General Bell tried to collect information by asking the Dis
armament Committee to compile complete rolls of all the
insurgents to incude names, homes, physical descriptions, and
types and numbers of arms. This intelligence, Bell stressed,
"may prove of extreme value."
(^19) Recognizing the importance
of an effective intelligence program to the pacification of
Cuba, Bell sent two officers (Major D. D. Gaillard and Cap
tain John W. Furlong) of the General Staff's Military Informa
tion Division to Havana. Based at Marianao, Gaillard and
Furlong were assisted by Captain Dwight E. Aultman, a
Wood veteran who spoke fluent Spanish and who had visited
Cuba in early September. These officers were functioning as
the Army of Cuban Pacification's Military Information
Division by October 11.
The Military Information Division organized the country
into twenty-six intelligence districts, coinciding with the gar
risons outside Havana.^20 With the exception of the numerous
Santa Clara stations, whose officers reported to a provincial
supervisor, Major William D. Beach, each district had an
intelligence officer to collect and forward information to
Havana. Throughout the occupation, the Military Information
Division supervised mapping, compiled an extensive file of
photos and personality sketches, and wrote extensive descrip
tions of the terrain, towns, and communications system.^21 It
employed Cuban agents and spent liberally (more than $1000
monthly) for information. Its original allowance, provided
from the War Department's Emergency Fund (created by