The Pacification of Cuba 127the Provisional Government required to accomplish its
political objectives.
The geographic pattern of the garrisons established by the
Army of Cuban Pacification provides insight into the military
aspects of the occupation and the political and economic re
quirements of American policy. Throughout October, 1906,
the Marines and the first Army units to arrive were dispatched
to places where large numbers of rebels and militia were
being disarmed or where foreign owned sugar centrales were
endangered. Subsequently some of these units, mostly Marine
and infantry companies, were transferred. By November, with
the complete assembly of the American troops, a basic pattern
for Cuba's physical occupation emerged.^13
The Army of Cuban Pacification was deployed geo
graphically to occupy the major population centers judged
to be politically restless, to control Cuba's rail and coastal
shipping system, and to protect the island's economic wealth,
particularly the sugar business. The troops' supply require
ments and the possibility of active field operations also influ
enced the occupation. Garrisons were placed in twelve of the
fourteen Cuban cities with populations over ten thousand.
Of the Army's remaining fifteen posts (of a total of twenty-
seven with an additional Marine company on the Isle of
Pines) six more were in towns of five thousand or more.^14
Seven posts were established near centrales in Santa Clara
province. The remaining two posts were at Ciego de Avila
in Camaguey (site of the Stuart Sugar Company) and at
Neuvitas, a small Camagueyan port.
The garrisons also controlled Cuba's transportation system
by occupying a line that approximately bisected the country
along its railroad nets, running west to east: Pinar del Rio,
Guanajay, Guines, Santa Clara, Placetas, Sancti Spiritus,
Ciego de Avila, Camaguey, Holguin, Santiago de Cuba. The
Havana area was controlled from Camp Columbia, the Army's
headquarters and largest garrison. Occupied coastal towns
were (in addition to Havana and Santiago) Cienfuegos, Ma
tanzas, Trinidad, Caibarien, Manzanillo, Cardenas, Neuvitas,
and Baracoa.