More than 1,050 men Total approx: 1,540 men The Battle of Peralejo was a military confrontation between Cuban independence rebels, under the command of Major General Antonio Maceo against the forces of the Spanish Army, under the command of Captain General Arsenio Martínez Campos, which was part of Maceo's First Eastern Campaign during the Cuban War of Independence.

During the Eastern Campaign, Major General Antonio Maceo Grajales, headed for Bayamo with forces from Cambute and Santiago de Cuba.

General Arsenio Martínez Campos and Brigadier Fidel A. Santocildes coordinated the organization of the Spanish convoys, coming from Manzanillo and Cauto Embarcadero to Bayamo.

On July 11, Santocildes, with a short column of 400 men made up of two companies from the 1st and 2nd battalions of the Isabel La Católica regiment, and 40 guerrillas from Captain Travesí, left Manzanillo for Veguitas.

On July 13 at dawn, Maceo sets up the Vega de Yao camp, and is located in El Santísimo, (a place that dominates the two routes from Barrancas to Bayamo), with the cavalry.

The rearguard is located in La Caoba (Brigadier Alfonso Goulet) and in Yao del Gallego (Major General Bartolomé Masó).

The Spanish flee, while the Cuban infantry runs out of ammunition, Maceo orders the squad of the Cespedes regiment near Mabay to join the cavalry and attack the enemy.