In April 1896, three young Russians, Pyotr Platonovich Streltsev, Eustafiy Iosifovich Konstantinovich, and Nikolai Gerasimovich Melentyev, set off from Russia to New York, and then headed to Cuba. All of them were raised in the Gatchina Orphan Institute and decided to become volunteers in the liberation struggle of the Cuban people.

On September 3, they sailed to Cuba on the steamer 'Three Friends.' Pyotr Streltsev described their first journey as follows: 'The insurgents injured their bare feet on the stones, heavy boxes rubbed their backs raw. They began to suffer from yellow fever: they fell on the stones and groaned, while the healthy continued to move forward, literally carrying on their shoulders the success of liberating their homeland.'

From the very beginning of the eastern campaign, clashes with Spanish troops began. Streltsev and his comrades participated in the battles at Motusuelo and Tumbas de Estorino, becoming artillerymen. On September 26, their unit approached Tumbas de Estorino. Streltsev recorded in his diary: 'Bullets whistled over our heads. A pine forest separated us from the firing line. In the distance, a road occupied by the Spaniards was visible. The crack of gunfire faded and then resumed with renewed strength.'

Despite the heavy fighting, the unit advanced deeper into the island. However, in mid-October, the three Russians were captured by the Spaniards and taken to the city of Pinar del Río, and then to Havana, to General Captain Veler. In Havana, they were placed in the Morro fortress, where, as Streltsev noted in his diary, 'almost all the prisoners were held on suspicion or for sympathizing with the rebels. During our stay in the fortress, the prisoners treated us very attentively.' At the end of October 1896, Havana newspapers reported on the Russian volunteers who had been captured.

In the end, all three were deported from Cuba, but they left a vivid mark in the struggle for independence.