Although López failed to recruit either rising star, he won the financial and political support of many influential Southerners, including Governor John Quitman of Mississippi; former Senator John Henderson; and the editor of the "New Orleans Delta", Laurence Sigur. López enlisted about 600 filibusters in his expedition and successfully reached Cuba in May 1850. His troops seized the town of Cárdenas, carrying a flag that López and Miguel Teurbe Tolón had designed, which later became the flag of Cuba. Nevertheless, the local support that he had hoped for failed to materialize when the fighting started. Much of the local population joined the Spanish against López, and he hastily retreated to Key West, where he disbanded the expedition within minutes of landing to avoid being prosecuted under the Neutrality Act of 1794.