prehensive account of the Japanese landing in the Appendix to this chapter, on pages 649-651.147

The orders issued by General Shafter on June 23rd contemplated the assumption of a strong defensive position near Siboney by General Lawton's division which was to be supported by General Bates' brigade, while General Kent's division was to be retained near Siboney and General Wheeler's cavalry to remain in the rear on the road from Siboney to Daiquiri, pending the landing of the entire force and a reasonable amount of the necessary supplies.148 Wheeler, who had been joined that evening at Siboney by his 2nd brigade under General Young and who thus had 964 troops available,149 learned that the enemy was entrenched near Sevilla and, being anxious to get to the front, determined to attack, supported by 800 Cubans whose participation General Castillo had promised. At 5.45 a. M., on the 24th, Young's brigade began its advance in two columns, Colonel Wood with the First Volunteer Cavalry (Rough Riders) following a trail west of the main road. Two hours later General Rubin's force of Spanish troops was encountered on the ridge at Las Guasimas 150 and Young's Hotchkiss guns opened against their position, but so hot was their fire that, at 8.30 A. M., Wheeler sent to Lawton for re-enforcements, declaring that he had encountered a bigger force of the enemy than he had anticipated." 151 Meanwhile the Rough Riders had come into action on the left of the Regulars, both columns pressed forward through the dense tropical jungle and, while Young's troops made a frontal attack, Wood struck the right flank and rear of the enemy on the heights, the combined advance driving the Spanish from their entrenchments. The withering heat and the exhaustion of the troops prevented a vigorous pursuit by Wheeler which, had it occurred, must necessarily have been checked four miles beyond, as General Linares had moved out from Santiago to El Pozo with his artillery and retained that position until Rubin had retreated past it. The losses were comparatively trifling,152 but the action was important in that it

secured to Shafter's forces a well-watered district for their camps, which additionally afforded an unimpaired view of Santiago and the surrounding country. Moreover, this initial success was distinctly encouraging to the Americans while it exercised a dispiriting effect upon the Spanish.153

At the conclusion of the fight General Lawton appeared on the scene with his 1st brigade (General Chaffee), and General Shafter ordered a concentration of his troops at Sevilla under General Wheeler, the senior officer at the front,154 while the commander-in-chief remained at Siboney on board the Segurança to superintend the organization of the supply departments which were in a state of chaos.155 It was not until eight days later that the advance was resumed, and the conditions during a large part of that invaluable time, which had been wasted in inactivity owing to the failure to make adequate preparations beforehand, are thus depicted by Senator Lodge, who declares that the success achieved at Las Guasimas "also encouraged the mistaken idea which Admiral Sampson had expressed at first, and which General Shafter apparently held to firmly, that the soldiers of the United States had nothing to do but to press forward, drive the Spaniards from them, and take the town in forty-eight hours. If the Americans had gone on at once, there is every reason to believe that they might have gone through successfully to the city itself. But to take the town in forty-eight hours in the first advance was one thing, and to attempt to take it on the forty-eight hours plan after a week's delay was another and widely different business. In a short time it was to be proved that a strong lines of defences, constructed for the most part while the advance begun at Las Guasimas was halted, lay between the Americans and Santiago, and that the Spaniards, after their fashion, would fight hard and stubbornly under cover of entrenchments and block-houses. Nevertheless, it was with such views prevailing that the army finally moved forward. Lawton's and Chaffee's brigades came up to the front the day of the fight at Las Guasimas, and the other troops advanced during the following days to the high ground around Sevilla, which the victory of the cavalry division had brought within American control. During three days there seems to have been great confusion in the movement of troops,

and still more in the transportation of supplies.156 The narrow trails, bad at the best, were soon torn up by wagons, and were choaked by the advancing regiments, which moved slowly and with difficulty.157 The army stretched back for three miles from El Pozo, where an outpost was stationed, and whence the Spaniards could be seen hard at work, the line of entrenchments and rifle-pits lengthening continually along the hills of San Juan, and the defences of El Caney constantly growing stronger. Yet during these days of waiting no battery was brought to El Pozo to open on the Spanish works, no effort was made to interfere with the enemy in strengthening his position, which meant the sacrifice of just so many more lives by every hour that it went on unimpeded. There was no attempt during these comparatively unoccupied days to make new roads through the forests and undergrowth, so that the troops could emerge all along the line of woods instead of in dense narrow masses from the two existing trails. There were officers who saw, knew, and suggested all these things, but they were not done.” 158

On June 27th part of General Duffield's brigade from Camp Alger joined the army, and next day Shafter learned that 8,000 Spanish regulars under General Pando were advancing from Manzanillo and were expected to reach Santiago within a few days.159 Despite the deficiency in the equipment of his command and the dearth of provisions at the front, he determined to attack without further delay. On the 29th he established his headquarters ashore about a mile from El Pozo, on the 30th made a reconnaissance and, after a consultation. with Lawton and Chaffee, assembled his division commanders and communicated his plan to them.160

At 6.15 A. M., on July first the artillery opened fire against the Spanish,161 thus ushering in the battle of Santiago, which consisted of two separate and distinct actions. The first was that of El Caney, where General Vara de Rey with only 520 troops 162 occupied a position that "was naturally strong, and was rendered more so by blockhouses, a stone fort, and entrenchments cut in solid rock, and the loopholing of a solidly built stone church." 163 To Lawton's division which was re-enforced during the morning by Bates' independent bri