«*• v » » • •* °o V • » • •* ^ A* *V k ' • -» ^ cr 6 • ■ • * ^b *2* • ' , ~ V- . * tf* * o « o .* V *V <• V V »v 9' .^L% ~> V .«• * * c Vv * «p^ ,* V "V * A> C«v o -v**^ ■%►■ d fl[ GENERAL JOSE MACEO. THE WAR WITH SPAIN STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. EDITED AND WRITTEN NATHAN C. GREEN. With Articles by Military and Naval Experts and News- paper Correspondents. BALTIMORE : INTERNATIONAL NEWS AND BOOK CO. ^t\ "^-Copyrighted, 1896. International News and Book Co. V c ■\% :)- O CONTENTS, CHAPTER I. FACE Introductory, I CHAPTER II. Cuba — Historical, ..„ 33 CHAPTER III. The War of 1895, 103 CHAPTER IV. Terrific Struggle at Santiago, ......... 131 CHAPTER V. Naval Battle at Santiago, 169 CHAPTER VI. Hobson, the Hero, 188 CHAPTER VII. Hobson's Own Story, 19 2 CHAPTER VIII. How Manila Fell 197 CONTENTS. CHAPTER IX. PAGE Senator Sherman on Cuba 204 CHAPTER X. A Trip to the Interior with General Grant, ... . 251 CHAPTER XI. Murat Halstead on the Cuban Crisis, 281 CHAPTER XII. Incidents of the War 293 CHAPTER XIII. Spanish Atrocities, 351 CHAPTER XIV. The Right of Cubans to Recognition as Belligerents and to Independence, 369 CHAPTER XV. Cuban Independence 405 CHAPTER XVI. Spanish Despotism in Cuba Supported by the United States, 419 APPENDIX. Official Report of the Court of Inquiry which Investi- gated the Maine Disaster, 471 Situation in Cuba by U. S. Senator Proctor, .... 486 Battle of Manila, 499 Philippine Islands 507 Detailed Report of Naval Victory by Admirals Samp- son, Schley and Captain Clark 513 Peace Agreement Officially Signed 522 Diary of the War 525 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. General Jose Maceo Frontispiece. The Indian Statue in the Prado 5 Scene in Matanzas 5 Gen. Fitzhugh Lee 6 Captain Higginson, First-Class Battleship "Massachu- setts" 11 Commodore Schley, in Command of Flying Squadron. ... 11 Avenue of Palms 12 Street Scene in Havana 12 Gate of Acala, Madrid 17 Royal Palace, Madrid 17 "New York" (Armored Cruiser) 18 A Village Scene in Cuba 23 The Water Carrier 23 Ericsson 24 Exterior View of the Amphitheatre, Madrid 29 Fountain of Cibeles, Madrid 29 "Reina Regenta" (Spanish Unprotected Cruiser) 30 Panorama of the Prado 39 "Bancroft" (Special Class) 40 Washing Horses at the Punta, Havana 47 "Montgomery" (Cruiser) 48 Fruit Seller 55 "Machias" (Gunboat) 56 Havana 63 Explosion of the "Maine" in Havana Harbor, February IS, 1898 54 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE. Tobacco Plantation 7 1 The Battleship "Maine" n Ox Carts 79 Interior of the Upper Turrets, Showing Breeches of the 8-Inch Guns on "Massachusetts" 80 Palace of the Captain-General 87 Native Family 95 General Weyler 103 General Gomez 103 "Newark" (Protected Steel Cruiser) til Columbus Memorial Chapel 119 Interior of the Casino 127 Pineapple Plantation 135 Calle Obispo (Obispo Street) 143 Recreation, "Jolly Tars" 151 The Flying Squadron at Hampton Roads 159 Tacon Theater and Inglaterra Hotel 167 Cathedral 175 A Volante 183 Serving Milk 191 Sewing Hammocks 109 Capt. Joseph Fry, Commander of the "Virginius," Shot at Santiago de Cuba 207 Spanish Soldiers Blowing off the Heads of the Wounded Members of the "Virginius's" Crew 207 After the Shooting of the Crew of the "Virginius" — Ne- groes of the Chain-Gang Tumbling the Dead Bodies of the Victims into Mule-Carts 215 A Spanish Advance Post, Outside Remedios 223 The "Virginius" Outrage — Shooting of Four Prominent Cuban Patriots 231 Cuban Insurgents Fighting Behind Barrels 239 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE. Scene on Sugar Plantation, Cuba 247 Bull-Fight Scene 255 The Cuban Insurrection — Morro Castle, at the Entrance to the Harbor of Havana 263 The Butchery of the Crew of the "Virginius" — Scene at the Slaughter-House the Moment Before the Execu- tion — Capt. Fry Bidding His Companions Farewell. . 271 Attack Upon a Fort near Vueltas 279 The "Virginius" Butchery in 1873 — Spanish Horsemen Tramping the Dead and the Dying Victims into the Slaughter-House Trench at Santiago de Cuba 287 Spanish Soldiers Guarding a Railroad Train 295 Section of Spanish Artillery 303 A Scene in a Hospital in Havana 311 A Cuban Watching the Movement of the Spanish Army. . 319 A Cuban Window 327 A Cocoanut Grove 335 Insurgent's Cave 343 Spanish Soldiers Guarding a Plantation 349 Valley of the Yumuri 361 Drive to the Bellamar Caves, Cuba 367 President McKinley and his Cabinet Discussing the Span- ish Difficulty 368 Horses Loaded with Maloja 373 A Country Villa 379 Spain's Torpedo-Boat Flotilla 380 "Concord" (Gunboat) 38s A Mortar Battery in Action, Defending a Harbor 386 Native Candy Seller 39i Upper Turrets and 8-Inch Guns on "Massachusetts" 392 Royal Palm Trees 397 8-Inch Forward Gun on the "Atlanta" 398 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PACK A Cuban Ploughman 4°3 8-Inch Gun on "New York" 404 Royal Palms, Botanical Gardens. 400 Upper Train ; ng-Ship Gun-Practice 4 10 Interior of Cathedral 4 T 5 "Raleigh" (Protected Cruiser) 4 l6 On the Road to the Caves 421 A Fruit Stand 427 A Narrow Street and Cathedral 433 General Jose Maceo and Staff 439 Matanzas and Yumuri River 445 Encampment of General Maceo 451 Governor-General's Palace 457 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY. Spain occupies the larger portion of the great penin- sula which forms the southwest corner of the European continent, reaching further south than any other Euro- pean country, and further west than any except Portu- gal. It is bounded on the north by the Bay of Biscay and by France, from which it is separated by the moun- tain ridge of the Pyrenees ; on the east and south by the Mediterranean and Atlantic, and on the west by the Atlantic and Portugal. Greatest length, from Fuen- terrabia on the north to Tarifa on the south, 560 miles ; greatest breadth, from Cape Finisterre (Land's End), the extreme point on the west, to Cape Creuze, the ex- treme point on the east, about 650 miles; average breadth about 380 miles. Area, including the Balearic and Canary Isles, 196,031 square miles; population, about 16,000,000. The country, including the Bal- earic and Canary Isles, was divided in 1834 into forty- nine modern provinces, though the former division, 2 STORY OF SPAIN AMD CUBA. into fourteen kingdoms, States, or provinces, is still sometimes used. COAST-LINE. The entire perimeter of the country is 2080 English miles, and the coast-line, exclusive of windings, is 1317 miles long, of which 712 miles are formed by the Medi- terranean and 605 miles by the Atlantic. The north coast, from Fuenterrabia west to Cape Ortegal, is un- broken by any considerable indentation. A wall of rocks, varying in height from thirty to 300 feet, runs along this shore; but the water, which retains consid- erable depth close to the beach, is not interrupted to any unusual extent by islands or rocks. The north- west coast, from Cape Ortegal south to the mouth of the river Minho — which separates the Spanish prov- ince of Galicia from Portugal — though rock-bound, is less elevated, and is much more broken than the shores washed by the Bay of Biscay; and the indentations, the chief of which are Noya Arosa and Vigo Bays, form secure and spacious harbors. From the mouth of the Guadiana, on the south, to the Strait of Gibraltar, the coast-line, though well defined, is low, sandy and occa- sionally swampy. From Gibraltar to Cape Palos the shores, which are backed in part by the mountain-range of the Sierra Nevada, are rocky and high (though flats occur at intervals), are unbroken by indentations, and comprise only two harbors, those of Cartagena and STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 3 Malaga. A low, and for the most part sandy, coast extends north from Cape Palos, rising into rocky cliffs and bluffs in the vicinity of Denia, but extending in sandy flats from Denia to the mouth of the Ebro. From the mouth of this river, north to the frontier of France, the coast is alternately high and low, and its principal harbors are Barcelona and Rosas. SURFACE AND HYDROGRAPHY. The compactness and the isolation of this country, and its position between two seas, the most famous, and commercially the most important in the world, are not more in its favor than the character of its surface, which is more diversified than that of any other country in Europe of equal extent. An immense plateau, the loftiest in the continent, occupies the central regions of Spain, and is bounded on the north and west by mountainous tracts, and on the northeast by the valley of the Ebro; on the east by tracts of land frequently low, but in some parts traversed by hill-ranges; on the south by the valley of the Guadalquivir, which inter- venes between it and the Sierra Nevada. This great plateau rises to the height of from 2000 to 3000 feet, and occupies upwards of 90,000 square miles, or about half of the entire area of the country. The whole of the Pyrenean peninsula is divided by Spanish geographers into seven mountain ranges, of which the chief are: 4 ST0R7 OF SPAIN AMD CUBA. I. The Cantabrian mountains and the Pyrenees, form- ing the most northern range; 2. The Sierra de Guad- arrama, separating Leon and Old Castile from Estre- madura and New Castile, and rising in the peak of Pen- alara, 7764 feet above the sea- level; 3. The Montes de Toledo, forming a part of the water-shed between the Tagus and the Guadiana; 4. The Sierra Morena, be- tween the upper waters of the Guadiana and Guadal- quivir; 5. The Sierra Nevada, running parallel with the shores of the Mediterranean, through Southern Murcia and Andalucia, and rising in its chief summits to loftier elevations than are found in any mountain system of Europe, except that of the Alps. The sev- eral mountain-ridges, or, as they are called, Cordil- leras of Spain, have a general east and west direction, and between them run, in the same direction, the nearly parallel valleys or basins of the great rivers of the coun- try, the Douro, Tagus, Guadiana and Guadalquivir. CLIMATE AND SOIL. The climate, owing to the extent and configuration of the country, is exceedingly various. In the north- west (maritime) provinces, it is damp and rainy during the greater part of the year ; at Madrid, which is situated about n° south of London, and only 5 north of the shores of Africa, winters have occurred of such severitv that sentinels, while on duty, have been frozen to death ; GEN. FITZHUGH LEE. JTUtiV (Jt SFAliSl AJSIx. VClbA... vvhile the south and east provinces are warm in white*. and are exposed to burning winds from the south, and to an almost tropical heat in summer. Both ancient and modern geographers have adopted difference of climate as the rule for dividing the Peninsula into tracts distinct as well in soil and vegetation as in tempera- ture. Of these tracts or zones the first and most north- ern may be considered as embracing Galicia, Asturias, the Basque Provinces, Navarre, Catalonia, and the northern districts of Old Castile and Aragon. In this tract the winters are long, and the springs and autumns rainy, while north and northeast winds blow cold from the snow-covered Pyrenees. The country, which al- ternates with hill and dale, is plentifully watered by streams rich in fish, and meadows yielding rich pastur- age abound. Corn scarcely ripens in the more exposed districts, but grain crops of all kinds are produced in others, as well as cider, wine and valuable timber. The middle zone is formed mainly by the great central pla- teau, and embraces Northern Valencia, New Castile, Leon and Estremadura, with the south parts of Old Castile and Aragon. The climate of the great part of this region is pleasant only in spring and autumn. Throughout the chilly winter, the treeless table-lands are overswept by violent tempests, and in summer are burned up by the sun. The soil is generally fertile, and corn and wine are most abundantly produced. The southern or Baetican zone, comprising the rich 8 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. country that extends between the southern wall of the central plateau and the Mediterranean shores, includes Andalucia, Murcia and Southern Vahncia. The stony rampart on the north protects it from the chilly winds of the central zone; but it is unprotected against the hot winds which in summer blow north from Africa, and render this season intolerable to northern Euro- peans. Here the winter is temperate, and the spring and autumn delightful beyond description. The de- scent from the cold and mountainous central regions to this tract of tropical heat and fertility affords a most striking contrast. The soil, which is artificially irri- gated, is well adapted to agriculture and the cultiva- tion of heat-loving fruits. The products comprise sugar, cotton and rice, and the orange, lemon and date. HISTORY. Spain, the Spania, Hispania and Iberia of the Greeks, and known to the Romans by the same names, was inhabited at the period at which it first receives histori- cal mention by a people deriving their origin from dif- ferent races. It is supposed to have been originally inhabited by a distinct race called Iberians, upon whom, however, a host of Celts are supposed to have de- scended from the Pyrenees. In the earliest times of which we have any record, these two races had already coalesced and formed the mixed nation of the Celti- STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 9 berians, who were massed chiefly in the centre of the peninsula, in the western districts of Lusitania, and on the north coasts. In the Pyrenees and along the east coast were to be found pure Iberian tribes, while un- mixed Celtic tribes occupied the northwest. In Bsetica ( Andalucia) there was a large admixture of the Phoenician element, and on the south and east coasts, numerous Phoenician, Carthaginian, Rhodian and other colonies. A portion of the south coast, called Tartessus by the Greeks, the Tarshish of Scripture, was much fre- quented for its mineral riches by the Phoenician mer- chantmen, and the "ships of Tarshish'' were as distinct a section of the Tyrian mercantile marine, as were the Spanish galleons of the sixteenth century, or our own Indiamen of more recent times. But the bond which connected the Iberians and the Phoenicians was purely of a commercial character. About the middle of the third century B. C, the Carthaginian influence began to be much felt in Iberia, and a considerable tract of territory was brought under subjection to Carthage by Hamilcar, who founded the city of Barcelona. During the next eight years, the Carthaginian interest was ad- vanced and its power further strengthened by Hasdru- bal (died 220 B. C), son-in-law of Hamilcar, who founded Carthago Nova (the modern Cartagena), and concluded a treaty with the Romans whereby it was stipulated that he should not advance his standards north of the Iberus (Ebro). Hannibal, son of Hamil- 10 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. car, and the greatest of all the Carthaginian generals, now assumed the command in the peninsula. He at- tacked and destroyed Saguntum, and thus violated the treaty made between his father and the Romans. The destruction of Saguntum was the cause of the Sec- ond Punic War. After the Romans had driven the Carthaginians from the peninsula in 206 B. C, the country was erected into a Roman province, consisting of two political divisions — Hispania Citerior (Hither Spain), including the eastern and northern districts, or those nearest to the centre of the Roman Empire; and Hispania Ulterior (Further Spain), including the dis- tricts furthest from Rome, or the southern and western districts. It was not, however, till 25 B. C. that the Cantabri and Astures in the extreme north of the coun- try laid down their arms to Augustus. After the coun- try had been reduced to subjection, it was divided into the three provinces of Tarraconensis (embracing the northern and eastern provinces, Bsetica (Andalucia), and Lusitania (Portugal and certain of the western provinces). This division of the country lasted till the reign of Constantine the Great (306-337). From the time of the complete supremacy of the Romans till the death of Constantine the condition of Spain was emi- nently prosperous. The inhabitants, when brought under the iron rule of the empire, were forced for the time to desist from the intestine wars in which it had been their habit to indulge, and adopting the language, 3 § o 3 s * AVBNDB OF PALMS. STREET 80BNB IN HAVANA. STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 13 laws and manners of their conquerors, they devoted themselves to industrial pursuits, and increased re- markably both in wealth and in numbers. Every- where throughout the country, towns of a purely Ro- man character sprang up, among the chief of which were Leon, Emerita, Augusta (Merida), Pax Julia (Be- ja), Csesar Augusta (Zaragoza), and numerous aque- ducts, bridges, amphitheatres, etc., were built, the ruins of which are the wonder of the modern traveler. Spain, though obtained at enormous cost both in treasure and in human life, was for three centuries the richest prov- ince of the Roman Empire. Its fertile fields formed for a considerable time the granary of Rome, and from its metal-veined sierras an immense amount of treasure in gold, silver, etc., flowed into the Roman coffers. "Twenty thousand pound-weight of gold," says Gib- bon, "was annually received from the provinces of Austria (Asturias), Galicia and Lusitania." This amount of wealth was not the voluntary offering of the natives, who were compelled to labor in their mines for the benefit of strangers; and thus Spain, in the early ages, was the type of Spanish America in the fifteenth and succeeding centuries, with the single difference that in the first case the Spaniards were the slaves, and in the second they were the slaveholders. In 409 A. D. hordes of barbarians, Alans, Vandals and Suevi. crossed the Pyrenees and swept over and desolated the peninsula — the Vandals for the most part settling in 14 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. Baetica, the Alans in Lusitania, and the Suevi in Leon and Castile. About 412, the Visigoths invaded the country, and their king, Athaulf, who acknowledged a nominal dependence on the Roman emperor, estab lished the Gothic monarchy in Catalonia. Of the Visi- goths — by whom the Suevi were subjugated (584), the Vandals and Alans expelled (427) from the country, and large portions of Gaul annexed to their Spanish dominion — the most remarkable kings were Wallia (415-418), who greatly extended the Gothic monarchy ; Euric (466-483), who, besides increasing his territory, introduced and enforced a body of laws, and did much for the advancement of civilization in Spain; Wamba (673-680), who built a fleet for the protection of the coasts, and Roderic, who was killed at Xeres de la Frontera in 711, in battle with the Moors. The battle of Xeres gave the Moors almost undisputed mastery of nearly the whole of Spain, as well as of the outlying Gothic province of Septimania (Languedoc) in France, for the remnant of the Goths betook themselves to the highlands of Asturias, Burgos and Biscay, where, in a region which throughout had enjoyed more liberty than any other part of Spain, they maintained their in- dependence. DYNASTY OF THE MOORS. The Arabs, or, as they are more properly termed, the STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 15 Moors, held Spain for the first few years of their rule as a dependency of the province of North Africa; but, after the downfall of Muza and his son Abd-el-aziz, who had been the deputy-governor of Spain, the country was governed (717) by emirs appointed by the calif of Damascus. The favorite scheme pursued by the Spanish emirs was the extension of their conquests into Gaul, to the neglect of the rising power of the Goths in Asturias; they also took the Balearic Islands, Sardinia, Corsica and part of Apulia and Calabria; the Mediterranean was infested by their fleets, but their northward progress was most signally checked on the plain of Tours by Charles Martel. Anarchy and blood- shed were prominent features of the first forty years of Mohammedan rule in Spain. The walis, or local gov- ernors of districts and provinces, frequently rebelled against the emir, and drew sword against each other according as ambition or animosity dictated. Within this period of forty years, no fewer than twenty emirs had been called to the direction of affairs ; but a revo- lution at Damascus, which unseated the Ommiades, and placed the Abbasides in possession of the califate, put an end to this state of misrule in Spain. The last of the emirs, Jussuf, was in favor of the Abbasides, but the walis and alcaydes being chiefly of the Ommiade faction, invited one of this family, who was in conceal- ment among the Zeneta Arabs in Barbary, to become an independent calif in Spain. Thus was founded the 1G STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. califate of Cordova, from which, in 778, the Franks wrested all its possessions north of the Pyrenees, and Northeastern Spain to the Ebro; the latter acquisition, subsequently denominated the Spanish March, being alternately in the hands of the Moors and dependent upon France. CHRISTIAN KINGDOMS. During this period of Moorish domination, the small independent kingdom of Asturias, founded by Pelayo had been growing in power and extent. It was increased by Galicia in 758, and by parts of Leon and Castile towards the close of the century. In 758, a second independent Christian kingdom was founded in Sobrarve, and increased by portions of Navarre on one hand and Aragon on the other, but though it, along with the French Gascons, aided the Moors at Roncesvalles, it was, in 801, again swallowed up by the califate of Cordova. However, thirty-six years after- wards a Navarres count, casting off his allegiance to France, founded the third Christian kingdom, that of Navarre, which, from this time, easily maintained itself, owing to its situation, in independence of the Moors. The kingdom of Asturias, now (900) Leon, was for a long time distracted by bitter and bloody strife among the members of the royal line, and, with its neighbor Navarre, would have fallen an easy prey to the power- GATE OF AOALA, MADRID. ROYAL PALACE. MADRID. STORY OF SPAIN AND CUB*. 19 ful Ommiades, had not the latter directed their chief attention to the subjugation of Morocco; and, under cover of this relaxation of the constant warfare be- tween Moors and Christians, another independent monarchy, an offshoot from Leon, was founded in Cas- tile (933, kingdom in 1035), which, from its central po- sition, and consequent greater facilities for expansion, soon became the most powerful of the Spanish States,' especially after its union (temporary, 1072-1157), in 1230, with Leon. A considerable part of Aragon had been wrested from the Moors by Sancho III (1000- 1035) of Navarre, and at his death this part of his do- minions passed by inheritance to his son Ramiro, who added to it the districts of Sobrarve and Ribagorza, and a considerable extent of country which he conquered from the common enemy, the Moors. This kingdom of Aragon was the last Christian kingdom formed in Spain; and though it increased by acquisitions from the Moors, yet being limited by Leon, Castile and Na- varre on one side, and the Spanish March (now only the county of Catalonia or Barcelona) on the other, it's princes aimed at maritime power; and by the union, through the marriage of the Count of Barcelona with Queen Petronilla, of the Spanish March with Aragon. means were obtained of carrying out this policy, and the spread of the Aragonese dominion to Sicily, Na- ples and other regions bordering on the Mediterranean was the consequence. These three kingdoms— Cas- 20 IS TORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. tile and Leon, Navarre, and Aragon — continued, sometimes in combination and sometimes, separately, to war against their common enemy, the Moors — Cas- tile being, from its greater power and proximity, the most persistent assailant, and Navarre, for the oppo- site reason, the least so; but whenever the arrival of fresh levies from Africa, or the accession of an ener- getic calif threatened serious danger to any one of the Uiree, the others generally came to its aid. The extinction of the Ommiades in Spain in 103 1, and the disruption of the califate into the minor king- doms of Cordova, Seville, Toledo, Lisbon, Zaragoza, Tortosa, Valencia, Murcia, Badajos, and seven others of less note, was an occurrence by which the kings of Castile and Aragon did not fail to benefit, for by well- directed and unremitting attacks they subdued some, rendered other tributary, the kings of Portugal also on their side gallantly and successfully pursuing the same policy ; and a few years more would have certainly an- nihilated Moorish domination in Spain, had not Mo- hammed of Cordova and Seville, hard pressed by Al- fonso VI of Leon and Castile about the close of the eleventh century, applied for aid to an Arab tribe, whose military career in North Africa had been of the most brilliant character. This tribe, the Almoravides — i. e., men devoted to the service of God — had made themselves masters of the provinces of Africa and Al- magreb, and founded the empire of Morocco. Re- STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 21 sponding to the request of Mohammed, the Almora- vides crossed over to Spain, defeated the king of Ara- gon and Castile, and recovered much of New Castile. Then, turning upon their ally Mohammed, they com- pelled him to yield up the provinces of Cordova and Seville, and all the minor Moorish princes to follow his example; so that, in 1094, the Almoravide sovereign was acknowledged sole monarch of Mohammedan Spain. The power of this tribe, however, began to de- cline about 1 1 30, and was extinguished by the Almo- hades, a fanatical sect of Mohammedans, who landed in Spain in the middle of the twelfth century, and con- quered the territories of the Mohammedans in Spain. During the reign of the third monarch of this dynasty took place the battle between the combined forces of Castile, Leon, Navarre, Aragon and Portugal, with the Moors, in which the former gained the most cele- brated victory ever obtained by the Christians over their Moslem foes, the latter losing, according to the account transmitted to the Pope, 100,000 killed and 50,000 prisoners. This sanguinary conflict, fought on the plains of Tolosa (las navas de Tolosa), 16th July, 1 21 2, broke the Almohade power in Spain, as that of Salamanca (22d July, 1812), almost exactly six cen- turies afterwards, did the more formidable strength of Napoleon. On the fall of the Almohades, Mohammed- ben-Alhamar, the king of Jaen, rose to the first place among the Mohammedan princes, and founded (1238) 22 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. the kingdom of Granada. The king of Granada was speedily forced to become a vassal of Castile, and from this period all danger from Moslem power was over. The rest of the history of the Spanish kingdoms before their union is undeserving of a detailed account. The Castilian court was the scene of almost constant do- mestic strifes and rebellions, varied with a campaign against Granada or in favor of the monarch of that kingdom against his rebellious vassals; the only prom- inent monarchs of this kingdom being Ferdinand 111, who confined the Moorish dominion to the south of Andalucia; Alfonso X, Alfonso XI, Pedro the Cruel, and Queen Isabella, the last sovereign of Castile, who succeeded her brother, Henry IV, owing to a wide- spread belief in the illegitimacy of the latter's daughter. Aragon, on the other hand, was almost wholly free from intestine dissensions, doubtless owing to the in- terest taken by the Aragonese monarchs in Italian poli- tics; of these sovereigns, Jayme I (1213-1248) con- quered Valencia and Majorca, and, first of all the Ara- gonese kings, received a voluntary oath of allegiance from his subjects; Pedro III (1248- 1285), wno ob- tained Sicily (1282), Minorca and Iviza; Jayme II, who conquered Sardinia and Corsica; Alfonso V (1416- 1468), who conquered Naples, and Ferdinand II, the Catholic, the last sovereign of Aragon, who, by mar- riage with Isabella, Queen of Castile, in 1469, the con- quest of Granada in 1492, and that of Navarre in 1512, STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 25 united the whole of Spain (and French Navarre) under one rule. The year 1492, in the reign of Ferdinand and Isa- bella, witnessed also the discovery of America, as well as the capture of Granada. Spain had now become consolidated into one empire, from the Pyrenees to the Strait of Gibraltar, civil wars were at an end; and a splendid continent, teeming" with riches, had been opened up for Spanish adventure and enterprise. But, as the most active spirits among- the Spaniards now crowded to the New World, the soil of Spain, and its mineral treasures, both inexhaustible sources of wealth, were neglected for the riches of the fancied El Dorado, where, as was everywhere believed, gold was more plentiful than iron was in the old country. Besides the drain upon the country from emigration, the ex- pulsion of the Jews and Moors was productive of the direst results; and the decline of the splendid Spanish Empire, upon which the sun even then never set, may be said to have had its origin in the event which raised the country to the height of its magnificence. Charles I (Charles V of Germany) succeeded Ferdinand, and in his reign Mexico and Peru were added to the posses- sions of Spain. Philip II, by his enormous war expen- diture and mal-administration, laid a sure foundation for the decline of the country. Industry, commerce and agriculture may be said to have been extinguished at the expulsion of the Moriscoes; and the reigns of 26 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. Philip III and Philip IV witnessed a fearful accelera- tion in the decline of Spain by the contests with the Dutch, and with the German Protestants in the Thirty Years' War, the intermeddling of Olivarez in the affairs of Northern Italy, the rebellion of the Catalans, whom the minister wished to deprive of their liberties, the wars with France, and the rebellion of Portugal (1640), which had been united to Spain by Philip II. That of Charles II was still more unfortunate, and the death of the latter was the occasion of the War of the Spanish Succession. Philip V was the first of the Bourbon dy- nasty who occupied the throne of Spain. Under Charles III (1759-1788), a wise and enlightened prince, the second great revival of the country commenced; and trade and commerce began to show signs of return- ing activity. During the inglorious reign of Charles IV (1788- 1 808), who left the management of affairs in the hands of the incapable Godoy, a war (1796-1802) broke out with Britain, which was productive of noth- ing but disaster to the Spaniards, and by the pressure of the French another arose in 1804, and was attended with similar ill-success. Charles abdicated in favor of his eldest son, the Prince of Asturias, who ascended the throne as Ferdinand VII. Forced by Napoleon to resign all claims to the Spanish crown, Ferdinand became a prisoner of the French in the year of his ac- cession ; and in the same year Joseph, the brother of the French emperor, was declared king of Spain and the STOin OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 27 Indies, and set out for Madrid, to assume the kingdom thus assigned to him. But before this time, an armed resistance had been organized throughout the whole country. The various provinces elected juntas or councils, consisting of the most influential inhabitants of the respective neighborhoods, and it was the busi- ness of these juntas to administer the government, raise troops, appoint officers, etc. The supreme junta, that of Seville, declared war against Napoleon and France on the 6th of June, 1808. In July, England, on solicitation, made peace with Spain, recognized Ferdi- nand VII as king, and sent an army to aid the Spanish insurrection. Joseph, on July 9, entered Spain, de- feated (through his lieutenant Bessieres) the Spaniards at Rio Seco, and entered Madrid on the 20th; but the defeat of Dupont at Baylen by the veteran Spanish general Castanos, somewhat altered the position of af- fairs, and Joseph, after a residence of ten days in his capital, was compelled to evacuate it and retire north to Vitoria. The noble defense by Palafox of the city of Zaragoza against Lefebvre, and the return of the Marquis de la Romana with 7000 regular troops, who had been wiled from the country by Napoleon, did much to inspirit the patriots. On the I2th July, 1808, Sir Arthur Wellesley, afterwards Duke of Wellington, at the head of the British auxiliary force, landed (51I1 August) at Mondego Bay. and began the Peninsular War bv defeating 1 the French at Roliza and Vimiero; 2S STORY OF SPAIN AND CU&A, but in spite of his opposition, the Convention of Cintra was signed, and the French transported to their own country. In November, 1808, Napoleon, who had been preceded by Ney with 100,000 men, entered Spain and at once assumed the command. For a time his armies were completely successful ; Soult utterly routed the Spanish general Belvedere, 10th November, and annihilated Blake at Reynosa on the 13th. Castanos and Palafox were routed at Tudela by Lannes, and in the beginning of December, Napoleon entered Madrid. At this time the British forces were under the com- mand of Sir John Moore, who, aware of his great infe- riority in numbers and resources, retreated west from Salamanca, whither he had come to assume the com- mand of the allied forces, and reached Coruna on the nth January, 1809. On the 22d April, General Wel- lesley arrived in Portugal, and, at once commencing operations, drove Soult from Oporto, and took posses- sion of Portugal; then, favored by the disunity of ac- tion which subsisted between the three or four French armies who held Spain, he directed his attacks upon the army of the centre, retreating when any of the others came to its aid, and by dint of masterly general- ship and bold enterprise succeeded, after four cam- paigns, in driving the French from the country. To this result, the co-operation of the Portuguese and of the Spanish guerrillas, the revengeful hatred of the peasantry towards their tyrannical oppressors, and the JJW'i EXTERIOR VIEW OF THE AMPHITHEATRE, FOUNTAIN OF OIBELES, MADRID. STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 31 drafts from the Spanish armies so frequently made by Napoleon for his wars in Central Europe, largely con- tributed. Napoleon, loath to lose his hold of the Pen- insula, sent Soult, his most trusted general, to stop the ingress of the British into France; but the battles of the Pyrenees (24th July- 1st August, 1813), and of the Nivelle, Orthez and Toulouse, in the beginning of 1814, brought to a victorious conclusion this long and obstinate contest. In 1812, a constitution, on the whole liberal, had been devised for the country by the Cortes of Cadiz. 1 1 was abrogated, however, by Ferdinand VII, who treated the subjects who had shown such devoted loy- alty to him with infamous ingratitude, and obtained the aid of France to establish despotism. The reign of his daughter, Isabella II, was disturbed by the Carlist rebellion in 1834-1839, in which the British aided the queen with an army under Sir De Lacy Evans. The next event of importance was the contest between Es- partero, the regent, and the Queen-dowager Christina, for the supreme power during the minority of the queen. Espartero was successful from 1840 to 1843, but was compelled to flee before O'Donnell and Nar- vaez, and was not restored till 1847. Frequent changes of ministry, occasional revolts, the banishment of Queen Christina (1854), the formation of the O'Don- nell ministry (1858), the war with the Moors, the an- nexation of St. Domingo in 1861, and the quarrels be- 32 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. tween Spain and her former colonies, Peru (1864- 1865) and Chili (1865), and the ten years' war, together with the present war with Cuba, are the most marked events in the recent history of Spain. The constituent Cortes of 1837 drew up a new constitution, based on that of Cadiz, but differing from it in many particulars. In 1845, another constitution was promulgated by Nar- vaez, Duke of Valencia, less liberal than the constitu- tion of 1837, and much less liberal than that of 1812. By the last constitution, the liberty of the press was curtailed, the Senate became a nominated instead of an elective body, and the Cortes lost its right of assemb- ling by its own authority. STOKY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 33 CHAPTER II. CUBA— HISTORICAL. Cuba is the largest and most westerly of the West India group, lying between the Caribbean sea and the Gulf of Mexico, and between latitude 19° 50' and 23° 10' north, and longitude 74° 7' and 84° 58' west. Its west extremity, Cape San Antonio, is distant about 130 miles from the coast of Yucatan, from which it is separated by the channel of Yucatan ; Point Maysi, its east end, is forty-eight miles from Hayti, with the Windward channel between; the strait of Florida sep- arates it on the north from Florida, which is distant 130 miles from Cape Ycacos, and on the south the island of Jamaica lies about eighty- five miles from English point, near Cape Cruz. The greatest length from east to west is 760 miles; the width varies from twenty to 135 miles; area, including dependencies, 47,278 square miles. In shape, it is long, narrow and slightly curved, the convex side being on the north. The entire coast line is 630 Spanish leagues in extent, equal to about 2200 English miles. The shores are generally low, and lined with reefs and shallows, extending often from two to three miles into the sea, making the approach diffi- 34 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. cult and dangerous. Within these reefs there is occa- sionally a sandy beach, but around the greater part i >f the island there is a belt of low land but little above the level of the sea and subject to floods and inundations. Adjacent to the north coast, which is 306 leagues in length, and more regular in outline than that on the south, are five islands, six islets, thirty-seven keys and 521 smaller keys, the principal of which are Romano (172 square miles), Guajaba (twenty-one), Coco (twenty-eight), Turiguaco (fifty-one), Cruz (fifty-nine), Fragoso, Bocas de Anton, Yerde and the keys on the Colorado banks. On the south side, the coast line of which is 324 leagues long, are, besides the isle of Pines, which is forty-three miles long and thirty-five broad, six islets, twenty-six keys and 677 small keys; of these, Cavo Largo contains thirty-two square miles. Be- tween Cape Cruz and Casilda lie the Cayos de las Doce Leguas, which form an advanced curve to the coast, and, which, were the sea to recede a little, would add very considerably to the width of the island. There is another similar curve between Jagua and Cape Cor- rientes, formed by the Cayos de los Jardines. Most of the keys and reefs are of coral or limestone formation, and the extreme irregularity of the shore line is due to the ease with which rocks of this kind are acted on by water. Notwithstanding these peculiarities of the coast, Cuba has over 20oports, including sheltered land- ings. The principal of these, besides Havana, which STORY OF 8PA1A A.\ U CUBA. 35 has one of the best harbors in the West Indies, are Ba- hia Honda, Puerto de Cabanas, Matanzas, Cardenas, Sagua la Grande, La Guanaja, Xuevitas, Manati, Alala- gueta, Puerto del Padre, Gibara, Banes and Xipe, on the north coast, and Guantanamo, Santiago de Cuba, Manzamllo, Canto, Santa Cruz, Saza, Tunas, Casilda, Cienfuegos, Cochinos and La Broa, on the south. MOUNTAINS. Cuba is intersected by a range of mountains, more or less broken, which extends through the entire island from east to west, and from which the streams flow to the sea on each side. At the eastern extremity the moun- tains spread over a wider territory than elsewhere, and some of them attain the height of 8000 feet. Prom Point May si to Cape Cruz the range called Sierra del Cobre skirts the southern coast for about 200 miles. At the western end the mountains also approach the coast. Some geographers have classified this chain into six groups; lint it is generally divided into three. the eastern, central and western. Among them lie fer- tile valleys, some of which are 200 miles long and ihirty miles wide. The ranges which give shape to these valleys generally give them also their names, as Sierra de los Organos, Sierra de Anafe. Sierra de la Perdiz. In some places, groups of hills form the mar- gin of the island, but for the most part low tracts inter- 36 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. vene between the central elevation and the shores, and in the wet season these are rendered almost impassable by the depth of water and the tenacity of the mud. From Jagua to Point Sabina, on the southern side, the country is a continuous swamp for 160 miles, and there are many similar tracts of less extent on the northern side. RIVERS. The rivers are not large, but they are numerous, amounting to 260, independent of rivulets and torrents. The Canto, the only navigable stream, properly so called, rises in the Sierra del Cobre and empties on the southern coast, a few miles from Manzanillo, opposite the banks of Buena Esperanza. Schooners ascend it about sixty miles. Gunboats have passed up during the present civil war, and several engagements have taken place on its banks. Some other streams are navigable for small vessels from eight to twenty miles. After the Cauto, the most important rivers are the Guines and the Ay or Negro. At one time a canal was projected through the Guines river, which would cut the island in two. The Ay is remarkable for its falls, some of which are nearly 200 feet high, and for its great natural bridge, after passing under which its waters flow smoothly. There are many mineral springs in the island, the principal of which are those known as the naths of San Diego ; they are sulphurous and thermal STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 37 Of similar character are those of Madruga, although one of the springs there is said to contain copper. There are other sulphur springs at Charco Azul, Santa Maria del Rosario, San Miguel and at Santa Fe on the isle of Pines; the sulphuro-gaseous springs exist at Cienfue- gos and at Ciego Montero. Nitre predominates in the springs of Copey, and in those of Cacaqual near Ha- vana. The latter was once a frequented bathing place, but is now abandoned. GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS. The geological formation of Cuba is little known, the island having been thoroughly studied only in its commercial aspect. Even its topography is not yet ac- curately settled. The grand map engraved in Barce- lona, although very valuable, cannot always be de- pended upon, for it is not the result of triangulation, but a compilation of many maps drawn by native sur- veyors, added to and completed by the labors of the navy. The works of Humboldt still furnish the most exact data concerning the geology of Cuba. He thinks that the Caribbean was once a mediterranean sea, of which the mountain ranges of micaceous schist in Cuba, Hayti and Jamaica formed the northern limit. The highest peaks of all these islands occur where the islands approach each other nearest, which induces the belief that the nucleus of these mountain ranges was as STONY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. between Cape Tibouron, Havti, Cape Morant, Jamaica, and the mountains of Cobre, which overtop the Blue mountains of Jamaica. The Caribbean range, after its subsidence into the sea, contributed to the formation of the islands. In Humboldt's opinion, four-fifths of Cuba consists of low lands. The ground is covered with secondary and tertiary formations, and is trav- ersed by rocks of granite, syenite, gneiss and eupho- tide. The gradual decline of the lime formations to- wards the north and west indicates marine connection of the same rocks with the low lands of the Bahamas. Florida and Yucatan. The western part is granitic, and as primitive schist and gneiss have been found, it is presumed that out of these formations came the gold which was so earnestly sought for in the early days of the conquest. The central part contains calcareous formations of clay, limestone and gres. In the com- pact and cavernous layers are contained ferruginous veins and the red earth so common in Cuba. These re- sult from the decomposition of superficial layers of oxi- dized iron with silica and slate, or with the limestone above them. Humboldt classified this formation as the Guines limestone, and regarded it as the most an- cient formation, that in Trinidad and elsewhere being more recent. He considered the gypsum of Cuba as of secondary and not tertiary formation. He also drew a line between the Guines limestone and the con- glomerate of the keys and small islands off the south- STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 41 ern coast. Notwithstanding the so-called plutonic formations, there are no lavas of recent date. METALS AND MINERALS. Almost all metals and minerals applicable to industry are found in Cuba: gold, silver, iron, copper, quick- silver, lead, asphaltum in all its various forms, anti- mony, arsenic, magnesia, copperas, loadstone, gypsum, red lead, ochre, alum, salt, talc, etc. Gold is found in the Saramaguacan and other rivers. Silver occurs at San Fernando, Pinar del Rio, Canarse and Yumuri. There is copper in almost all the metamorphic rocks all over the island. It is found usually in the form of copper pyrites, sulphurets and carbonates. Coal fit for combustion has not been discovered. Springs and mines of bitumen exist in various parts, sometimes in a calcareous and sometimes in a serpentine formation. The interstices of the serpentines, diorites and eupho- tides are generally filled with chapapote, a highly in- flamable bitumen, which is used as a substitute for coal. There are large deposits of rock salt on both the north- ern and southern coasts. Marble and jasper of very fine quality are found in many places. In the isle of Pines are beautiful colored marbles, and a quarry of white marble but little inferior to statuary marble. There are immense deposits of pure white sand, suit- able for earthenware. 42 STORY OF SPA IX AND CUBA. CLIMATE. The climate is warm and dry during the greater part of the year, but it is more temperate than in other islands of the same latitude, and more equable than in many more northern countries. The thermometer never rises so high as it sometimes does in New York in the hot months, and sunstrokes are unknown. From May to October, the heat seldom reaches ioo° F. in any part of the island. The highest recorded temperature, in observations extending over many years since 1801, was 104°. In December and January the air is cooled by the northern winds, and the thermometer has occa- sionally fallen to the freezing point. The average tem- perature of Havana is JJ° ; maximum, 89, minimum, 50°. The average temperature of the hottest month is 82°, and of the coldest 72°. In Santiago de Cuba the average of the year is 8o° ; of the hottest month, 84° ; of the coldest 73°. The topographical position of Cuba reduces the four seasons of the year to two, the rainy and the dry. In the former, the rain pours down in tor- rents almost every day. The rainfall in the island in one year has reached 133 inches. The rainy season begins in May or June and ends in November, when the season known as the "cold" or the "dry" commences. The most rain falls in September and October. In the dry season the dews are very abundant both at night and in the early morning. The average number STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA 43 of rainy days in a year is 102. The greatest rainfall noted in Havana in a year is fifty inches six lines; the smallest, thirty-two inches seven lines. In the East- ern department it hails frequently between February and July. There is no record of snow having fallen in Cuba, excepting on December 24-25, 1856, when the coldest term ever known on the island was experienced, and snow fell near Villa Clara, in the central part of the island. Violent thunder storms occur from June to September. Earthquakes are seldom felt in the West- ern districts, but are frequent in the Eastern, especially in the vicinity of Santiago de Cuba. The salubrity of the climate is variously estimated. Some writers con- sider it favorable to prolonged life, but the most re- markable instances of longevity have been found among the negro and aboriginal races. Others think it unfavorable to health. The yellow fever is justly feared by Europeans and those coming from more tem- perate climates. The Cuban physicians believe that this disease was not known in the island till 1762. It is not yet known in the interior, and its appearance at many places is recent. It was introduced into Puerto Principe only a few years ago by Spanish troops. VEGETATION. The vegetation of Cuba is very luxuriant. The for- ests contain some woods almost as hard as iron. One 44 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. of them is called the quiebra hacha, the axe-breaker; others, such as the jucaro, are imperishable even under water. For fine furniture they are unrivaled. The marquetry work of the apartment in the Escorial used by Philip II was made of these woods. Few of these varieties are found excepting in the West India islands, but their value was long ago appreciated by the Span- ish government, and led to the establishment of ship- building" in the island as early as the beginning of the eighteenth century. From 1724 to 1796, Havana was the great nursery of the Spanish navy, but the work was finally abandoned, because it took employment from the mother country. Lignum vitae and various kinds of dye woods, ebony, rosewood, mahogany, ce- dar, fustic, lancewood and many woods suitable for building purposes, such as acana, jocuma, etc., abound. The cedar furnishes the material of the cigar boxes. The cocoanut palm, the palma real, and the African palm (the Portuguese Parra counted forty-one varie- ties of the palm tree), the sour orange and the lemon are indigenous. Humboldt says: "We might believe that the entire island was originally a forest of palms and wild lime and orange trees. These last, which have a small fruit, are probably anterior to the arrival of the Europeans, who carried there the agrumi of the gardens, which rarely exceed ten or fifteen feet in height." The fruits are those common to the tropics. The pineapple is indigenous. Of the alimentary STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 45 plants, the banana is one of the most important. When the island was discovered, there were six varieties of the sweet potato cultivated by the natives, as well as the yuca or cassava, and Indian corn. FORESTS. Though the forests are extensive and almost impen- etrable, they are inhabited by no wild animals larger than the wild dogs, which are occasionally met with. They resemble wolves both in appearance and habits, and are very destructive to young cattle and poultry. They sprung from the domestic European dog, the change in their size, appearance and habits having been effected by their wild life through many genera- tions. The jutia is an animal of the size of the musk- rat, and resembles in its habits the porcupine and the raccoon of the United States, living in trees and feeding on leaves and fruits. More than 200 species of indige- nous birds, exclusive of the domesticated kinds, are known, many of them remarkable for the beauty of their plumage. Of migratory birds, the ducks of Flor- ida, or del norte, are the most numerous. The indige- nous huyuyo is a miniature of the English duck, and is of splendid plumage. Birds of prey are few. The list of fishes, according to Poey, contains 641 species. Oys- ters and other small shellfish are numerous, but of in- ferior quality compared with those of more northern 4G STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. latitudes. The reefs and shallows abound in turtle, which the Indians bred in large enclosures on the coast to supply their lack of meat ; they dried their fish, and thus preserved it for a long time. The alligator, cay- man and ignana are common. There are few snakes: the maja, the largest, sometimes twelve or fourteen feet long, is harmless; the juba, about six feet long, is venomous. The insects are numerous, but none are properly venomous. The bite of the tarantula pro- duces fever, but the scorpion is less poisonous than that of Europe. Among the noxious insects are the mos- quito, of which there are twelve varieties; the sand-fly; the nigua or jigger; the anobium bibliotecarium, which destroys not only books, but every article of vegetable origin, boring through the obstacle which covers it, and the bibijagua, an ant which destroys all living veg- etable matter. The latter afforded to the Indians a de- licious morsel in its honeycomb of eggs. The varie- ties of the butterfly are estimated at 300, and there are as many kinds of flies. The firefly is celebrated for its jewel-like beauty, and is often worn by ladies to orna- ment their dresses. The Florida bee, which is exotic, is similar to the European variety. The indigenous bee is much smaller than the Florida bee, and its honey is whiter, but its wax is almost black. THE INHABITANTS. The inhabitants of Cuba are mostly of Spanish and M STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 41) of African descent. For a time after the conquest in 151 1, none but Castilians were allowed to settle there, but after the prohibition was removed, colonists from all the provinces, and even from the Canary islands, came thither. All these classes of Spaniards are now represented in the island. The Biscayans hire out as mechanics; the Catalans, who are numerous, devote themselves to hard labor; the Asturians, Castilians and Andalusians occupy clerkships and pursue the learned professions. In the Eastern department traces still exist of the French emigration from Santo Domingo, and in Cardenas the influence of North Americans is visible even in the shape of the buildings. The Ger- mans in Havana devote themselves to commerce, and they speak Spanish better than most foreigners. The offspring of foreigners, whether black or white, are called Creoles; the children of Creoles are called riollos. Of the aborigines, some families still exist in the East- ern department, as at Caney, near Santiago. They intermarry like the Jews, and their appearance is, as Columbus described it, "not as dark as Canary Island- ers." The whites consist principally of Spaniards and Creoles, whom political hatred keeps ever apart; the hatred is not so much personal as collective, on ac- count of their class relations. The Creoles are dis- tinguished by their intelligence, conscientiousness and hospitality. They own sugar estates, houses and other real estate, while the Spaniards, who are only oc- 50 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. casionally planters, monopolize most of the trade. The retail trade is almost entirely carried on by Catalans, so much so that in the interior all Spaniards are known as Catalans. All the offices are in the hands of Spaniards, being the rewards generally of political services. Of the negroes, those who speak Spanish are called ladi- nos; those who do not, bozales. Africans are called negros de nacion, and their progeny become criollos. The cross of a white man with a black woman, and vice versa, produces a mulatto; the offspring of a mulatto and a black, a chino; all others are known as quad- roons. All the numerical reports of the population have been incomplete, the slaves in particular having been generally underestimated. Between 1817 and 1842, according to English statis- tical writers, who were furnished the data from their consulates, 335,000 slaves were imported; a greater number in twenty-five years than in the thirty-one years when the trade was legalized. Between 1842 and 1852, no fewer than 45,000 negroes were imported. The "mixed commission," presided over by an English judge, had little effect in suppressing the traffic. A slaver was occasionally captured, and, if a lawful prize, she was retained as such by her captors; but her slaves were apprenticed, under the name of emancipados, in the planters for terms of eight, ten and fifteen years, according to their ages. At a later period they were openly traded by the government. The emancipados STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 51 were no better off than the slaves. When they went into the interior they were reported as dead, and the names of old and infirm slaves whom they substituted were given to them. The law concerning slavery, passed June 23, 1870, declares free all born after its passage and all who had attained at that time the age of sixty ; but so determined has been the opposition of the slave traders that the government has not been able to enforce it. Chinese were first brought under contract from Amoy in 1847 by the royal society of public works, and were given out for the proportionate cost of their transportation. Afterward the business was converted into a new slave trade by companies and private persons, who raised the prices of importa- tions. Over 50,000 had been brought in up to 1873, and the records of the courts afford abundant proof of the oppression and violence of which they are the vic- tims. When the importation had reached 33,000, it was calculated that the annual mortality was 17 per cent. Indians from Yucatan were also imported at one time under contract, but the government of Mex- ico prohibited it by enactment, partly in consequence of a regulation passed in Havana authorizing flogging as a punishment. Negro slavery in the island still lingered after the importation of negroes had ceased. Finally, in 1870, a law was enacted by the Spanish Cortes providing that all unborn children of slaves should be free, and 52 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. all ovei sixty years should be manumitted. In 1886, however, the emancipation was made universal. POPULATION. The population of the island at the present time is not exactly known, but is usually placed at 1,600,000. Of this number, about 1,000,000 are whites, between 400,000 and 500,00c are blacks, and the rest coolies and mixed races. The census which is considered the most reliable is that published over eight years ago, December 31, 1887, which is as follows: Province of Santiago de Cuba, 157,980 whites, 114,- 339 colored; total, 272,319. Province of Puerto Principe, 53,232 whites, 13,557 colored; total, 66,789. Province of Santa Clara, 244,345 whites, 109,777 colored; total, 354,122. Province of Matanzas, 143,169 whites, 116,401 col- ored; total, 259,570. Province of Havana, 344,417 whites, 107,511 col- ored; total, 451,928. Province of Pinar del Rio, 167,160 whites, 58,731 colored; total, 225,891 This makes a grand total of 1,110,303 whites, 520,- 316 colored, and a total of both combined of 1,630.619, STORY OF SPAIN AXD CUBA. 53 showing, therefore, a percentage of about 79 of whites to 21 of colored. COMMERCE. Under the provisions of the McKinley Tariff Law for Reciprocity treaties, Mr. Blaine, then Secretary of State, negotiated a treaty with Spain, under which our trade with the island greatly increased. During 1S93, under the operations of this law, we sold Cuba mer- chandise to the value of $24,157,698. Prior to the treaty, our exports were only about half this sum, and, upon its abrogation by the Wilson law, it fell back to its old condition. The total exports of Cuba amount to about $90,000,000 a year, of which we take about $75,- 000,000 worth. In 1893, we bought of tobacco $9,- 000,000; cigars and cigarettes, $2,750,000; bananas, $1,650,000; cocoanuts, $150,000; other fruits, $550,- 000; molasses, $1,000,000; sugar, $60,607,000; cedar, mahogany and other woods, $1,000,000; iron ore, $642,000. Our exports to Cuba consist mostly of wheat, flour, meat products and lard; wire fence, lum- ber, petroleum, machinery and manufactures of iron. The average annual sugar product of the island is 900,000 tons, of which the United States takes 700,000 tons. The average annual export of tobacco is 200,- 000 bales, and of cigars 200,000,000. The island has about 1000 miles of railroad, connectincf Havana with 54 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. the other principal cities and the most extensive plan- tations. PRINCIPAL CITIES OF CUBA. HAVANA It was a bright forenoon when I first saw Havana from the deck of the steamer as we entered the harbor. It was a picture never to be forgotten; on the left, the gray and solemn Morro and the fortress Cabanas, with its parapet stretching for 800 feet along the bay; on the right was the cross-shaped fort of La Punta. Be- fore us spread out the bay like a gigantic green and shimmering clover leaf, and on the right, as the stem of the trefoil curved out into its western leaf, lay the grandest seaport mart of the Western world, save one. It would be indeed an unimaginative memory' that could forget at such a moment that here in this road- stead Hawkins and Drake had dropped anchor; from here De Soto had sailed away with his brave company to a grave in the Mississippi, and up the same channel the good ship San Lorenzo had brought the ashes of Columbus, in 1794, to their resting place in the Ca- thedral of the Society of Jesus. The entrance to the bay is over 900 feet wide and 4200 feet long. The arm which spreads out south of the city is called El Fondo, or the Ray of Atares. On its shore stands a fort of the latter name built in 1763, -**c 1 - . STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA 57 guarding the southern approaches to the city The eastern arm is called Regla, and the central arm Guas- sabacoa. The bay altogether can accommodate iooo ships. A fort on an eminence to the west of the city, at the terminus of the Great Boulevard, the Paseo Mili- tar, called Castillo Principe, completes the defenses The old walls, begun about 1665, and completed in the eighteenth century, were demolished in 1863, and only enough of the structure now remains to exhibit to travelers. Still, the city is divided into the part within and the part without the walls. The old, or intramu- ral city, is densely built, with streets so narrow as scarcely to allow the 6000 carriages of which the Ha- vanese boast to pass each other. The sidewalks have the same objection for pedestrians. The city is built of stone, and the houses are covered with stucco, and painted yellow, red, green and blue, with a profusion of white marble trimmings. The early settlers coming from Southern Spain, the style is naturally Moresque. The new quarter of the city is built on as liberal a scale as Paris, with broad boulevards, plazas and prom- enades Indeed, the Havanese will not listen to the comparison of his city with any other, except the French capital. There are churches numerous and magnificent, hotels that are palatial, and theatres that are second to none on the Continent. There are also hospitals, colleges, art schools and other modern insti- tutions, but above all are the barracks and garrisons, 58 STORY OF SPA IX AXD CUBA impressing the visitor all the time with a sense of ap- prehension of something about to happen. The pal- ace of the Governor-General is a massive yellow build- ing, square, flat roofed, with its courtyard and palms, like all the rest of the structures. In spite of three-quarters of a century of almost con- stant internal turmoil, the commerce of Havana has grown to vast proportions; an average of about 2000 vessels trading there each year in ordinary times. It is the greatest sugar and tobacco market in the world. The factories of the city make for export some 200,- 000,000 cigars annually under normal conditions. Cigar and cigarette making is the chief industry now, although in former times there was a great navy-yard on the bay, where, between 1726 and 1796, 114 ships- of-the-line were built to convoy the fleet carrying treas- ure home from Mexico. The establishment was closed at the last-named date, because the Spanish shipbuild- ers demanded that the work be done in Spain. The population has more than trebled during the present century, and now numbers about 300,000. SANTIAGO DE CUBA. Santiago de Cuba, the original capital of the island, is the principal city of the southeastern part today, having a population of about 30,000. It is located on a fine bay opening to the south, and the city rises from STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 59 the water up the face of a hill about 150 feet in height. The harbor has been allowed to fill up with silt, until vessels of a draft of over fourteen feet cannot approach the wharf. The city boasts the largest cathedral in Cuba, and is an important shipping place for mahog- any, ores, tobacco and cigars, while sugar comprises about two-thirds of its commerce. Its exports in 1883 amounted to nearly $4,000,000. It has few in- dustries besides cigar-making, doing a little in tan- ning and soap boiling. MATANZAS. Next after Havana in importance is the beautiful city of Matanzas, sixty miles to the east. It is located on the north coast, where it has a spacious harbor, of re- cent years, unfortunately, allowed to fill up consider- ably. Like all else in Cuba, it is smitten with the mil- dew of Spain's decline. The city lies between two rivers, something like Charleston, S. C. On one side is the Rio de San Juan, and on the other the Yumuri. It is well built, and resembles Havana very much in its architecture. It has a splendid plaza, upon one side of which stands the official residence of the governor of the province. It has one of the finest theatres in Cuba, and probably the best educational institution in the West Indies. In 1603, 200 years after Columbus sailed by its site, the city was founded by a party of immigrants from the Canary Tsles. It has a population <;o STORY OF SPAIN AM) CUBA. of some 30,000 Close by the city is one of the most striking natural curiosities of the island, the Valley of the Yumuri, and within two miles of the city are situ- ated also the famous Caves of Bellamar, about three miles in extent, which, though not so grand as some of the mighty caverns in other parts of the world, are ac- knowledged to contain the most beautiful chambers of natural crystal known anywhere. PUERTO PRINCIPE. Puerto Principe was originally founded on the north coast, early in the sixteenth century, by Velasquez, but it has been moved several times, until it is now in the interior. Its port is the Bay of Nuevitas, a broad harbor, approached by a narrow entrance, six miles long. The city is the seat of the province of the same name, and has about 45,000 inhabitants. In 1800 it was for a time the centre of administration for the entire Spanish West Indies, owing to the loss of San Domingo; but it has waned in importance. It is con- nected with the capital by a railway. CARDENAS. Cardenas, on the northern coast, is 105 miles east of Havana, and is one of the new cities of the island, hav- ing been founded onlv in 1828. It is a sugar mart, ex- STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 61 porting about 90,000 tons in good times. It has a population of about 12,000. INDUSTRY. Productive industry in Cuba is devoted mainly to sugar and tobacco-raising. General agriculture was early hampered by many obstacles, the greatest of which was the scarcity of labor. The system of free breeding of cattle interfered much with cultivation of the soil. This system, which was instituted by Charles V, gave the common use of the lands for pasturage after the crops had been gathered. In 1555 this law was modified, and many favors and privileges were granted to agriculturists. Loans of money ($4000 to persons of known probity) were made by the govern- ment to those who devoted themselves to the raising of sugar-cane, and the sale of sugar estates for debt was prohibited. The most noteworthy concession was the one authorizing the importation of 1000 negro slaves. Special privileges were afterward granted to the culti- vators of coffee, indigo and other productions. The creation of the consulado (board of trade, public works and agriculture) of Havana, and of the "economical society of the friends of the country," contributed to the progress of agriculture. The reports of the royal society and the Papel periodico (1700). which took the place of the Gaceta (1763), directed the industry of the 62 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. island into new channels; and the emigration from Santo Domingo and the Continent added to its pros- perity. But general agriculture has given place mostly to sugar-making. The differential duties im- posed by foreign nations as an offset to the duties col- lected in Cuba reduced the production of coffee to little more than enough for local consumption. The only agricultural product which has not been superseded by sugar as a chief article raised for export is tobaco >. Cotton is cultivated, but not to any extent compared with the great staples. The mulberry tree grows to perfection, and is raised for silkworms. These worms were introduced into Cuba by Don P. Alejandro Au- ber, who affirms that they are more prolific and more productive than anywhere else in the world. The cac- tus, or cochineal fig tree, has been the subject of suc- cessful experiments by the economical society. Cacao is cultivated in Remedios on a small scale; and Indian corn, bananas and other produce called in Cuba grains and viandas, are raised in quantities sufficient for home consumption. The only fruits raised for export are oranges and pineapples. The tobacco known all over the world as Havana tobacco is grown on the southern coast at the extreme western end of the island, on a strip of country called the Vuelta Abajo, extending from Rio Hondo to Cuyaguateje and the river Mantua. The tract is of an irregular shape, about eighty miles long by twenty wide. Next in value to the tobacco of II STORY OF SPAIN AXD CUBA. 65 the Vuelta Abajo is that of Mayari, which grows over an extent of fifty-four miles from Mayari to Holguin. The tobacco of outlying districts is of good quality all over the island, and equal to any produced in Hayti or on the banks of the Magdalena in Columbia. A cabal- leria (thirty-three acres) of land produces on an aver- age the following crops: Sugar, 75,000 pounds; coffee, 12,500 pounds; tobacco, 9000 pounds; cacao, 25,000 pounds; cotton, 6000 pounds; indigo, 1500 pounds; corn, 20,000 pounds; rice, 50,000 pounds; sago, 33, ■ 000 pounds; bananas, 2000 bunches; yuca, 50,000 pounds. Cattle-raising is largely carried on, and although it does not fully supply the demand, it represents a large amount of capital. The alternate system of pasturage has been recently adopted, but the plan of natural pas- turage finds most favor. Of late years, very good stock, including Durham and Devonshire bulls, has been imported into Camaguey, but the insurrection has swept them away. The establishment of artificial pas- tures (potreros), and the importation of good stock, have tended to improve the breed of cattle. The grass chiefly sown in the artificial pastures is the Tara grass, which has lately been introduced. The 3285 breeding estates produce annually $5, 286,180. Cuba contains 1,059,432 caballerias, equal to about 35,000,000 acres of land, distributed as follows: In agricul- ture proper, 80,682; in barren lands, 225,195 ; in forests, 66 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 466,331; in natural pastures, 262,620; in artificial pas- tures, 24,604 — total, 1,059,432. The mineral productions of Cuba have been hitherto but little developed. EDUCATION. The system of education in Cuba originally con- formed to that of Spain, but it has been modified from time to time according to the personal characters 1 >i the rulers of the island. Under the House of Austria, laws were passed authorizing the creation of universi- ties in the Indies. The University of Havana was es- tablished in 1722 by a pontifical bull of Innocent XIII, which was approved by the Spanish govern- ment, January 5, 1729. There had been classes many years before in the convent of the Franciscans in Ha- vana, where Latin, philosophy and theology were taught, but no degrees were conferred. Government had no direct supervision of education till 1842. In that year the Dominican friars ceased to govern the "Royal and Pontifical University." which was declared a national establishment, under the name of "Literary University." The governor-general nominated the professors, who were subsequently approved by the supreme government. The study of the natural sciences was introduced at that date. General Concha, in connection with the professors, drew up a complete plan of public education; but subsequently, in 1863, STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 67 when he was minister, the classes in philosophy were ordered to be suppressed, and the system was assimi- lated to that of Spain. Since then philosophical and transcendental studies have been confined within very narrow limits; but the faculties in the ecclesiastical seminaries and in the colleges of the religious orders have been increased. The expenses of education in the higher branches are defrayed from the public reve- nues, according to official statements. The town coun- cils pay the expenses of primary education. The amount disbursed for educational purposes in 1866 was as follows: Primary schools, $1,131,354; grammar schools, $459,056; collegiate seminaries, $42,000; pro- fessional education, $73,619; university education, $71,600 — total, $1,777,729. There are 209 public schools on the island, of which ninety-three are for girls, and 245 private schools. Two-thirds of the whole receive education free. The proportion of those who can read and write, exclusive of Chinese, is: White males, 45 per cent.; white females, 35 per cent; colored males, 5 per cent.; colored females, 6 per cent. The number of newspapers, political and literary, pub- lished in 1868 was thirty-nine, distributed as follows: In Havana, twenty-one; in Santiago de Cuba, five; in Matanzas, three ; in Cienfuegos, Villa Clara and Santo Espiritu, two each; in Cardenas, Remedios, Trinidad and Puerto Principe, one each In 1869, during the few days of the liberty of the press granted by General 08 /STOAT OF SPAIN AND CUBA. Dulce, forty new journals were started in Havana alone; but of many of these one number only was is- sued. Of the Verdad ("Truth"), which, from its form and matter might aspire to the rank of a political news- paper, three numbers appeared and 14000 copies were sold each day, an unprecedented occurrence in Ha- vana. LITERATURE. The history of literature in Cuba begins with the re- vival of belles-lettres in the time of Charles III. The prominent names in general literature in the eighteenth century are Francisco de Arango and Tomas Romay ; a part of the works of the latter belong to the next cen- tury. In the nineteenth century figure Frederico de Armas, Anastasio Carrillo, Jose de Frias, Manuel Cos- tales, Ramon Zambrana and Gaspar Betancourt, bet- ter known as El Lugareno. The Cuban poets of the eighteenth century are Rubalcaba, of Santiago de Cuba, and Manuel Zequicha, of Havana; of this cen- tury, Jose M. Heredia, Placido, Milanes and many others. Of sacred writers and moralists, T. Barea, Rafael de Castillo y Sucre, Francisco del Cristo, Felix Veranes, Jose Agustin Caballero and Father Gonzales belong to the last century; in the present century, Fe- lix Varela, Father Oliva and Friar Remigio Cernadns are the most distinguished. In philosophy, the same Father Caballero was prominent in the eighteenth cen- STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA, 69 tury; in the present, the principal writers are Felix Varela, professor of modern philosophy in Cuba and in many oilier parts of Spanish America, and formerly vicar apostolic of New York; Jose de la Lnz Caballero, and Jose Gonzales del Valle. As jurisconsults, the lights of the eighteenth century are Francisco Conde, Pedro Ayala and Rafael Gonzales; of the nineteenth, Francisco de Armas, Jose A. Govantes, Anacleto Ber- mudez, Jose Antonio Cintra, Isidro Carbonell and many others. The historians of the eighteenth cen- tury are Arrati and Urrutia; of the nineteenth. A. \ al- dez, Jose Arango y Castillo and the writers of the his- torical bureau of the economical society. 1 )ramatic literature was little cultivated in the last century. The onlv work which was often represented on the stage was the Principe jardinero, by Father Jose Rodriguez (a) Capacho, who was also a poet and a satirical writer. In this century, the poet Milanes produced the Conde de Alarcon. Some Furopean writers resident in Cuba have enriched her litreature, such as Pablo Boloix, Pedro A. Auber, Father Velez and others. In the fine arts, Yermay and Perouani have been distinguished. GOVERNMENT. Cuba, with the islands dependent upon it, forms the captain-generalcy of La Habana. which is subject in all branches of the administration to one authority, the 70 8T0RT OF SPAIN AND CUBA. representative of the Spanish sovereignty, who has the unlimited powers of a general in time of war, and is ac- countable only to the home government, by which he is appointed. He is assisted by an administrative council, also chosen by the supreme government, whose opinion is taken in certain cases, chiefly in mat- ters of finance. The division of the island is sixfold: civil, military, naval, fiscal, judicial, and ecclesiastical. In its civil or political aspect the whole island is under the command of a governor-in-chief, who is always the captain-general, and is divided into five governor- ships, as follows: La Habana, Matanzas, the Central or Puerto Principe, the Eastern or Santiago de Cuba, and the Western. Each of these departments is in charge of a lieutenant-governor, and they are subdi- vided into thirty-three political districts. The captain- general has also military command of the entire island. The military divisions are three: the Western, Central. and Eastern, the respective capitals of which are Ha- vana, Puerto Principe and Santiago de Cuba. ( )f the first, the captain-general has the sole charge: the sec- ond is commanded by the governor of Puerto Principe; the third by the governor of Santiago de Cuba. These departments are subdivided into eight comandancias generales, viz: Pinar del Rio, Havana, Matanzas. San- ta Clara, Moron. El Principe, Holguin and Cuba. The naval government is in charge of a commandant-gen- eral, whose headquarters are in Havana. It is di- STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 73 vided into five provinces: Havana, San Juan de los Re- medios, Nuevitas, Santiago de Cuba and Cienfuegos. These are subdivided into subdelegaciones. Each province is under the command of an adjutant (ayu- dante), and each subdelegation of an alcalde de mar. The fiscal administration consists of a central bureau of taxes and seven local districts, which are Pinar del Rio, Havana, Matanzas, Santa Clara, Trinidad, Puerto Principe and Santiago de Cuba. The captain-general is the general superintendent of finance. Judicially. the island is divided into two audiencias: the pretorial court of Havana, which comprises the western part, including Remedios and Santo Espiritu; and that of Santiago de Cuba, the eastern portion. These are subdivided into twenty-five judicial districts, each of which is in charge of a local judge or justice of the peace. The ecclesiastical divisions are two, the East- ern diocese, which is ruled by the Archbishop of San- tiago de Cuba, and the Western, by the Bishop of Ha- vana. They are reciprocally courts of appeal, each from the other's decrees. The revenues are derived from two sources, maritime and inland. The former comprise customs and lighthouse dues, ship visits, etc. ; the latter, direct and indirect taxes upon almost every- thing assessable, and lotteries. Tt was stated in the Spanish Cortes, October 27. 1871, that the cost of the war during the preceding year had been $62,000,000, and that the colonial deficit 74 STORY OF SPAIN AXD CI BA. for the same period was $11,000,000. Even in time of peace the greater part of the revenue is absorbed by the expenses of the army and navy. In ordinary times there are stationed in Cuba, besides the disciplined militia and the militia of Ferdinand \ LI, 20,000 regular troops, who are either drafted or enlisted by bounty in Spain. This force has been much increased since the breaking out of the war. According to official data published in Madrid in 1870, the regular troops in Cuba amounted to 23,000, the expeditionary corps to 33,000, and the militia in active service to 4000, mak- ing a total in the field of 60,000. Besides these, there were 70,000 volunteers in garrison, who seldom went into the field. The Spanish navy in the Antilles is never less than from twenty-five to thirty vessels, carrying over 200 guns and 3000 men. Since the outbreak of the war, thirty light-draft gunboats, built in the United States, have been added to this fleet, to be used in guarding the coasts against filibustering expeditions, and other vessels for a similar purpose have been pur- chased as late as 1873. The active military force has been considerably decreased by sickness and by the casualties of war, but partial reinforcements from Spain are continually arriving. ROADS. Internal communication was formerly very difficult on account of the want of good roads, but has much STORY OF SPA IX AND CUBA. 75 improved since the introduction of railways, which were used in Cuba before they were in any other Span- ish-speaking country, the first, that from Havana to Guines, having been opened in 1837. DISCOVERY. Cuba was discovered by Columbus, October 28, 1492. It is generally thought that he entered the island near Nuevitas, on the northern coast, by the river Maximo. He believed that it was a part of the continent, but later, in a letter to Sanchez, he accepted the opinion of the Indians and called it an island. ( )n his return to Cuba, however, he reaffirmed his previous belief, and had a report drawn up and published, in order that his opinion might be set down in due form. He gave to his new discovery the name of Juana, in honor of Prince Juan, the heir of his royal patrons. It was subsequently called Fernandina, after the death of Ferdinand, and still later Santiago and Ave Maria; but none of these names supplanted that of Cuba, by which it was known to the natives. The island was thickly populated by a docile race of Indians, who ex- tended to all the large West India islands and the Ba- hamas. They called themselves by the general name of Tamos, the Good, but the Cubans were known spe- cifically as Ciboneyes. In 151 1, Diego Velasquez, who had been appointed adelantado of Cuba by Diego 71! STORY OF SPAIN I \ /> CUBA. Columbus, overran the island with 300 men. The na- tives, unable to cope with the invaders, were easily sub- dued, and Hatuey, their chief, who fell into the hands of the Spaniards, was burned at the stake near the pres- ent town of Vara. Baracoa, at the eastern end of the island, was founded at this time, and in 1514 Santiago, which was made the capital, and Trinidad ori the south- ern coast. In the same year, a place on the southern coast, at the mouth of the river Ojicajinal, was settled and called San Cristobal de la Habana; but the name was trans- ferred to a new site on the northern coast, near where the river Marianao falls into the sea, and still later, in 1 5 19, to the present locality. Velasquez also founded Bayamo, Puerto Principe and Santo Espiritu. The natives were soon brought into complete subjection, and were allotted to the set- tlers as encomiendas, in gangs of about 300 to each Spaniard, who employed them in the cultivation of the soil, principally in the growing of sugar-cane. They disappeared so rapidly under the cruel treatment which they received that in 1553 there were but few left. As early as 1534 the officials applied to the emperor for "7000 negroes, that they might become inured to labor before the Indians ceased to exist." With the virtual extinction of the natives, the agriculture of the island declined, and it became mainly a pastoral country. Tn 1537, Diego Columbus relinquished by agreement his STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 77 right to appoint the government for Cuba, and the king- made Hernando de Soto captain-general. The audi- encia (supreme court), which had been organized in Santo Domingo for the administration of justice, was soon transferred to Cuba (Puerto Principe), and a law- was passed appointing the captain-general the presi- dent of the court. The island was governed as one department up to 1607, when it was divided into two. All powers, civil and military, were vested in the cap- tain-general, who resided at Santiago, which was the capital till [552, when Angulo removed it to Havana. All the governors had the title of captain-general, al- though many of them were civilians, and their substi- tutes were called lieutenants-general. In the early days the discovery of Mexico and other countries drained the island of its working population, and the government passed a law imposing the penalty oi death on all who left. Other laws prohibited all for- eigners, and even Spanish subjects not natives of Cas- tile, from trading with the island or settling in it. The increase of population was therefore slow; the intro- duction of negroes was gradual, and growth was alm< >st stopped. After the capture of Jamaica by the English in 1655, smuggling was largely carried on. On the arrival of Governor-general Yaldez in the latter part of the seventeenth century it was discovered that nearly all the Havanese were guilty of the crime of rescate, or illicit trading, the penalty of which was death. At the 78 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. suggestion of Valdez, a ship was freighted with pres- ents for the king and sent to Spain, with a petition for pardon, which was granted. Havana was destroyed by the French twice in the sixteenth century. In 1592 it received the title of city. During this century, mon- astic institutions were introduced into Cuba, and in 1576 the inquisition sent a delegate thither. In 163 1 there were six militia companies, armed with arque- buses and crossbows. Epidemics carried off main of the inhabitants in 1648 and 1654. The disease was called putrid fever, but many suspect it to have been yellow fever. The people of Cuba took sides in the dissentions that ensued on the death of Charles 111, but through the efforts of Bishop Evelino de Compos- tela bloodshed was prevented and a peaceful triumph obtained for the partisans of Philip V. In 171 7, a re- volt broke out in consequence of the attempt to estab- lish a tobacco monopoly. Governor Raja was obliged to flee, but the trouble was quelled and the factory set up; it continued until the beginning of the present cen- tury, when it was suppressed by Arango. In 1723. a second uprising took place, induced by oppressive government, and twelve of those implicated were hanged by the captain-general Guazo. Printing was introduced about this time. Between 1724 and 1747, many ships were built at Havana, comprising six ships of the line, twenty-one of seventy to eighty guns each, twenty-six of fifty to sixty guns, fourteen frigates of STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 81 thirty to forty guns, and fifty-eight smaller vessels; in all, 125 vessels, carrying 4000 guns. Since the latter date there has been little shipbuilding there. During the present century the machinery of one steamer, the Sagua, was built at Sagua la Grande, and one war steamer and one merchant steamer were built in Ha- vana. In 1762 Havana was taken by an English fleet and army under Lord Albemarle. The English re- tained the island only until July of the following year, but during that time over 900 loaded vessels entered the port of Havana, more than all the previous entries since the discovery. Prior to this period, 60,000 slaves had been imported. From 1763 to 1789, the importation was about 1000 a year. In the latter year the Spanish slave code was promulgated, and the slave trade, previously a monopoly, was made free, after which importations increased largely. In 1763, the Gaceta cle la Habana was started, and a postorfice de- partment was established. In 1767, the Jesuits were expelled from Cuba, as from the rest of the Spanish dominions. Under the administration of Las Casas, which began in 1700, Cuba made rapid progress in commercial prosperity and in public improvements. He developed all branches of industry, fostered the pa- triotic societies and permitted the establishment of newspapers. By his judicious government the tran- quility of the island was maintained during the time of the revolution in Santo Domingo. In 1808, when the S2 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. royal family of Spain was deposed by Napoleon, the Cubans declared for the crown, and proved their loy- alty by numerous voluntary subscriptions, by the pub- lication of vehement pamphlets and by sending their sons to tight. But scarcely any of the promises made to them were fulfilled. Since that time the island has been ruled by a succession of captains-general from Spain, some of whom have tried to advance the inter- ests of the people, but the most of whom have done little else than make fortunes for themselves. The government has been generally of the most oppres- sive character, and if the island has advanced in pros- perity, it has been in spite of all the obstacles which mismanagement could invent. In 1825. the royal or- der of the omnimodas was sent to Cuba, but it was not ratified till 1836; it empowered the captain-general to rule at all times as if the island were in a state of siege. In March of the latter year a permanent military com- mission was established, which took cognizance of even ordinary offenses, but particularly of all offenses involving dislovalty. Previous to 1810, no one had ever been executed in Cuba for a political offense. In that year, Jose R. Aleman, an emissary of Joseph Bo- naparte, was hanged in Havana. In the years 1845 to 1847, ^ ie slave trade was nearly brought to an end through the energy of Captain-General Yaldez. But the increased consumption of sugar in dreat Britain, in consequence of the reduction of duty, and the plac- STORY OF SPA IX AND CUBA. 83 ing of foreign and British sugars on the same footing, afterward gave a new stimulus to the traffic. The ef- forts of the Spanish officials for its suppression were relaxed, and it attained a height greater than ever be- fore. There has been more or less discontent in Cuba since the beginning of the present century, but the project of annexation to the United States was not mooted until the French republic was proclaimed in 1848. The United States, after the acquisition of Flor- ida, began to take a deep interest in the future of the island. Fears were entertained that it might fall into the hands of the English or French, and Spain and those nations were informed that such a disposition of it would never be consented to. Its contiguity to the coasts of the United States, and its position at the en- trance of the Gulf of Mexico, surrounded by twelve dif- ferent nationalities, give it an importance which could not be disregarded. The American government ex- pressed its willingness that it should remain a Spanish colony, but averred that it would never permit it to pass into other foreign hands. ( )n this principle the Am- erican government opposed the contemplated invasion of Bolivar, and urged Spain to make peace with the Spanish American republics in order to save Cuba from a change in her political and social system. In 1825, a proposition was made by Spain that in consid- eration of certain commercial concessions the United States should guarantee to her the possession of Cuba; 84 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. but it was declined on the ground that such a course was contrary to the established policy of the United States. In 1848, President Polk authorized the Am- erican minister at Madrid to offer $100,000,000 for Cuba, but the proposition was rejected in the most per- emptory manner. In 1840. Narsico Lopez, a native Venezuelan, but who had lived long in Cuba, where he had been in the Spanish military service, came to the United States with a number of Cubans, having been implicated in revolutionary movements. Me repre- sented the creole population as dissatisfied with Span- ish rule and ready for revolt and annexation to the United States. Recruits were collected for a descent upon the island. The first expedition, in [849, was de- feated by the vigilance of the United States authori- ties. A second attempt was made in 1850, and a land- ing effected at Cardenas; but it resulted in failure, and the party were driven to sea. In August, 1 851 , Lopez sailed from New Orleans in a steamer with 500 men, and landed at Morillo in the Vuelta Abajo. The ex- pected uprising of the people did not take place, many of his men were killed in the engagements, fifty cap- tured with Colonel Crittenden were shot in Havana, and the survivors, who, with their leader, had taken refuge in the woods, were soon made prisoners. Lopez was garroted in Havana, September 1; some others of his comrades were shot, but most of the survivors were transported and subsequently pardoned. In STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 85 1852, President Fillmore refused to join with France and Great Britain in a treaty guaranteeing to Spain the possession of Cuba. This rendered the Spanish gov- ernment more alert in guarding against revolution within and expeditions from without, and led to occa- sional collisions with American citizens. The firing on the American steamer Black Warrior by a Spanish ves- sel of war, during the administration of President Pierce, threatened at one time to lead to hostilities. Since then the question of the acquisition of Cuba has entered frequently into American politics. In August, 1854, Messrs. Buchanan, Mason and Soule, United States ministers at London, Paris and Madrid respec- tively, held a conference at Ostend and Aix-la-Chap- elle and drew up a statement popularly known as the Ostend manifesto. In this document, they argued that Cuba ought to belong to the United States, and that Spain would find its sale to be highly advan- tageous; and that in certain contingencies, such as the emancipation of the slaves by the Spanish government, the United States ought to possess themselves of the island by force. A proposition was urged in the United States Senate in the session of 1858-50 to place $30,000,000 in the hands of the President, with a view to the acquisition of the island ; but, after debate, it was withdrawn by its author, Mr. Slidell, of Louisiana. In the meantime, the agitation of the question of inde- pendence still continued in Cuba, and suspected per- S6 STORY OF sl'\l\ 1 \l> C HA. sons were arrested and imprisoned or banished with- out trial in the most arbitrary manner. In 1852, a con- spiracy was discovered, and the leaders were con- demned to death or to hard labor for life. In 1854, C leneral Jose de la Concha, in anticipation of an upris- ing of the creole population, threatened to Africanize the island. He formed and drilled battalions of black troops, armed the native-born Spaniards and disarmed the Cubans, and made ready for a desperate defense. His energy probably prevented a revolution at the time. The Cuban junta in New York had made prep- arations for a descent on the coast, and had enrolled a large body of men: but, under the circumstances, the attempt was postponed. Pinto and Estrampes, Cu- bans taken with arms in their hands, were executed, and about 100 others were condemned to the galleys or deported. ( leneral Concha was created Marquis of Havana for his services. For the succeeding ten years the island was comparatively quiet; lint the party of independence was only awaiting an opportunity to strike. On August 2, 1867. Francisco V. Aguilera. Manuel A. Aguilera and Francisco Maceo Osorio met in the house of the last-named in Bayamo, and formed a conspiracy to liberate Cuba from Spanish rule. A few months later their associates were so numerous that the leaders found it difficult to restrain them from striking prematurely. The revolutionary movement spread rapidly throughout the Eastern department. In STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 89 Manzanillo, Carlos Manuel de Cespedes placed him- self at its head; in Holguin, Belisario Alvarez; in Las Tunas, Vicente Garcia; in Jiguani, Donato Marmol, and in Santiago de Cuba, Manuel Fernandez. These men met in September, 1868, to set a day for the rising. At this meeting, all the deputies, with the exception of those from Manzanillo, insisted on the necessity for delaying action for at least six months, but no decision was arrived at. Another consultation was held on Oc- tober 3, at which Francisco Aguilera urged a delay of sixteen days. His arguments were accepted as con- clusive at the time, but two days afterwards it was agreed definitely that the blow snould be struck on Oc- tober 14. In the meantime, news of the projected out- break had reached Havana. On October 9, a letter carrier was detained at Cespedes's sugar estate, La Demajagua, and found' to be the bearer of an order for the arrest of the conspirators. Cespedes deemed it ex- pedient to strike at once, and with only 200 badly- armed men at his command, he declared for independ- ence on the field of Yara, October 10. Yara was de- fended by a Spanish force too strong for the insurgents, but on the 13th attacks were made on Las Tunas, Cauto Embarcadero, Jiguani, La Guisa, El Datil and Santa Rita. On the 18th, Bayamo was captured; the governor shut himself in the fort with a few men, but capitulated on the 22d. A Spanish force under Colo- nel Quiros, numbering about 800 infantry, besides cav- 90 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. airy and artillery, which had left Santiago de Cuba for the relief of Bayamo, was defeated and driven back to the former place with heavy loss. Camaguey soon followed the example of Vara. A republican form of government was organized, at the head of which were placed Salvador Cisneros Betancourt, Marquis of Santa Lucia, and Ignacio and Eduardo Agramonte. ( )n November 25, General Count Valmaseda, who had been sent from Havana into the insurrectionary dis- trict with the San Quintin regiment, set out from Pu- erto Principe for Nuevitas by rail, but was attacked on the following day and forced to return, leaving his dead on the field. Five days later, he reached San Miguel, his force being harassed the entire distance. In De- cember, Colonel Acosta y Alvear was defeated by the Cubans at Las Yaguas with heavy loss. Cespedes had proclaimed himself captain-general in the Eastern de- partment, and early in December a conference between the leaders in both departments was held at Guaimaro, but no consolidation was effected. Arrangements were made, however, to act in concert. Meanwhile, Valmaseda, who was still at San Miguel, increased his force to 4000 men and marched on Bayamo. He re- ceived a severe check at Saladillo, but finally suc- ceeded in crossing the Canto. The Cubans in Bayamo, seeing the hopelessness of defense, burned the city. On December 26, General Ouesada landed a cargo of arms and took command of the army of Camaguey. The STORY OF SPA IX AND CUBA. 91 railroad between Xuevitasand Puerto Principe was cut by the insurgents, and the situation of the latter place became so critical that heavy reinforcements were sent thither from Havana. In October, 1868, Spain had 19,700 men of all arms in Cuba. Before the close of the year 20,000 additional troops had been sent from Europe, over 12,000 contra-guerrillas recruited on the island and 40,000 volunteers organized for the de- fense of cities. The volunteers, or national guard, were raised from Spanish immigrants, between whom and the native Cubans has always existed a bitter jeal- ousy and enmity. In 1873 they numbered about 60,- 000 in the whole island, and 11,000 in Havana. In January, 1869, they committed fearful atrocities at Havana, shooting men, women and children in the Yillanueva theatre, at the Louvre and at the sack of Aldama's house. In February, General Dulce, suc- cessor of Lersundi as captain-general, sent commis- sioners to the Cubans to open negotiations, offering them everything but independence, but met with no encouragement. On February 26, the "assembly of representatives of the centre" assumed its functions in Camaguey, and the first act of the new government was the abolition of slavery. In the same month, the Villas district rose against Spanish rule; and the insur- gents, who numbered over 7000 men under General Ruloff, a Pole, were successful in several engagements. A national convention was held at Guaimaro. April 10, 'J2 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. at which were present Cespedes, chief of the provis- ional government of the Eastern department, the members of the Camagueyan assembly, the deputies from Villa Clara and representatives from Santo Es- piritn, Holgnin and Jiguani. A constitution was adopted. The republic was divided into four Slates: ( )riente, Camaguey, Las Villas and ( )ccidente. Full legislative powers were given to the chamber of repre- sentatives, to which was intrusted the nomination of a president and of a commander-in-chief of the army. Both of these officers were to hold their position at the will of the chamber, which had the power to remove them without previous indictment. The flag adopted was the one which had been unfurled by Agnero and Lopez. On April u, Cespedes was elected president, and Manuel Quesada, commander-in-chief. On April 18, a Spanish force of 200 men was surrounded and most of the number were killed or captured. General Valmaseda had meanwhile issued a proclamation, de- creeing that every male over fifteen years of age found in the country away from his home, without justifiable reason, should be shot; that every house on which a white flag was not displayed should be burned, am' that all women and children found alone on their farms should be removed willingly or by force, either to Bay- amo or Jiguani. In May, two important landings were made in aid of the insurgents: one under Rafael Quesada, in Camaguey, of men, arms and ammunition STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 93 from the steamer Salvador; the other under General Thomas Jordan, a graduate of West Point and an ex- officer of the Confederate service, at Mayari, of 175 officers and men, arms and ammunition for 2600 men, and ten pieces of artillery, from the steamer Perit. The former reached the interior without resistance ; the lat- ter was attacked at Canalito and again at El Ramon, but repulsed the enemy and reached his destination. The command of the army of the Oriente was at once assigned to General Jordan. Before the close of the year, General Quesada, having demanded extraordi- narv powers, was deposed by congress, and General Jordan appointed commander-in-chief. On January 1, 1870, the latter defeated a Spanish force under Gen- eral Puella at Las Minas de Guaimaro. In August of the same year, the United States government offered to Spain their good offices for a settlement of the strife. Terms for the cession of the island to the Cubans were proposed by Mr. Fish, the United States Secretary of State, but Spain declined the offer. The volunteers, having in July expelled Captain-General Duce, Gen- eral Caballero de Rodas was sent from Spain to replace him, together with a reinforcement of 30,000 men. In December, De Rodas was superseded by Valmaseda at the dictation of the volunteers. On November 27, 1871, eight medical students were condemned by a court-martial of volunteers for alleged desecration of the grave of a Spanish editor and shot. In December, 94 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. Valmaseda issued a proclamation, giving notice that every insurgent taken after January 15, 1872, would be shot, and all surrendering after that date be sen- tenced to perpetual imprisonment. In 1872, Valma- seda was replaced ad interim by Caballos, and in 1873 definitely succeeded by General Pieltain, who, in July, 1873, sent to President Cespedes to offer peace on con- dition that Cuba should remain a State of the Spanish republic; but the offer was declined. In November, 1873, General Pieltain was superseded by General Jo- vellar; and in December Cespedes was deposed from the presidency of the" Cuban republic and succeeded by Salvador Cisneros. There have been sent to Cuba from Spain since < >ctober, 1868, 80,000 soldiers, of whom not more than 12,000 survive. According to official reports forwarded from Madrid by the United States minister. 13,600 Cubans have been killed in bat- tle up to August, 1872, besides 43,500 prisoners whom the Spanish minister admitted to have been put to death. In the first three years of the war, up to Oc- tober, 1 87 1, Spain had expended, according to official statements, $70,339,658.70. THE "VIRGINITJS" MASSACRE OF 1873. The reproductions shown from Frank Leslie's Illus- trated Newspaper of the year 1873, illustrating the hor- STQRY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 97 rible massacre of the crew of the American steamer Virginius, will be viewed with a sad interest by the ma- jority of readers. The pictures will bring home to them at a glance the extreme barbarity of Spain's methods of warfare, and will justify the denunciations launched against that retrograde nation in the highest legislative council of this country, for it is hardly to be supposed that the bloodthirsty hidalgo has undergone any change of heart in the past twenty years. In fact, there are reasons to believe that, if anything, the prac- tices of the present authorities in Cuba even surpass for refinement of cruelty the dark deeds of their prede- cessors of the seventies. The story of the Virginius, briefly summed up, is as follows: The vessel, a side-wheel iron steamer, was purchased in Xew York in 1870 by the Cuban revolu- tionary junta, and was used for the transport of men and munitions to the coast of Cuba. She was entered as an American vessel, however, and continued to fly the Stars and Stripes on her various cruises. Her last trip was in the autumn of 1873, when she left Kingston, Jamaica, with 175 volunteers and a complete arma- ment, and turned her helm toward the Cuban coast. Her captain, Joseph Fry, was a native of Louisiana, and had been specially engaged for the occasion. Her crew were, for the most part. New Yorkers, and were unaware of the object of the expedition. Unfortu- 9S STORY OF SPAIN IND CUBA. nately, a damage to her machinery obliged the Vir- ginius to seek temporary shelter in the harbor of Kingston, Jamaica, a delay which sufficed to put the Spanish authorities on her track, and when she made her second start the Spanish man-of-war Tornado swooped down upon her, and after a long chase, suc- ceeded in forcing her to surrender. It should be said, however, that before this every object that might in the least excite suspicion, such as horses, arms and munitions, had been thrown into the sea, so that when the boarding party stepped on her deck they found themselves on board an ordinary merchantman, carry- ing the Stars and Stripes and cleared for Colon, with a clean bill of health! In spite of this, and of the appa- rent fact that the capture had been made in British waters, the Tornado towed her prize to Santiago de Cuba, arriving there the following" day, November I. The ordinary procedure under similar circum- stances, when evidence of wrong-doing was as slight as in the present case, would have been to undertake a thorough and painstaking judicial examination. Gov- ernor Burriel, of Santiago, thought otherwise, and so did his adherents, the Spanish volunteers. On the 2d of November, a drum-head court-martial was convened on board the Tornado, and the four leaders of the ex- pedition, Generals W. A. C. Ryan, of Xew York; Jesus del Sol, Barnabe Yarona and Pedro Cespedes, brother STORY OF sl'AIX AND CUBA. 99 of the president of the Cuban republic, were condemned to death on the charge of piracy. The sentence was carried into effect the following morning. Hardly had the smoke cleared from above the corpses of these four lovers of liberty when a second court-martial as- sembled to try the rank and file of the expedition, in- cluding the captain and crew of the Yirginius. Here again the charge was piracy on the high seas, and again the same awful sentence was pronounced. It being impracticable to execute the entire body of pris- oners at one time, the unfortunates were divided into batches, and on the morning of November 4, the first one, consisting of Captain Fry and thirty-six of his crew, many of them being boys in their teens, marched in solemn procession from the jail to the slaughter- house, half a mile away, to fall victims to the vindictive hate of the Spanish tyrant. Here I quote an eye-witness's description: "The sad procession halts when it has arrived at the place of doom, and forms a hollow square, with the victims in the midst. The line of soldiers next the slaughter- house then opens and the prisoners are placed on the edge of the trench or moat, kneeling and bound, but not blindfolded, and having their faces turned to the wall. The clergy, after having conveyed to the 'mis- erable sinners' their Master's message of 'Peace on earth and pfood will toward? men." and having recom- 100 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. mended their souls to that mercy in another world de- nied to them in this one, retire to the centre of the square, where they take their place beside the colonel and the regimental staff. The commanding' officer gives the fatal signal by waving his sword, the men fire, and the wretched objects of Spanish hate and ven- geance fall headlong into the shallow trench, some dead, some dying, and others wounded, but alive. Then comes the crowning barbarity — a company of artillery, till now kept in reserve, gallops forward and crushes, with the broad and heavy wheels of the guns, dying, dead and wounded into one indistinguishable mass." And these horrors the Spanish governor proposed to repeat day by day until the last man of the 200 od 1 prisoners of the Virginius had been done to death ! But on November 5, a few hours before the time fixed for a third orgy of blood, a British warship, the Niobe, ap- peared in the harbor, and her captain promptly in- formed the governor that he would tolerate no further bloodshed until the matter had been referred to the home authorities. So the balance of the unfortunates were saved, and subsequently, when the United States threatened war, they, together with the Virginius, were surrendered by Spain, who also apologized for the outrage. But no apology, however abject, could bring to life again the poor mutilated forms in the trench at Santiago de Cuba: none could ever atone for the hid- STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 101 eous cruelty of Governor Juan Nepomuceno Burriel, their butcher! Is it any wonder that the people of the United States, with this ghastly tragedy staring them in the face, re- fuse to believe the Spanish protestations that they are conducting their present war against the Cubans upon humane principles? 1J2 STOMY OF >S1 J A1\ AND CUBA. CHAPTER III. THE WAR OF 1895. The peace of Zanjon proved to be no peace at all. The cancer continued to eat its way into the vitals of Cuba, and the result was the same as before. There was an insurrection in 1879 and again in 1880, and, in fact, there never was profound quiet. The Cubans soon found that under the election law that provided a poll tax of $25, the voting strength of the native ele- ment was neutralized. It gave the ballot to the rich only, but, to make matters worse, it was so arranged that most of the Spaniards could escape payment. A firm would pay a single poll tax and vote all its mem- bers and employes. The franchise became a farce, and in the national election for members of the Spanish Cortes (or Congress) not over 53,000 votes were cast out of a population of over a million and a half. Again, the old plundering and extortion continued. The es- timates of receipts and expenditures for the island each year were about $25,000,000. ( )f this, the Span- ish civil officials in the island took $4,000,000. begin- ning with the Governor-General, whose salary was $50,000 a year and found: the army took $6,000,000; IS TORY OF XPAIN AND CUBA. 105 interest on the old Spanish national debt took $10,- 500,000; pensions, $2,200,000; treasury administration, $708,000; judiciary, $995,000, and so on, all the money being absorbed by Spaniards, except about $725,000 for internal improvement, harbors, etc. Not a cent was spent for primary education. Then there was always an annual deficit of from $8,000,000 to $10,000,000 to be made up by the issue of so-called "Cuban bonds." In 1885, our consul-general, Mr. Ramon O. Wil- liams, in an official communication to the Department of State, gave the following picture of the condition of affairs in the island at that time - "There is a system of oppression and torture which enters every phase of life, eats into the soul of every Cuban, mortifies, injures and insults him every hour, impoverishes him and his family from day to day, threatens the rich man with bankruptcy and the poor man with beggary. The exactions of the Spanish gov- ernment and the illegal outrages of its officers are, in fact, intolerable. They have reduced the island to de- spondency and ruin. The government at Madrid is directly answerable for the misery of Cuba and for the rapacity and venality of its subordinates. No well-in- formed Spaniard imagines that Cuba will long con- tinue to submit to this tyranny, or, at least, that she will long be able to yield this harvest to her oppressors, Spain cares nothing whatever for the interests, the io<; UTOiey OF ISFAIN AND CUBA. prosperity or the sufferings of her colony. The gov- ernment does almost nothing to ameliorate any of the evils of the country. The police are everywhere in- sufficient and inefficient. The roads are no roads at all. Every interest which might enrich and improve the island is looked upon by officials as one more mino to exploit. Cuba is held solely for the benefit oi Spain and Spanish interests, for the sake of Spanish adventurers. Against this all rebel in thought and feeling, if not yet in fact and deed. They wish protec- tion from the grasping rapacity of .Spain, and see no way to attain it except by our aid. v A calculation shows that for a series of years only one-eighteenth of the taxes wrung from the island in various ways was spent for its benefit, and, including the fines and extortions, not more than one twenty-fifth of what the island produced, and gave up yearly to the Spaniards, was used for the advantage of the people who earned it. Everv office of importance, or where there was any emolument, was filled by a Spaniard appointed from Spain. In fact, Cuban revenues were practically all swallowed up, either to meet national obligations of Spain, or to restore the fortunes of broken-down Span- ish aristocrats, who made haste to fill their chests with plunder and give way to a new and equally hungry horde of successors. In the earlv days of the administration of President STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 107 Harrison, Mr. Blaine, then Secretary of State, made an effort to secure the recognition of the independence of Cuba by Spain, through the purchase of the island by its citizens, with a guarantee of payment by the United States. Spain, however, refused to consider the proposition, and the effort was abandoned. Finally, an alleged "reform," proposed by the Span- ish government, proved to be the traditional "last feather" which broke the camel's back. It was pro- posed to administer the island by a Council, to be com- posed of thirty members, fifteen of whom shoidd be appointed by Spain and fifteen elected by the Cubans. The governor-general was to be president ex-officio of this council, with the casting vote and the right of veto. Under the election laws it was apparent that at least twelve of the fifteen members for Cuba would be Spaniards, but in order to make Spanish control doubly sure, the governor-general was also to have the power to suspend any number of members of the Council not to exceed ten, at any time he wished, and for any period that might suit his pleasure. The object of this Council of Administration was apparent. There were held in Europe over $200,000,- 000 of Cuban bonds. This Cuban debt had not been contracted for internal improvements in the island or for anything else beneficial to Cuba. These bonds covered loans made by Spain for expenses in her mili- tary operations against Mexico, Peru and San Do- 108 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. mingo, and for other purposes, with which the island had nothing to do, any more than any other part of the kingdom. These bonds were secured by the revenue of Cuba, and were of doubtful legality. It was alleged that the object of the government in forming this Council of Administration was to make a new issue of Cuban bonds for some $300,000,000, to be taken by an English syndicate, and wipe out the old debt and include another $100,000,000. Then this new Cuban bond was to be approved by the proposed Cuban Council of Administration. This outrage was suffi- cient to arouse the Cubans to the present rebellion. The insurrection was planned in New York city, and its chief spirit was Jose Marti, who was a man of great power as a speaker and writer. He had been twice banished by the Spanish government, but had escaped and taken up his residence in New York city, where he kept alive the cause of Cuba, and prepared for the uprising which occurred at various points in the eastern part of the island, February 24, 1895, under Maso, Betancourt and other patriot leaders. The Spanish government at once took active steps to crush the revolt. Governor-General Calleja issued an order suspending constitutional guarantees, which was fol- lowed by the arrest of Cuban suspects in various parts of the country and their banishment to the African penal colony. The revolutionists did not undertake any general operations, awaiting the coming of Go- STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 109 mez, Marti and the Maceo brothers and other exiled leaders, who arrived in April. At the same time, Cal- leja was recalled and General Martinez de Campos was sent out to the command, great confidence being placed in his military and administrative ability. He sailed for the island, April 3. By this time the revo- lution was under full headway, and the Cubans were everywhere successful, "seizing the garrisons, and in a few weeks taking practical possession of the province of Santiago de Cuba. Antonio Maceo took command of the forces, and sent his brother Jose to meet Gomez and Marti at Guatanamo. All of the exiled generals met in safety and held a conference, at which the campaign under Gomez and Antonio Maceo was decided upon. They moved toward Camaguey, going first to Holguin, the people rising in their support everywhere. Early in May, Gomez and Marti issued their proclamations and made preparations for constituting the provisional government. They met General Maso coming with a force from Bayamo and Manzanillo, and upon their return were attacked by the Spaniards on the 19th of May at Dos Rios, where Jose Marti was killed. The death of Marti was the only great reverse experienced by the insurgents so far during the war. General Campos decided to confine the rebels within the prov- ince of Santiago, and threw two cordons or trochas across the island to keep the revolutionists out of Pu- 110 STORY OF KPAIN AND CUBA. erto Principe. Early in June, however, Gomez and his lieutenant successfully hanked him out of these. two lines, and before the month was over had full pos- session of the interior of Puerto Principe, being joined by Betancourt and his followers. After some weeks of apparent inaction on both sides, Campos decided to move into Santiago and get in the rear of Gomez, and crush him between two columns. He met Maceo and Rabi near Bayamo, July 24, and the Spaniards were defeated under his own eye. In August, the Cubans, under Jose Maceo, Cebreco and Perez, beat the Spaniards at various points, and com- pelled the practical abandonment of the eastern part of the island by the government forces. OFFICIALS OF THE CUBAN REPUBLIC. The death of Marti had delayed the civil organiza- tion of the republic, but the constituent assembly met September 13, in Camaguey, and adopted a constitu- tion, and the following day organized the government by the election of Salvador Cisneros Betancourt, of Puerto Principe, President; Bartolome Maso, of Man- zanillo, Vice-President; Carlos Roloff, of Santa Clara Secretary of War; Mario Menocal, of Matanzas As- sistant Secretary of War; Rafael Porttiondo y Tamav of Santiago de Cuba, Secretary of Foreign Affairs' Fermin Valdez Domingues, of Havana, Assistant Sec- STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 113 retary of Foreign Affairs; Severo Pina, of Espiritu Santu, Secretary of the Treasury; Joaquin Castillo y Duany, of Santiago de Cuba, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury; Santiago Canizares, of Remedios, Sec- retary of the Interior; Carlos Dubois, of Baracoa, As- sistant Secretary of the Interior. Maximo Gomea was elected general-in-chief of the army, and Antonio Maceo, lieutenant-general. The President formerly was the Marquis of Santa Lucia, but he renounced his title in 1868 and joined the revolution. His estates were confiscated, but were partially restored after the peace of 1878. The Betan- court family has long been one of the most illustrious in the island. Maso, the Vice-President, was born in Manzanillo, where he has long been a leading citizen. General Rolofr is a native of Poland, but came to Cuba when a youth, and settled at Cienfuegos, whence, in 1869, he led a battalion composed of the sons of the principal Cuban families of the place, and served through the "Ten Years' War" with distinction. Mario Menocal is a relative of Engineer Menocal, of th^ United States navy, who has long been prominently associated with the Isthmus Canal project. The Sec- retary of Foreign Affairs is a member of an old and aristocratic family of Santiago de Cuba, and his as- sistant, Dr. Domingues, has been a leading physician of Havana, who was banished to the penal colony atj Ceuta during the last war, but allowed to return after 114 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. the peace of Zanjon. Severo Pina belongs to a family of great wealth and long established in the island. His assistant, Dr. Duany, is one of the men who went as a physician on the relief expedition sent out to look for De Long and his people, who were trying to reach the North Pole on the ill-fated Jeannette. No family in the island is prouder than his. General Maximo ( ro- mez is a native of San Domingo, of Spanish descent. but has long been as much identified with Cuba as one of its own people. Lieutenant-General Antonio Ma- ceo is a colored man, and of such force and attainments as to deserve a place on the indestructible tablets of the history of his race beside the names of Toussaint L'Ouverture and Frederick Douglass. He entered the ranks when a young man, in the ten years' war, and by ability and bravery rose to the grade of a general. He has devoted his life to the service of his race and his native island. He has the marks of twenty-one wounds received on the field of battle. Such is his ac- knowledged force of character that members of the proudest families of Cuba compose his staff. The constituent assembly divided the island into States and districts, passed laws to regulate marriages, collect taxes and fulfill other functions of government Senor Thomas Estrada Palma, who had succeeded Jose Marti as head of the Cuban Junta in New York, was elected minister plenipotentiary and agent abroad Four States were set off and called Oriente, Cama- STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 115 guey, Las Villas or Cabanacan and Occidente. The State of Oriente comprises practically the same terri- tory as the province of Santiago de Cuba. The State of Camaguey lies next west of Oriente, and includes all of the province of Puerto Principe up to the mili- tary road. The State of Las Villas or Cabanacan lies next west of Camaguey, and comprises most of the province of Santa Clara. Its western boundary be^ gins at the Bay of Cochinos on the southern shore, and follows the river courses nearly north to the other coast. All the rest of the island, including the prov- inces of Matanzas, Havana and Pinar del Rio, is the State of Occidente. During the summer, the great province of Santa Clara (Las Villas), in the middle of the island, the richest and most populous after Havana, had risen in rebellion. General Gomez issued an order, forbidding the grinding of sugar-cane, in order to paralyze the financial resources of Spain, and in Xovember he set out to enforce it. General Campos had made another cordon of posts from Jucaro to Moron, to keep Go- mez out of the province of Santa Clara. The insur- gent chiefs made sport of it, and soon were massed in the district of Remedios, burning the plantations of all who would not obey the order not to make sugar. Another attempt was made to head off the westward movement of Gomez and Maceo, by a new cordon ex- tending from Cienfuegos through Las Cruces and La- 116 STORY OF SPAIN AM) CUBA. jas. This line, like the rest, was pierced, and the Spaniards fell back from one position to another until the province of Matanzas surrendered, and after the engagement at Coliseo, December 24, 1895, Campos himself, the hero of Zanjon, the conqueror of Mo- rocco and the Pacifier of Spain, fled incontinently be- fore the thirsty machetes of the despised Cubans to a place of safety within the defenses of Havana, while the energetic Maceo galloped at will down the \ uelto Abajo, and Gomez held the capital in a state of siege. Such was the situation when, on January 17, Campos sailed back to Spain in disgust, and was succeeded by Governor-General \ aleriano Weyler, a man recom- mended for the place by his notorious reputation for cruelty. He arrived February 10, and began issuing a series of proclamations, which culminated in one wherein he provided court-martial and the death pen- alty for such a long list of actual and implied offenses against the power of Spain as to inaugurate a reign of terror. An official Spanish report, published February 29, at Madrid, gives the following statistic of the first year of the war: Loss of life on the Spanish side, 3877. of which 286 were killed in battle, 119 died of wounds, 3190 of yellow fever and 282 of other diseases. The expenditures was placed at $75,000,000. Spanish reg- ulars to the number of 120,000 had been sent to the island, in addition to the Spanish volunteers. There 8T0BY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 117 is a very common misunderstanding as to these volun- teers. They are Spaniards, chiefly young men who have come out to the island and found employment as clerks and bookkeepers in Cuban cities. They are drilled, uniformed and armed at their own expense, but under the patronage of wealthy Spanish officials and business men. They are a reckless and unruly militia force, and are hated above all others by the Cubans, who charge upon them, especially, the killing of prisoners and other barbarities. A detailed account of the recent operations of the Cuban army under General Antonio Maceo, just re- ceived from headquarters in the field by Minister Es- trada Palma, throws an entirely different aspect on the invasion of the west than that sought to have been con- veyed by the Spanish official reports. Accompanying the document was a letter from Brigadier-General Miro, chief of Maceo's staff, from which the following are extracts: General Main, who temporarily succeeded Martinez Campos in the command of the island, attempted to trap Maceo, but not only were all the Spanish columns which he sent against our troops defeated, but we broke his military lines and passed from Pinar del Rio to Havana. When General Weyler took command of the island, he solemnly declared he was glad he had remained in and near the province of Havana, because he would be better able to crush our forces, the terri- 118 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. tory being so small. But General Maceo upset all of his plans and overran the two provinces. Later, General Weyler asserted that our troops were demoralized, and that we were returning to the east; that General (ionic/- was shamefully running away to Siguanca; that Maceo, with scarcely any men, was also i ^treating, and that there was nothing left of the Cuban army in the province but a mere handful of bandits. While General Weyler was publishing these false- hoods, ( ieneral Gomez had united his column with that of ( ieneral Bandera, and on the very day named he was with General Maceo in the province of Matanzas. The detailed account of Maceo's operations states, in part, as follows: GENERAL MACEO'S OPERATIONS. After the battles of Paso Real, Candelaria and Rio Hondo, we fought on the 9th of February, near San Cristobal, against the column of Colonel Hernandez; the enemy was obliged to take refuge in Candelaria; our forces remained encamped at the seat of battle. On the afternoon of the nth, we had a battle on the plantation Nueva Empresa, causing the enemy con- siderable loss. Among their wounded was the chief of a column, General Cornell. On the 12th, we passed the province of Havana, crossing by the road and rail- road near Artemisa, where the general headquarters STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 121 of the Spanish were situated. We completely fooled the military combination of the then Captain-General Sabas Marin, who had a great plan of intercepting us. On the 17th and 18th, we approached the capital, en- camping in Santa Amalia. We attacked the city of Taruco at 8 P. M. the 18th. At midnight the town was in our possession. Two hundred buildings were burned, and we captured eighty rifles and 2000 rounds of ammunition. We left the next day and met General Maximo Go- mez. The enemy were encountered near the sugar plantation of Moralito, and were fought for half an hour by the general-in-chief. The battle lasted two hours. Our losses were four dead and thirty-eight wounded, among the latter being the brave Colonel Basilio Guerra. The forces of General Maceo en- camped in the plantation Carmen, a league from Cata- lina de Guines, and General Gomez encamped on the railroad from Guines to Havana. At 7 A. M. on the 20th, we renewed our march. We stopped about one-half a league from the hill of Gapo, to do some scouting. Presently, some shots were heard. General Maceo, with 200 cavalry and his es- cort, waited for the enemy. The fire was at short range, and the Spanish troops were completely shot down. When the Spaniards entered the plantation El Gado, they gave themselves up to all kinds of out- 122 STORY OF SP l/\ AND CUBA. rages, assassinating the owner and his family and sev- eral other peaceful people. TWO PROVINCES OVERRUN. On the 21st, 22d, 23d and 24th, we paraded through the provinces of Havana and Matanzas. ( ieneral ( .<> mez marched toward Colon, General Maceo remain- ing in Coliseo, where the military combination of Gen eral Martinez Campos so signally failed on the 23d of December of last year. On the first anniversary of the revolution not a shot was heard. Since General Weyler has taken command of the island, the revolutionary ranks are increasing wonder- fully. Many women offer their services. ( )n the 25th we had a fierce battle in the sugar plantation of "La Peria." ft lasted two long hours, and was renewed in the afternoon in the hills of ( iuemacaro. On the 29th. we entered Santa Cruz, a town situated on the north- east coast, garrisoned by a detachment of thirty men, who were made prisoners and afterward given their liberty. Thirty rifles and 1600 rounds of ammunition were captured. Cn the 1st of March, we returned to- ward the centre of the province of Havana. On the 2d, we had a severe battle with the column of Aldecoa in Nazareno, which was attacked by the cavalry of the east and the escort of the General. In the afternoon on Rio Bavamo, we again fouerht the columns of Al STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 123 decoa and Linares. On the 3d of March we returned to Santa Malia, where we were informed that there were 15,000 soldiers against us on the previous day. We only had 400 horsemen with which to withstand them On the 5th, we again entered the province of Matan- zas At 6 A. M., on the 7th, we started for the Plan- tation "Diana," where General Lacret was encamped. As we advanced, the enemy fired upon us. General Maceo, by rapid flank movements, attracted the enemy to a position favorable to us, and, having obtained his object, was not long in routing them. MARCHED THROUGH THE SWAMPS. On the 9th, at 3 A. M., we commenced our march to return to the province of Havana, and we encamped at Galcon, where we learned that the general-in-chief and General Quintin Bandera, with the infantry of the east, were very near At 8 A. M. of the 10th, the forces were formed for review to receive the general- in-chief, and the brave infantry of the east were re- ceived in our camp with great enthusiasm. An hour afterward the general-in-chief, with his escort and some cavalry, countermarched toward the centre of Matanzas, the infantry of the east remained with us for a second invasion of Pinar del Rio We marched 124 STORY OF SPAIZ AND CUBA. across the Cienega de Zapata, and at 4 P. M. we en- camped to the south of Nueva Paz, province of Ha- vana. On the nth, at 7 A. M., we commenced our march, passing near the plantation Nueva Paz. Our van- guard and the centre crossed without any trouble, but our rear guard had to fight against the column which came out from the plantation Nueva Paz. We en- camped at 4 P. M. at Jicotea. At 7 A. M. of the 12th. we started and proceeded by swampy roads, almost impossible of transit, so that the enemy would not perceive our advance through the province of Ha- vana. At 6 P. M„ we encamped in the plantation Luisi, having left behind us and at a good distance ■ over 25,000 Spanish soldiers. It was General Maceo's aim to lower the prestige of the famous Weyler by attacking the fortified town of Batabano, so that the operation would have the great- est possible importance. We had heard that Bata- bano was another Sebastopol. and that the demoral- ized Cuban troops would not be able to cross the for- tified lines. At 7 P. M., the infantry of the east, in three attacking columns, suddenly went into the town, and destroyed and burned everything in their path.' We captured fifty rifles, provisions, many hundred rounds of ammunition, and our infantry obtained new clothing. STORY OF SPA IX AND CUBA. 125 AGAIN TO THE WEST. On the 14th, we renewed our march toward the west. At 7 A. M. of the 15th, we started again from the territory of Pinar del Rio, passing the so-called terrible "trocha," by Majana. On the 16th, we en- camped in the plantation Galope, between Mangas and Candelaria. At about 2.30 P. M., in the midst of great rain, our pickets discovered a Spanish column marching toward Candelaria. General Maceo quickly placed himself at the head of the infantry and marched to meet them. The suddenness of the attack demor- alized the Spaniards, and they abandoned the position which they had occupied on the road and retreated in disorder. General Maceo tried to force them to the left, so that they would be cut down by the Cuban cav- alry, which he had ordered placed there; but the or- ders which he had given were misinterpreted by his aide-de-camp, and the Spaniards found the road clear to Candelaria. To this they owe their salvation. Nevertheless, there were soldiers of our forces who caught Spanish soldiers with their own hands, and we captured a great many grenades and mules and horse9 laden with ammunition. In the report of General Maceo of the 19th, he de- clares his satisfaction at the conduct of our troops in the battles of Galope, Nueva Empresa and Cayajabos, 12(i STOin OF sl'M\ i \l> CUBA. and hopes that they will he examples for new and de- cisive victories. The present strength of the insurgent army is close tc 43,000 men. Cubans themselves estimate the num- ber of men in the field as high as 60,000 men, but even if unarmed camp-followers, men in charge of provision trains, hospitals and camps were counted it is doubtful if that number could be found actually in service. There are thousands of Cubans who would willingly cast their lot with the patriot army, but lack of arms and ammunition prevents. The insurgent forces operate, as a rule, in zones or districts, and are organized on military lines. Tin columns of Gomez, Maceo, Lacret and Banderas are, however, limited to one province, but pass from one to another under direct orders from Gomez. The commander-in-chief is now in Matanzas, and the others has reinvaded Havana province. The following is a statement of the strength and lo- cation of the forces of the principal Cuban leaders: Maximo Gomez, in Matanzas, 8000; Antonio Ma- ceo, Miro, Zayas, others in Havana, 5000; Serafin San- chez, in Santa Clara, 4000; Jose Maceo, Bojas, Rodri- guez, in Santiago, 3500; Lacret, in Havana, 3000: Quintin Banderas, in Havana. 3000: Masso, Alvarez. Castillo, Mestre, Nunez, in Havana, 3000; Delgado, Bermudez, Sanchez, others Pinar del Rio, 2500: Aguirre, Diaz, Hernandez, Palacio, in Havana, 2500; STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 129 Mayia Rodriguez, others Camaguey, 1500; Reyes, Benitez, Vara, Wilson, Mendieta, Santiago, 1000; Ra- fael Cardenos, in Matanzas, 800; Verrona, Ruperto, Sanchez, others in Pinar del Rio, 800; Oliva, others in Pinar del Rio, 600 ; Clotilde Garcia, in Matanzas, 600 ; Carillo, Joaquin Garcia, others in Santiago, 600; Ro- loff, Pancho Perez, in Santa Clara, 500; Mirabel, Fer- rer, Veita, in Santa Clara, 500; Rego, Sixto, Roque, Palao Sanchez, in Santa Clara, 500; Cortuna, Vidal, Juan Bravo, in Santa Clara, 400; Matagas, in Matan- zas, 400; Robau, Cobreco, Ruen, Planas, in Santiago, 400; Borroto, Lencho, Sardinas, Eduardo, Garcia, in Matanzas, 400; Aulst, Morjon, Dimas Martinez, Soto- longo, in Matanzas, 400; Yillanneca, Acosta, Aguilar, others in Havana, 300; Munoz, Chapotin, Socorro, Lino Perez, in Santa Clara, 200— total, 42,800. The distribution according to provinces is: Havana, 16,800; Matanzas, 8600; Santa Clara, 6500; Santiago, 5500; Pinar del Rio, 3900; Camaguey, 1500— total, 42,800. In addition to the above, there are innumer- able local bands of from fifteen men to fifty, or even 100. These do not form part of the fighting force, and should not be counted as part of the army. Their chief functions are to carry out the orders of Gomez prohibiting the grinding of cane, the movement of troops and supplies by rail, the shipment of provisions to cities, and the suppression of "plateades," who rob, burn and commit other crimes. 130 STORY OF SPAIN AM) CUBA. The Cuban "army of liberation,*" as it is called, has grown to its present size in the face of almost insur- mountable difficulties. From the beginning it has been outnumbered by the arm) of Spain in the ratio of never less than four to one. It has escaped annihila tion in many encounters when ammunition ran out It has lived on forage, been almost constantly under tire, and is today a reckless, dan-devil army, with but one idea in view, and that is to free Cuba. What comes after i> not given a thought. THE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. 131 CHAPTER IV. THE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. DETAILED STORY OF THE FIERCE CONFLICT WHICH LASTED FROM FRIDAY DAWN UNTIL SATURDAY AFTERNOON-THE VMERICAN ARMY FOUGHT DESPERATELY FOR EVERY FOOT 0P GROUND GAINED-DESPERATE EFFORTS OF THE SPAN- CARDS ON SATURDAY TO RETAKE SAX JUAN HILL-THEIR REPULSE WITH TERRIBLE LOSS-LIEUTENANT MAXF1ELD FROM HIS BALLOON GUIDED OUR MEN TO THE SPANISH OUTWORKS-ROOSEVELT'S HORSE SHOT UNDER HIM AND HALF THE ROUGH RIDERS WOUNDED-THREE SHELLS FROM ONE DYNAMITE GUN PELL INTO SANTIAGO-THE HOTCHKISS GU NS DID GREAT EXECUTION. BUT HEAVY ARTILLERY WAS BADLY NEEDED-SPLENDID MARKSMANSHIP OF OUR FLEET. San Juan Hill, Overlooking Santiago de Cuba, July 2.— On all sides our batteries look down on the city and are pouring an awful fire into the Spanish for- tifications which face our men. The enemy lie in their entrenchments, struggling for every inch of ground. The Spanish soldiers are fighting like devils. ( >urs are forcing them constantly back, killing them by hundreds and never yielding an inch that they have gained. Now and then, out in the harbor. Admiral Sampson s tleet thunders death at Morro Castle and the adjoining defences. The hills and the valleys also re-echo the 132 THE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. roar of the big guns and the rattle and crash of mus- ketry. The Morro is almost in ruins. Its batteries are all but silenced. The huge Spanish Hag which floated so defiantly from the Morro. and which was the only one in sight from the sea on the south coast, has been shot away, and there are great yawning holes in the masonry of the hillside defences. It is not possible at this time to tell the complete story of the two days' fighting. The Sun presents as nearly complete a story as could be gathered by its cor- respondents at the front and sent by them by couriers to Siboney, which place they reached late this after- noon. SANTIAGO AND ITS SURROUNDINGS. Just a week after the battle near Sevilla. in which the Rough Riders took part. General Shafter's men were in their positions for attacking the Spaniards. The readers of this will understand the situation from the following description of the surroundings of the city of Santiago: Six miles from the sea at the head of what is practi- cally a salt water lake lies Santiago, surrounded on all sides by high mountains, which rise almost straight up from the water. These mountains stand in ridges, prac- tically running parallel with the coast. Between the first and second ridges is Santiago. TEE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. 133 Two and one-half miles east of the entrance of the harbor is Aguadores, directly south of Santiago itself. Southeast of Santiago on the top of a hill is San Juan, from which place this dispatch is sent. About three miles northeast of the city is El Caney. Santiago is a walled city, and Aguadores, San Juan and El Caney are its outposts on the east. General Shatter believed that Santiago would be best taken by compelling its capitulation by siege, but he finally yielded to arguments in favor of attacking the place all along the line and to never stop the righting until Santiago was taken. On Thursday the Americans had the city practically surrounded. The plan of attack comprised a joint as- sault by the fleet and army on Aguadores and a military attack alone on El Caney and San Juan hill, cast of the eminence on which the little town of San Juan stands, the fleet diverting the attention of the enemy by occa- sionally bombarding. DISPOSITION OF TUIi FORCES. The forces under General Lawton were sent north to make the attack on El Caney. General Wheeler's cavalry, under Summer, General Wheeler being ill, had the center of the line up the valley which the town of San Tuan overlooks, while General Duffield was at the 134 THE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. seaside to fight in conjunction with the fleet and the Michigan volunteers against Aguadores. The Seventy-first New York, the Rough Riders and Colonel Wheeler's Massachusetts volunteers were held in reserve. At 3 o'clock on Friday morning General Lauton was on the El Caney road, General Duffield was at the railroad near the crest, with his troops in trains, while General Wheeler, who had determined to take the field in spite of his illness, went up the valley to the hillside ranch El Pozo. He planted Captain Grimes's battery of four pieces there, 2600 yards from the Santiago forts. General Lawton's division was led by General Chaffee's brigade, with Lieutenant-Colonel Ludwig supporting. Colonel Miles's brigade sup- ported General Wheeler in the center. Captain Ca- pron's battery was planted on a bluff a mile and one-half from El Caney. OPENING ON EL CANEY. All was in readiness at daylight. The Spaniards did not discover the position of the Americans until sun- rise. Capron fired the first gun at 6 o'clock, and this opened the battle, which has been raging ever since. The report of the first ^un echoed and re-echoed, and then died away. There was no reply. Another shot followed, and then another. Still there was no reply. It looked as if the Spaniards would not fight. 130 THE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. The Cubans believed that they were retreating. A thousand Cubans under Garcia and Demetrio Castillo hurried along the road from El Pozo to El Caney to head them off. They were just in time to catch the flee- ing Spaniards at the Ducurance Estate. There was a hot fight for a few minutes, and the Spaniards then went back to El Cane)', taking their wounded with them. The Cubans had nineteen wounded. Meantime, Captain Capron's battery continued fir- ing until it had delivered twenty-seven shots, to which no answer was made. The Spaniards were driven back into a corner, and how they fought ! Capron's battery damaged the town, not the fortifications. As the twenty-eighth shot was being fired there was a whist- ling near the battery, followed by the explosion of a shell from the Reina Mercedes battery. Another and another followed, but the Spaniards did poor shooting. Their shells did not touch the battery, but fell on a house where some soldiers were, a distance away. The three shells wounded thirteen Cubans and eighteen Americans. The duel became hot now. The Americans fired quicker now that they had a line on the fort. Every shot from their battery told, and so did many of the Spanish shells. Their firing showed much improve- ment, and their guns were handled in a masterly style. After an hour the firing ceased on both sides. THE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. 137 THE BATTLE ON OUR CENTER. Grimes's battery at El Pozo had in the meantime opened, firing across the gulch from the hill below San Juan. There was no reply until the tenth shot. Then the Spanish shells burst over the American line, all of them flying too high to do any harm to the battery. The First and Tenth regiments and the Rough Riders were lying along the hillside in the bushes. The shells were raining shrapnel on them, but they did not seem to heed it much, many of them joking as the firing went on. None of them were seriously hurt. For half an hour the shells from both sides whistled and shrieked. The Spaniards on the hill were sur- rounded by a cloud of yellow dust that was torn up by the American shells. Still they fired, but, as usual, their shells went too high. In half an hour more the position became too hot for them. Their firing gradually be- came weaker, and then ceased. The batteries were silenced, and there were no Spaniards in sight. The Tenth and First regiments and the Rough Rid- ers were ordered to make a detour and take the hill. The Spaniards were not in sight, but there were hun- dreds of them in concealment. The Rough Riders marched through the gulch across to the slope. whereupon the blockhouse opened fire again. One ol the Spanish shells wounded Mason Mitchell, Cuban Trooper Long and Surgeon Devore. 138 TEE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. At the same time the Spanish sharpshooters began popping away, picking off men here and there. Lieu- tenant-Colonel Roosevelt, mounted, rode at the head of his troops, with the Tenth Cavalry ranged alongside. The riders all dodged behind bushes and trees to escape the hail of bullets. The Spanish fire grew hotter and hotter, and our men dropped two and three at a time. CHARGE OF THE ROUGH RIDERS. When they came to the open, smooth hillside there was no protection. Bullets were raining down on them, and shot and shells from the batteries were sweeping everything. There was a moment's hesita- tion, and then came the order, "Forward, charge!" Lieutenant-Colonel Roosevelt led, waving his sword. Out into the open the men went and up the hill. Death to every man seemed certain. The crackle of the Man- ser rifles was continuous. Out of the brush came the Riders. Up, np they went, with the colored troops alongside of them, not a man flinching, and firing as they ran. Roosevelt was ioo feet in the lead. Up. up they went in the face of death, men dropping from the ranks at every step. The Rough Riders acted like vet- Tans. It was an inspiring sight and an awful one. Astonished by the madness of the rush, the Spaniards exposed themselves. This was a fatal mistake for them. THE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. 139 The Tenth Cavalry picked them off like ducks and rushed on, up and up. The more Spaniards were killed more seemed to take their places. The rain of shells and bullets doubled. Men dropped faster and faster, but others took then- places. Roosevelt sat erect on his horse, holding Ins sword and shouting for his men to follow him. Finally his horse was shot from under him, but he landed on his feet and continued calling for his men to advance. He charged up the hill afoot. It seemed an age to the men who were watching, and to the Rough Riders the hill must have seemed like miles high. But they were undaunted. They went on, firing as fast as their guns would work. The shooting of the Tenth Cavalry was wonderful. Their ranks closed as fast as they were thinned. At last the top of the hill was reached. The Spaniards in the trenches could still have annihilated the Ameri- cans, but the Yankees' daring dazed them. They wav- ered'for an instant, and then turned and ran. As they ran our men coolly picked them off. The position was won and the blockhouse captured. Some of the guns also were captured, but not all of them. The men across the gulch cheered wildly as they saw their comrades' victory. The Riders cheered the Tenth, and the latter cheered the Riders. Then on they went to drive the Spaniards further. They found the trenches full of dead, but none alive. 140 TEE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. In the rush more than half the Rough Riders were wounded. Though they had the hill, the position was still perilous on account of the sharpshooters. lawton's advance on the right. While this was going on, General Lawton was ad- vancing rapidly on El Caney. The Spaniards had pre- pared for attack, though they had run away when it be- gan. There were trenches everywhere. General Law- ton advanced, but was met by a hot rifle fire from the enemy in their intrenchments. Chaffee's Seventh, Sev- enteenth and Twelfth infantry still had no artillery. On the extreme right our men spread out, getting the pro- tection of the trees and bushes, and firing every time they saw a Spanish head. They were always advancing upon the outside line of trenches. The retreat of the Spaniards prevented a flank movement on our part. Captain Capron's artillery now resumed its firing, its target being a stone fort in front of the town. Every shot went true, but the guns were not big enough to do the necessary damage. They, however, made it so hot for the enemy that they had to leave several times. They always got back, though, before our infantry reached the outside of the town. The force was then split, going in two directions at the same time. The fighting be- fore they reached the town was nothing compared with their reception in the town. They were fired on from THE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. 141 all sides by the enemy, who were concealed everywhere. The trenches in view were rilled with men, whose hats were visible. The Americans shot the hats to pieces, but killed none of the Spaniards, who had resorted to the old trick of placing their hats on sticks for onr men to shoot at. The breastworks in the northeast corner of the town did the most damage. This position was not discovered for a long time. It fired a hot. almost resistless fire upon our men. The Americans lay down to avoid it. The Spaniards had the range, however, and killed and wounded many of our men as they lay. The officers suffered particularly. General Chaffee dashed here and there, giving or- ders and calling on his men to fight for their lives and to help their country to win a victory. The battery was at last discovered, and that was the end of it. Every Spaniard who showed himself was picked off. The trenches ran with blood. Captain Capron at the same time silenced the fort again. Now was the time for the Americans to advance. With a yell they dashed in. led by their officers right up to the fort. Up the slope they went, still cheering, and cap- tured the position with scarcely a struggle. They were seen from the hills three miles away, anil the cheers from there could be heard by the victorious troops. There was one blockhouse left. Captain Clarke was detailed bv General Chaffee to take it with 142 Till-: TERRIFIC STRUGGLE IV SANTIAGO. one company. 1 te advanced under an awful fire up and over the intrenchments, and the battle was won. The Spaniards retreated in disorder. Every street leading out of the town was filled with the fleeing enemy. One hundred and twenty-five of them were captured. THE SEVENTY-FIRST IX ACTION. The Seventy-first New York, which had been fol- lowing General Law-ton toward El Caney, found the road taken by the Twenty-fourth Regiment, who were using it as a firing line. The Seventy-first turned oflf to the left toward Santiago and joined the Sixth and Sixteenth regiments, all three belonging to the First Division of the Fifth Army Corps. Colonel Kent, of the Sixteenth Regiment, had a company of the Sev- enty-first's stragglers put out as pickets along the road guarded by Capt. M. A. Rafferty, of Company F, Sev- enty-first Regiment, who distinguished himself in the fighting. A Spanish blockhouse on a hill a mile away was giv- ing trouble. The Sixteenth Regiment advanced as skir- mishers. The Sixth Regiment advanced on the left and the Seventy-first on the right to support the Sixteenth. Captain Rafferty's company held the right of the line of skirmishers. Half a mile of the hill was wooded, which afforded protection to our men, but the last half mile was open, level land, where there was not the 144 THE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. slightest chance to escape from the fire of the enemy. The skirmishers were half way across the open space, and it looked as though the capture of the blockhouse would be easy, when, without warning, the whole hill- side rained shot and shell upon the advancing line. The Spaniards had waited until there was no chance for our men to get back under cover before opening fire on them. The Seventy-first dashed out into the opening, facing the fire of shrapnel that burst in their ranks, tearing holes four men deep, while Mauser bullets kept drop- ping the men. The boys never wavered. They closed their ranks as they were torn open. They marched in the sweeping, deadly fire to the aid of the Sixteenth Regiment. The officers ran along the line calling upon their men to keep cool and move forward. They were in the most exposed position. Before they were half way across the field. the Seventy-first had lost over sev- enty men killed and wounded. The fire grew more awful every minute. The enemy were behind breastworks and out of sight. Tnto the face of this fire our men went. They broke into a run and headed straight into it. SPLENDID FIGHTTNG OF THE SEVENTY-FIRST AND SIXTH. The Sixth Regiment came out after the Seventy-first in the face of the same fire. Their ranks were cut to THE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. 145 pieces, but there was no flinching. Right into the teeth of it, on across the open, cheering as they ran, the whole body dashed up the hill, the Spaniards still pour- ing their deadly fire into them. Half way up the hill our men caught sight of the en- emy, and for the first time returned their tire at close range, with deadly effect. Captain Rafferty's company was now leading. They dashed up the hill to its crest with bayonets fixed and charged on the trenches, driv- ing the Spaniards out at the point of the bayonet and shooting them as they fled. They captured the block- house, and before they were through the hill was cov- ered with dead Spaniards. The pits were also full of dead and wounded, who were thrown out by the Ameri- cans. Three Spaniards were captured. After the Americans had emptied the pits they occu- pied them themselves. Nearly every one of Captain Rafferty's men was wounded, but they refused to leave. They held the pit for an hour, until the sharpshooters and artillery on the next hill made it too hot for them. Captain Rafferty saw that he could not gain anything by holding the captured position, so he withdrew his men over the crest and half way down the hill out of range of the Spaniards. With reinforcements from his own regiment, he made a move to the left flank, his men crawling on their bellies until they got in position to concentrate their fire on the Spaniards on the other 1-lfi TEE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. hill. They soon drove the enemy into their trenches and held this position for three-quarters of an hour, while the Seventy-first, Sixteenth and First regiments moved around to the right, and, in face of another blinding fire, charged up the second hill, dislodging the S] laniards, driving them out of their trenches and cap- turing some prisoners and a stand of colors. The Spaniards, who were driven off, reformed in other trenches and the battle went on for hours. The Span- iards tried to recapture their position, but were driven off again and again with heavy losses. The Americans passed on fighting and drove them out of their trenches again, the enemy leaving their dead and wounded behind them. FIRING ON OUR WOUNDED. It was at this point that the Spaniards showed them- selves incapable of carrying on civilized warfare, and acted in a way which many thought called for reprisals. They deliberately fired on our wounded as they were being taken from the field, but, fortunately, despite their evil intentions, they did little harm. At the latest reports the steady advance of the Amer- icans had carried them to within half a mile of Santiago. In the whole day's fighting Col. Wallace A. Downs, of the Seventy-first Regiment; Adjt. Alfred H. Abell, 77//: TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. 147 of the Second Battalion, and Adjt. Harris B. Fisher were conspicuous for their bravery. Chaplain George Vanderwater was in the field. He was always in the thickest of the fight, encouraging the men and helping to dress wounds. He won the hearty admiration of his own men and also that of the regulars. CHARGING THROUGH THE JUNGLE. On every hilltop around Santiago was a blockhouse and intrenchments. There were probably twenty, all told. The San Juan river runs at the foot of the San Juan hill on the far side from the city. There was a blockhouse on its bank. The Ninth Cavalry was sent to capture it while the Seventy-first Regiment was do- ing its fighting. Four troops of the second squadron under Captain Dummick took up a position at the left of the advance. The First Brigade of the cavalry divi- sion moved around in sight of a series of blockhouses that dotted the country as they did at Guantanamo. In the jungle and brush the men got separated and could not see each other. They made their way by circui- tous routes, eight miles all told, beating the brush as they went. All met on the right of the Second Brigade, and now for the first time the enemy discovered them and commenced firing, first with rifles and then with Gatling guns. Our troops at once responded. They adopted Indian tactics, and sought shelter as much as 148 THE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. possible, dodging from tree to tree, but always advanc- ing. The volley firing was not effective. A lot of our men saw the Spaniards moving from work to work and from brush to brush. They asked permission for the sharpshooters to get their work in, and got it. The Spaniards were only 300 yards away, and our boys picked off everyone who showed himself. Occasionally two or three were seen to cut and run for the rear. They were invariably brought down. Then the Spaniards became demoralized and their shooting was very wild. Meanwhile the Ninth, Cavalry advanced steadily. At 3 o'clock in the afternoon the First and Tenth cavalry came up, as did also the Rough Riders, who, after their terrific fight, were also ready for more. Colonel Taylor took the Ninth out and flanked the enemy on the left, between our troops and the river. The jungle was up to their shoulders. All the troops advanced int.. this. The enemy had recovered meanwhile and was sending a heavy fire into our ranks. Men were dropping every- where. Some one set up the old-fashioned rebel yv\\ and the others took it up as one man. The soldiers leaped forward, charging and shooting across the field of manigua to the river. The steep banks were mud.lv. but our men dashed and slid down them, yelling like mad. Across the stream they went and up the other side, the Spaniards pouring shot and shell into them at THE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. 149 a lively rate. They could no more stop the advance, however, than they could have stopped an avalanche. The blockhouse, ioo yards away, continued its fire and contested every inch of the advance. The yelling and enthusiastic Americans charged on the block- house, driving the enemy before them. They held their position for a while, but the enemy opened fire on them with heavy artillery from another hill. The enthusiasm of the Ninth Cavalry was at its high- est pitch, and so it was with the other troops. Only annihilation could drive them back; the Spaniards could not. Their fire was returned with rifles. The sharp- shooting was fine, Colonel Taylor directing it. The Americans held their position in spite of every- thing. STORMING SAN JUAN. Now there was but one position left to carry — San Juan itself. The batteries there were heavy, and there were earthworks everywhere, besides a stone house, which was an important defence. The whole hill was filled with Spaniards. All day long a balloon had been working, in charge of Lieutenant Maxfield. It was raised 200 feet, and from it Lieutenant Maxfield was able, from observation, to pick out the enemy's position in the brush and to send word to the earth to aid the soldiers in driving them out. He located all the enemy on the San Juan hill. The balloon was fired on fre- 150 THE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. quently, and finally it had to be withdrawn two miles for safety. Even at that distance Lieutenant Maxfield was still able to give valuable aid. At 4 o'clock in the afternoon General Hawkins him- self, with the Third and Sixth cavalry and the Thir- teenth and Sixteenth infantry, started for the hill. The Rough Riders and Seventh, Ninth and Tenth regiments were the second in the line. The hill was steeper than any that had already been taken, and there were more Spaniards on it, with heavier guns, and the men knew how to use them. The charge was the greatest of the day and the mosl important, for the hill was the chief defence overlook- ing Santiago. General Hawkins called upon our men to charge. The Spanish fire seemed irresistible, but the men did not flinch. With yells they charged up the hill. The merciless shells tore gaps in their ranks, but on they went, inspired by General Hawkins and their offi- cers. Company E, of the Sixteenth Infantry, was the furthest in front. Captain McFarland was killed in the first moments of the rush. His company wavered *a moment, and then Lieutenant Carey jumped into the lead and yelled: "Come on, Company E!" The com- pany dashed on, but a few minutes later Lieutenant Carey was killed. None of the men seemed to realize the terrific, deadly fire that was being poured into their faces. On thev went like demons. The officers were 152 THE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. everywhere ahead of their men. General Hawkins, with his sword waving, was in advance of all. Not only from the front, but from the side the hottest Kind of fire was directed against the Americans, cutting their ranks to pieces. There was no halt until the top of the hill was reached, when the Americans dashed among the Spaniards, drove them out and bayonetted and cut them to pieces. Captain Cavanagh planted the flag on the hilltop, and the sight of it caused unbounded enthusiasm. OUR FEARFUL LOSS. Our loss was fearful, but we had carried the position which commanded the city. The trenches were full of dead Spaniards. Each trench had contained thirty men, and twenty bodies were found in some of them and twenty-five in others. Some of our companies had only twenty or twenty-five men who were not wounded. The hill once carried, the work of strengthening the position began immediately. The stone house was still to be captured. During the afternoon the wounded, as they were being carried off, were constantly fired at by the Spaniards. The men who were carrying the wounded, and who were under the protection of the Red Cross, were shot down without the slightest com- punction by Spanish riflemen. The Americans took 149 prisoners. The Second Massachusetts Regiment came up in the TEE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. 153 afternoon and aided in holding the position. Their Springfield rifles made so much smoke that it aided the enemy, and they were finally ordered to cease firing. Colonel Liscomb, of the Twenty-fourth Regiment, was shot through the lungs, and Captain O'Neill, of the Rough Riders, was killed in the same charge. While these fights were going on inland, Admiral Cervera's ships threw an occasional shell into the hills, but could not do much for fear of hurting their own men. Now and then, however, these shells caused havoc among our troops. THE FIGHT A* AGUADORES. General Duffield and his men had carried out their part in aiding our fleet. Aguadores, as has already been said, is on the seaside. Through the mountain, back of it, is a gulch through which the river and rail- road run. Batteries, said by the Cubans to be stronger than those at Santiago, are placed on rocky crags on the west of the gulch, while a masonry fort is situated on the east side, half a mile in shore. Between the fort and the shore was a railroad bridge over the river, which the Spaniards destroyed a week ago. The scenery is exactly like that of the Palisades. Shortly after daylight the New York moved up from the Santiago squadron and was followed by the Su- wanee and Gloucester. At 7 o'clock Dufficld's men 1f»4 THE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. arrived on a railroad train, which stopped a mile east of the bridge. The Michigan men jumped oft, and, led by the Cubans, marched up the track. Meantime the old fort looked deserted, there being no sign of life any- where except on an embankment near the top of the ridge east of the gulch, where men were seen moving. The Suwanee moved in ahead of the flagship. Com- munication was established between the army and flag- ship by means of a white cloth tied to a stick, which was displayed from the top of the water tank. Eight troops started inland under the guidance of a Cuban. An hour later two volleys were heard, but no smoke was seen. The Gloucester, which was cleared for action, began to fire. She dropped three shells into one of the two rifle pits seen on the hill back and to the east. Clouds of dust were thrown np as the shells ex- ploded. The Suwanee then opened fire and was fol- lowed by the New York. THE SUWANEE OPENS THE BALL. The gunboat Suwanee started the shooting at the fort. The Gloucester banged away at everything in sight. The Suwanee got the range of the fort on the second shot. The New York's aim was magnificent lv true, the shore batteries being hit every time by her big shells, causing the hills to echo. Clouds of blue smoke, red with dust, obscured every- THE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. 155 thing. This was kept up for an hour, and it seemed that every inch of the neighborhood had been plowed up by the warships' missies. In the meantime the Su- wanee kept pegging away at the fort. Every shell that went through must have killed many. They exploded inside. There was a huge red and yellow flag at the corner of the fort. Commander Delahanty fired and hit it just at the base of the staff. The men on the New York and Gloucester cheered lustily. No one was seen within the fort, but the tilted flagstaff was straightened. The commander fired four times and hit the fort every time, but not the flag MIGHTY GOOD MARKSMANSHIP. The fifth time the flag and staff were tilted again. The sixth shell struck the flag squarely in the middle, tearing the flag to ribbons; the seventh cut the pole in two — mighty good shooting at the range of 2000 yards. This splendid marksmanship was received with cheers and the roars of the warships' sirens. The men on the New York and Gloucester took so much interest in it that they had ceased firing. Now they resumed, and it rained shell everywhere. The fort was hit often. Rig holes were knocked in it, and blocks of granite were thrown into the air to fall into crumbled dust. So far the answering fire, if any, 156 THE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE 17' SANTIAGO. was too feeble to be noticed. Now and then there was a puff of smoke at places where batteries were supposed to be. The next moment a shell from one of the ships would hit the spot. No shots from the forts were seen to hit. While the firing was going on the Yale, Newark and Vulcan arrived, crowded with soldiers. They ran alongside the New York. The soldiers cheered every shot. They wanted to land then, but the sun was too high. All the ships carried huge American flags. The Newark had the largest of the lot. She sailed away in under the guns of Morro, so that from her decks tin- Spaniards could be seen with the naked eye, but she didn't draw their fire, although she steamed up and down twice. She signalled to the New* York for per- mission to join in the fire against Aguadores, but the flagship answered no. The two little ones wanted the fun all to themselves. The Yale was sent to Siboney to unload. The Newark continued parading in front of Morro until u o'clock. Then firing ceased for half an hour and the ships took up new positions, opening again over the same ground, except the New York. She sent her shells up the valley as far as the eye could see, bursting and spreading death about them. After the second renewal of the firing the bushes parted and men in single file came out. The first car- TEE TERRIEIf 1 STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. 157 ried a Red Cross flag, the last had the same banner in his hand; the party had half a dozen wounded men and two dead. There was another stop at noon, then the firing was resumed with greater energy, the shots being aimed at the masked batteries. The result was not seen from the ships, but the soldiers inland saw the great shells passing over their heads burst. The firing lasted until 2. 20 o'clock. The soldiers who came out said that the shells had ruined all the fortifications. OUR POSITION ON FRIDAY NIGHT. Darkness on Friday night saw our army entrenched everywhere before the city. The firing stopped then for a while. Just before dark the dynamite gun, which was with the Rough Riders, became jammed, but all day it was in running order and did telling work. It threw shells into Santiago itself. One wrecked a large build- ing, and soldiers could be seen running in every direc- tion from the explosion. DRESSING WOUNDS ALL NIGHT. Throughout the night the picket firing was constant. All the spare men were engaged in carrying the wounded back to Siboney and burying the dead on the battlefield. The wounded were carried in army wagons, which jolted over the stones during the weary passage 158 THE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. of nine long miles. At Siboney doctors were ready and Red Cross nurses who had been landed from the steamer State of Texas. The nurses did wonderful work. The doctors say they could not do without them, and they want more. In the cases of a large per- centage of the wounded operations were necessary; the tables were filled and hundreds were waiting their turn. The work went on steadily all night by the light of small lanterns and candles. Tt was a strange scene in the huge tents. When their wounds had been dressed the men were carried out and laid upon the grass in blankets. Saturday's bombardment by the fleet. Orders were issued to the fleet last night to prepare to bombard. Before breakfast the line was formed. In the line were the Gloucester, New York, Newark, In- diana, Oregon, Iowa, Massachusetts, Texas, Brooklyn and Vixen in the order named. The gunners had re- ceived orders to fire slowly, but not to spare anything. The firing commenced at a signal raised upon the New York at ten minutes to 6 o'clock. The first shot was fired from the forward turret guns of the flagship. It was immediately answered by the batteries to the east and west of the harbor entrance. The other ships quickly took their cue from the New York, and the bombardment became general. Clouds of dust began 160 TEE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. to rise from the hillsides. The Spanish guns replied for ten minutes. Then the men seemed to desert them. Sampson's fire was maintained steadily for halt an hour, when the New York was ordered out of the line. The maneuvering of the big battleships during the action in front of Santiago evidently surprised the en- emy. As the ships changed positions, moving on to give those behind them a chance at the forts, the Span- iards began to shout, evidently thinking they were re- tiring disabled. But it was a sorry day for them, for every shot was answered by one which struck almost the exact spot whence the last tell-tale puff of smoke came from the, Spanish batteries. The Oregon, which led the way, firing deliberately, sailed in almost to the entrance of the harbor. The Indiana swung in to the east of the Oregon. When she opened up everyone of her guns was brought to bear, and they were observed by the dust and the masses of earth and brick, with here and there a cannon hurled high into the air. The ship was concealed by smoke, but, belching fire every second, she rained shells true to the mark until the east battery ceased to answer. The fighting was resumed about 5 o'clock on Satur- day morning. The Spaniards made a desperate effort to recapture San Juan hill. The hill was assaulted again and again, and each time the enemy was driven back with awful loss. Our Hotchkiss guns did great THE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. 161 execution. Finally the enemy was driven back upon the third intrenchment. Then the sharpshooting be- gan. We tried to plant a battery to dislodge them, but the fire was too hot. Man)- men were wounded, includ- ing a major of the Second Artillery. Finally the at- tempt to plant a battery there was abandoned. Another place was selected out of range, but whence great dam- age could be done against San Juan blockhouse. Once planted the battery opened fire, and an assault was made immediately upon the blockhouse. It was not over when the dispatch boat left. On the other hills Major Dillenbock, of the First Ar- tillery, commanding the American artillery, opened fire upon the Spanish intrenchments outside Santiago. With him were Parkhurst's, Grimes's and Burt's bat- teries. Ten minutes after the firing was begun Cap- tain Parkhurst was shot and badly wounded. A lot of others were disabled, the batteries not being strongly supported by the infantry and the position be- ing exposed to a raking fire from the Spanish sharp- shooters. The guns were withdrawn and taken to the hill at El Pozo, from which Captain Capron's batten- was shelling the Spanish lines. General Lawton marched from El Caney upon San tiago at the same time that the Ninth Massachusetts and the Twenty-third and Thirty-fourth Michigan came up the railroad track from Siboney. 1(!2 THE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. This was the position of the army when the last couriers left. There was fighting upon all sides, driving the Spaniards back inch by inch, but always back. The city was within easy reach; our heavy artillery was badly needed, but was not there. KNOCKED MORRO'S FLAG OVER. The Oregon took Morro Castle for her mark, and she knocked great holes in it everywhere. The big flag on the castle, which had waved lazily above the smoke nf every engagement, was lost sight of when the Ore- gon opened fire at just 7 o'clock. As the flag was knocked over the exultant yell from the battleship was taken up on the other ships and wild cheering fol- lowed. One shell struck the face of the old castle, which was now running rivulets of crumbled stone. At the next : hot a large section of the ramparts seemed to be car- vied away. After this there was no reply. The Oregon and Indiana were then ordered inshore until their guns were brought to bear upon the I'unta Gorda battery, behind Morro. They passed to the west directly under all the outer guns, firing quickly as they went. The result was not seen, but the bursting of the shells was heard. If the result was not seen outside it was by the American troops on El 1'ozo. A great explosion was seen on Tivoli Hill, where THE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. 163 Punta Gorda is, and there were thirty distinct explo- sions, all within a small area. Everything within it was blown to pieces, and the damage must have been ter- rific. The firing lasted until 8 o'clock. No flag flew on Morro after that during the day. The last part of the shooting from the fleet was spec- tacular. All the shells landed in or near the batteries. The whole hill was a cloud of smoke, dust and flying earthworks. As usual, when the fleet drew off the Spanish battery to the west of the harbor entrance fired thref or four parting shells that did no harm. None of our ships was hit at any time. THE FORMAL SURRENDER. A correspondent of the New York Herald, writing from Santiago de Cuba, thus describes the formal sur- render of the Spanish to the American forces: As the two commanders moved toward each other, their horses advancing at a slow walk, the adjacent hills were thronged with officers and soldiers of the con- quered and conquering armies. During the night the Spaniards had vacated their trenches, but groups were scattered all along the plateau which fronts our lines on that side. By General Shafter's order a line of sen- tries had been stationed at the outer limits of our lines, with instructions to permit none of our soldiers to pass bevond. 164 THE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. General Shafter and General Toral met about half way between the lines. The Spanish general and his staff, immaculately clad, approached General Shafter's part\- slowly. As the two commanders neared each other they rode slightly in advance of their attending officers, and when within easy speaking distance drew rein simultaneously and raised their hats. Immediately every officer on both sides uncovered his head and remained so until Shafter and Toral had replaced their hats. At the same moment General Shafter's cavalry escort deployed and presented sabres, to which the Spanish infantry responded by presenting arms. After exchanging salutations General Shafter took from Lieutenant Miley the sword and spurs of General Vera del Rev, who died bravely defending El Caney on July i, and presented them to General Toral with his compliments. General Toral appeared to be much affected as he received these souvenirs of his dead comrade in arms. He warmly thanked General Shafter and handed the sword and spurs to Colonel Fontaine, his chief of staff. General Shafter then announced that he was ready to receive the surrender of the city under the terms of capitulation already agreed upon and signed. General Toral, speaking in Spanish, then said: "I deliver up the city and province of Santiago de Tuba into the authority of the United States." THE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. 165 General Toral then made a motion as if to offer his sword, but this instantly was checked by General Shaffer. General Toral and the members of his staff were then introduced to the principal American officers. While this function was under way the Ninth Regular Infantry, in full marching order, advanced from our lines. The American infantry took a position at the rear, having been selected as the regiment to occupy the city. They carried dog tents, haversacks and cooking uten- sils. At the same time the Thirteenth Infantry de- scended into the valley to receive the Spanish garrison, which began to emerge from the city and which slow- marched along the broad road until within 30c yards of our lines. As the Spanish soldiers filed past General Toral they saluted him, and he gravely bowed acknowledgment with sorrowful face. To the front the officers went and stacked their arms and then moved along into positions where the men could recline on the grass. The mem- bers of the garrison carried camp equipage and will not re-enter the city until ready to embark. This formality being over. General Toral saluted General Shaffer and turned toward the city. General Wheeler wheeled his horse, and the two commanders, conqueror and conquered, enter Santiago side by side. 166 THE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. The entire population of the city lined the streets or gazed upon the procession from the housetops and windows. A majority of the people seemed pleased to see the Americans enter, and welcomed our soldiers with glad faces and smiles. The cavalcade passed slowly through the streets until the plaza was reached. In front of the governor's pal- ace the two generals and the members of their staffs dismounted. The grand reception hall in the governor's palace had been prepared for the occasion. In a beautiful room, with high frescoed ceilings, General Toral for- mally turned over the city to General Shafter. General Ross and all the officials of the province and the muni- cipality were formally presented to General Shafter and his officers in the order of their rank. When the venerable Archbishop of Santiago entered there was a dramatic pause. The aged prelate, regally attired in his official robes of scarlet, came through an arched entrance, followed by four priests robed in white. When he was presented to General Shafter he bowed courteously and expressed gratification that further bloodshed had been averted. The archbishop added that he hoped for peace be- tween the two nations on terms as honorable to Spain as was this capitulation. Tt was difficult for the onlookers to realize that this 168 THE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. was the same man who, only a few weeks before, had given expression to such bloodthirsty defiance of the United States. It was now noon, the hour set for raising the Ameri- can flag over the governor's house. Up to this hour the time had passed pleasantly, the American and Spanish officers at the palace intermingling without re- straint. Everybody had been chatting pleasantly. Gen- eral Toral moved about, introducing different persons present and being apparently in the best of spirits. Captain McKittrick, Lieutenant Wheeler and Lieu- tenant Miley had been selected to perform the cere- mony of unfurling the flag, and at five minutes before noon they ascended to the cupola of the palace. As the cathedral bells rang out the hour of noon the stars and stripes shot to the top of the flagpole where for centu- ries had waved the banner of Spain. General Shafter, General Wheeler and every Ameri- can present uncovered, while the soldiers presented arms and the band played "The Star-Spangled Banner." With rare courtesy General Toral and his staff also uncovered and remained in that attitude until the strains of the music ceased. NAVAL BATTLE AT SANTIAGO. 169 CHAPTER V. NAVAL BATTLE AT SANTIAGO. CERVERA MADE A GREAT EFFORT, BUT IN TWO HOURS HIS FLEET WAS WRECKED — RIDDLED WITH SHELLS — HEAVY ARMOR, TOO, WAS PERFORATED WITH PROJECTILES FROM AMERICAN GUNS. Magnificent beyond description was the bold dash by which Cervera attempted to get his fleet out of Santiago harbor Cervera himself led the way with his flagship, the Cristobal Colon. It was to be a dash to liberty or to death, and the Spanish admiral made the plunge with eyes open. Sunday quiet rested over the entrance to Santiago harbor. No signs of life were visible about old Morro. Beyond and toward the city of Santiago all was still. After two days of fighting the armies of both nations were resting in their trenches. Off this way, for half a dozen miles from shore, most of the vessels of Admiral Sampson's fleet lay lazily at anchor. Admiral Sampson had set out in the morning to dislodge the Spanish from their works at Aguadores, where the Michigan troops were repulsed along the line of railway Saturday morn- ing while they were marching westward to seize the Morro battery and blow up the fort. The American torpedo-boats were not with the fleet. When Admiral Sampson left the Morro the battleships and the cruiser Brooklyn were grouped off the harbor mouth. COLON DARTED OUT FIRST. It is not known whether Admiral Cervera blew up the Mer- rimac or passed it in single column. The Cristobal Colon first glided out of the harbor and shot to the westward. Her two funnels and high, black bulwarks showed plain against the 17