The Boys of '98

“As we steamed by to-day in close range, our friends of the western battery, who paid a great deal of attention to us yesterday, banged away at us in fine style, and a number of shells burst around us. Finally, when I had them entirely off my mind and was paying attention only to the torpedo-boat destroyers, came a tremendous screech, and everybody on the forecastle dodged. It was their last; it fell about two hundred yards to our right. We did not reply as we came along. I thought it a waste of material, and thought they might have their amusement so long as they did no damage.

“There – the engines have stopped and we are back at Santiago; it is 4.30, and I shall turn in again for a final nap. The captain of the Colon is occupying my room; very nice fellow, about fifty-six, indeed, as are most Spanish naval officers, who, as a Cuban officer said to me, are the flower of the Spanish blood.

“We also have a general and his aid-de-camp, whom we took in the Colon, a nice old boy and very chirpy. The captain, of course, takes the loss of his ship to heart very much, but the general and his aid seem as cheerful as possible. I suppose they think ‘it’s none of their funeral.’

“I stored the general in Staunton’s room, Staunton going to Santiago in a torpedo-boat to send the news.

“We have got off our Spanish friends, and are now loafing. It is a great relief to feel that there is nothing to look after to-night.

“This goes in the St. Louis, so I hope you will have it before many days, and I hope, too, it won’t be long before I get to see you. I think this terrific defeat must go far toward ending things.”

CHAPTER XIII.

THE SURRENDER OF SANTIAGO

With the victory at El Caney and San Juan Hill fresh in their minds, the American people believed that the war was well-nigh at an end. Information that Spain had sued for peace was hourly expected.

There was much to be done, however, before the enemy was willing to admit himself beaten. The city of Santiago yet remained in the hands of the Spaniards, Manila was still defiant; and until those two strongholds had been reduced, the boys of ’98 must continue to struggle in the trenches and on the field.

The end was not far away, however.

July 5. General Shafter telegraphed to the War Department on the fifth of July to the effect that the people of Santiago were not only panic-stricken through fear of bombardment, but were suffering from lack of actual necessaries of life. There was no food save rice, and the supply of that was exceedingly limited. The belief of the war officials, however, was that the Spaniards would fight to the last, and capitulate only when it should become absolutely necessary.

Meanwhile the soldiers were waiting eagerly for the close of the truce, and, as the hour set by General Shafter drew near, every nerve was strained to its utmost tension once more. Then a white flag was carried down the line, and all knew the truce had been prolonged.

General Kent, whose division was facing the hospital and barracks of Santiago, was notified by the enemy that Assistant Naval Constructor Hobson and his companions were confined in the extreme northern building, over which two white flags were flying.

The citizens of Santiago, learning that General Toral refused to consider the question of surrender, began to leave the city, – a mournful procession.

General Shafter cabled to the government at Washington under date of July 5th:

“I am just in receipt of a letter from General Toral, agreeing to exchange Hobson and men here; to make exchange in the morning. Yesterday he refused my proposition of exchange.”

July 7. General Miles and staff left Washington en route for Santiago.

Lieutenant Hobson and the other Merrimac heroes were brought into the American lines on the morning of the seventh. The exchange of prisoners had been arranged to take place under a tree midway between the entrenchments occupied by the Rough Riders and the first lines of the Spanish position. Col. John Jacob Astor represented the American commander, and took with him to the rendezvous three Spanish lieutenants and fourteen other prisoners. Major Irles, a Spanish staff officer, acted for the enemy. The transfer was quickly effected, and once more the brave fellows who had set their lives as a sacrifice on the altar of their country were free.

July 10. The truce continued, with the exception of a brief time on the tenth, when the bombardment was resumed by the fleet, until the thirteenth, when Generals Miles, Shafter, Wheeler, and Gilmour had an interview with General Toral and his staff at a point about halfway between the lines.

July 13. During this interview the situation was placed frankly before General Toral, and he was offered the alternative of being sent home with his garrison, or leaving Santiago province, the only condition imposed being that he should not destroy the existing fortifications, and should leave his arms behind.

July 15. Not until two days later were the details arranged, and then the Spanish commander sent the following letter:

“Santiago de Cuba, July 15, 1898.

“Excellency Commander-in-Chiefof the American Forces.

“Excellent Sir: – I am now authorised by my government to capitulate. I have the honour to so advise you, requesting you to designate hour and place where my representatives should appear to compare with those of your excellency, to effect that article of capitulation on the basis of what has been agreed upon to this date.

“In due time I wish to manifest to your excellency that I desire to know the resolution of the United States government respecting the return of arms, so as to note on the capitulation, also the great courtesy and gentlemanly deportment of your great grace’s representatives, and return for their generous and noble impulse for the Spanish soldiers, will allow them to return to the peninsula with the arms that the American army do them the honour to acknowledge as dutifully descended.

(Signed) “Jose Toral,“Commander-in-Chief Fourth Army Corps.”

July 16. Commissioners on behalf of the United States and of Spain were appointed, and after but little discussion an agreement between them was arrived at.

The agreement consists of nine articles.

The first declared that all hostilities cease pending the agreement of final capitulation.

Second: That the capitulation includes all the Spanish forces and the surrender of all war material within the prescribed limits.

Third: The transportation of the troops to Spain at the earliest possible moment, each force to be embarked at the nearest port.

Fourth: That the Spanish officers shall retain their side-arms and the enlisted men their personal property.

Fifth: That after the final capitulation, the Spanish forces shall assist in the removal of all obstructions to navigation in Santiago Harbour.

Sixth: That after the final capitulation the commanding officers shall furnish a complete inventory of all arms and munitions of war, and a roster of all the soldiers in the district.

Seventh: That the Spanish general shall be permitted to take the military archives and records with him.

Eighth: That all guerrillas and Spanish regulars shall be permitted to remain in Cuba if they so elect, giving a parole that they will not again take up arms against the United States unless properly paroled.

Ninth: That the Spanish forces shall be permitted to march out with all the honours of war, depositing their arms to be disposed of by the United States in the future. The American commissioners to recommend to their government that the arms of the soldiers be returned to those “who so bravely defended them.”

General Shafter cabled at once to Washington the cheering news:

“Camp Near Santiago, July 16.

“The surrender has been definitely settled and the arms will be turned over to-morrow morning, and the troops will be marched out as prisoners of war.

“The Spanish colours will be hauled down at nine o’clock, and the American flag hoisted.

“Shafter, Major-General.”

July 17. The ceremony of surrendering the city was impressive, and, as can well be imagined, thrilling for those boys of ’98 who had been standing face to face with death in the trenches.

At six o’clock in the morning Lieutenant Cook, of General Shafter’s staff, entered the city, and all the arms in the arsenal were turned over to him. The work of removing the mines which obstructed navigation at the entrance of the harbour had been progressing all night. At about seven o’clock General Toral, the Spanish commander, sent his sword to General Shafter, as evidence of his submission, and at 8.45 A. M. all the general officers and their staffs assembled at General Shafter’s headquarters. Each regiment was drawn up along the crest of the heights.

Shortly after nine o’clock the Ninth Infantry entered the city. This position of honour was given them as a reward for their heroic assault on San Juan Hill.

The details of the surrender are thus described by a correspondent of the Associated Press, who accompanied General Shafter’s staff:

“General Shafter and his generals, with mounted escort of one hundred picked men of the Second Cavalry, then rode over our trenches to the open ground at the foot of the hill on the main road to Santiago, midway to the then deserted Spanish works. There they were met by General Toral and his staff, all in full uniform and mounted, and a select detachment of Spanish troops.

“What followed took place in full view of our troops.

“The scene was picturesque and dramatic. General Shafter, with his generals and their staffs grouped immediately in their rear, and with the troops of dashing cavalrymen with drawn sabres on the left, advanced to meet the vanquished foe.

“After a few words of courteous greeting, General Shafter’s first act was to return General Toral’s sword. The Spanish general appeared to be touched by the complimentary words with which General Shafter accompanied this action, and he thanked the American commander feelingly.

“Then followed a short conversation as to the place selected for the Spanish forces to deposit their arms, and a Spanish infantry detachment marched forward to a position facing our cavalry, where the Spaniards were halted. The latter were without their colours.

“Eight Spanish trumpeters then saluted, and were saluted, in turn, by our trumpeters, both giving flourishes for lieutenant and major-generals.

“General Toral then personally ordered the Spanish company, which in miniature represented the forces under his command, to ground arms. Next, by his direction, the company wheeled and marched across our lines to the rear, and thence to the place selected for camping them. The Spaniards moved rapidly, to the quick notes of the Spanish march, played by the companies; but it impressed one like the ‘Dead March’ from Saul.

“Although no attempt was made to humiliate them, the Spanish soldiers seemed to feel their disgrace keenly, and scarcely glanced at their conquerors as they passed by. But this apparent depth of feeling was not displayed by the other regiments. Without being sullen, the Spaniards appeared to be utterly indifferent to the reverses suffered by the Spanish arms, and some of them, when not under the eyes of their officers, seemed to secretly rejoice at the prospect of food and an immediate return to Spain.

“General Toral, throughout the ceremony, was sorely dejected. When General Shafter introduced him by name to each member of his staff, the Spanish general appeared to be a very broken man. He seems to be about sixty years of age, and of frail constitution, although stern resolution shone in every feature. The lines are strongly marked, and his face is deep drawn, as if with physical pain.

“General Toral replied with an air of abstraction to the words addressed to him, and when he accompanied General Shafter at the head of the escort into the city, to take formal possession of Santiago, he spoke but few words. The appealing faces of the starving refugees streaming back into the city did not move him, nor did the groups of Spanish soldiers lining the road and gazing curiously at the fair-skinned, stalwart-framed conquerors. Only once did a faint shadow of a smile lurk about the corners of his mouth.

“This was when the cavalcade passed through a barbed-wire entanglement. No body of infantry could ever have got through this defence alive, and General Shafter’s remark about its resisting power found the first gratifying echo in the defeated general’s heart.

“Farther along the desperate character of the Spanish resistance, as planned, amazed our officers. Although primitive, it was well done. Each approach to the city was thrice barricaded and wired, and the barricades were high enough and sufficiently strong to withstand shrapnel. The slaughter among our troops would have been frightful had it ever become necessary to storm the city.

“Around the hospitals and public buildings and along the west side of the line there were additional works and emplacements for guns, though no guns were mounted in them.

“The streets of Santiago are crooked, with narrow lines of one-storied houses, most of which are very dilapidated, but every veranda of every house was thronged by its curious inhabitants, – disarmed soldiers. These were mostly of the lower classes.

“Few expressions of any kind were heard along the route. Here and there was a shout for free Cuba from some Cuban sympathiser, but as a rule there were only low mutterings. The better class of Spaniards remained indoors, or satisfied their curiosity from behind drawn blinds.

“Several Spanish ladies in tumble-down carriages averted their faces as we passed. The squalor in the streets was frightful. The bones of dead horses and other animals were bleaching in the streets, and buzzards, as tame as sparrows, hopped aside to let us pass.

“The windows of the hospitals, in which there are over fifteen hundred sick men, were crowded with invalids, who dragged themselves there to witness our incoming.

“The palace was reached soon after ten o’clock. There General Toral introduced General Shafter and the other American generals to the alcalde, Señor Feror, and to the chief of police, Señor Guiltillerrez, as well as to the other municipal authorities.

“Luncheon was then served at the palace. The meal consisted mainly of rum, wine, coffee, rice, and toasted cake. This scant fare occasioned many apologies on the part of the Spaniards, but it spoke eloquently of their heroic resistance. The fruit supply of the city was absolutely exhausted, and the Spaniards had nothing to live on except rice, on which the soldiers in the trenches of Santiago have subsisted for the last twelve days.”

Ten thousand people witnessed the ceremony of hoisting the stars and stripes over the governor’s palace in Santiago.

A finer stage setting for a dramatic episode it would be difficult to imagine. The palace, a picturesque old dwelling in the Moorish style of architecture, faces the Plaza de la Reina, the principal public square. Opposite rises the imposing Catholic cathedral. On one side is a quaint, brilliantly painted building with broad verandas, the club of San Carlos; on the other a building of much the same description, the Café de la Venus.

Across the plaza was drawn up the Ninth Infantry, headed by the Sixth Cavalry band. In the street facing the palace stood a picked troop of the Second Cavalry, with drawn sabres, under command of Captain Brett. Massed on the stone flagging between the band and the line of horsemen were the brigade commanders of General Shafter’s division, with their staffs. On the red-tiled roof of the palace stood Captain McKittrick, Lieutenant Miles, and Lieutenant Wheeler. Immediately above them, above the flagstaff, was the illuminated Spanish arms, and the legend, “Vive Alphonso XIII.”

All about, pressing against the veranda rails, crowding to windows and doors, and lining the roofs, were the people of the town, principally women and non-combatants.

As the chimes of the old cathedral rang out the hour of twelve, the infantry and cavalry presented arms. Every American uncovered, and Captain McKittrick hoisted the stars and stripes. As the brilliant folds unfurled in the gentle breeze against the fleckless sky, the cavalry band broke into the strains of “The Star Spangled Banner,” making the American pulse leap and the American heart thrill with joy.

At the same instant the sound of the distant booming of Captain Capron’s battery, firing a salute of twenty-one guns, drifted in.

When the music ceased, from all directions around our lines came flying across the plaza the strains of the regimental bands and the muffled, hoarse cheers of our troops.

The infantry came to “order arms” a moment later, after the flag was up, and the band played “Rally Round the Flag, Boys.”

Instantly General McKibben called for three cheers for General Shafter, which were given with great enthusiasm, the band playing “The Stars and Stripes For Ever.”

The ceremony over, General Shafter and his staff returned to the American lines, leaving the city in the possession of the municipal authorities subject to the control of General McKibben, who had been appointed temporary military governor.

CHAPTER XIV.

MINOR EVENTS

June 24. The details of the bloodless capture of the principal of the Ladrone Islands are thus told by a private letter from the naval officer who figured in the leading rôle of the exploit, Lieutenant William Braunerzruther, executive officer of the cruiser Charleston:

“U. S. S. Charleston, at Sea and One“Thousand Miles from Manila,“June 24, 1898.

“We have just carried out our orders to capture the Spanish authorities at the capital of the Ladrone Islands, Agana. I was selected by the captain to undertake this job, and given 160 men to land as a starter.

“I went ashore to have a talk with the governor about affairs, and the results were that I did not lose even a single man. The matter was all settled in one day, and we are carrying with us fifty-four soldiers (Spanish) and six officers, besides a lot of Mauser rifles and nearly ten thousand pounds of ammunition.

“I had the whole to handle, and did it quickly. The captain’s instructions were to wait a half hour for his answer to our ultimatum, then use my troops. I waited, and in just twenty-nine minutes the governor handed me his sealed reply addressed to the captain of our ship out in the harbour about four or five miles off.

“I knew this was sealed with the sole object of gaining time, and hence I broke the seal, read the contents, the governor protesting and saying that was a letter for my captain. I replied: ‘I represent him here. You are now my prisoners, and will have to come on board ship with me.’

“They protested and pleaded, and finally the governor said:

“ ‘You came on shore to talk over matters, and you make us prisoners instead.’ I replied: ‘I came on shore to hand you a letter and to get your reply; in this reply, now in my hand, you agree to surrender all under your jurisdiction. If this means anything at all, it means that you will accede to any demands I may deem proper to make. You will at once write an order to your military man at Agana (the capital; this place was five miles distant), directing him to deliver at this place at four P. M. (it was 10.30 A. M., June 21st) all ammunition and flags in the island, each soldier to bring his own rifle and ammunition, and all soldiers, native and Spanish, with their officers, must witness this.’

“They protested and demurred, saying there was not time enough to do it, but I said: ‘Señors, it must be done.’

“The letter was written, read by me, and sent. I took all the officers with me in a boat, and at four P. M. went ashore again and rounded in the whole outfit. I was three miles away from my troops, and I had only four men with me. At four P. M., when I disarmed 108 men and two officers, I had forty-six men and three officers with me.

“The key-note to the whole business was my breaking the seal of that letter and acting at once. They had no time to delay or prepare any treacherous tricks, and I got the ‘drop’ on the whole outfit, as they say out West.

“The native troops I released and allowed to return to their homes unrestricted; they had manifested great joy in being relieved from Spanish rule. While it is harsh, it is war, and in connection with the Spanish treachery it was all that could be done.

“Twenty-four hours would have – yes, I believe even four hours with a leader such as the governor was, a lieutenant-colonel in the Spanish army – given them a chance to hide along the road to Agana, and at intervals in the dense tropical foliage they could have almost annihilated any force that could land.

“The approaches to the landing over shallow coral reefs would have made a landing without a terrible loss of life almost an impossibility.

“We have increased by conquest the population of the United States by nearly twelve thousand people. The capital has a population of six thousand people. This harbour in which we were is beautiful, easy of access, plenty of deep water, admitting of the presence of a large number of vessels at the same time, and is an ideal place for a coaling station.

“If our government decided to hold the Philippines it would then come in so well; San Francisco to Honolulu twenty-one hundred miles, Honolulu to island of Guam thirty-three hundred, and thence to Manila sixteen hundred miles. With a chain of supply stations like this, we could send troops the whole year round if necessary, and any vessel with a steaming capacity of thirty-five hundred miles could reach a base of supplies.

“The details I have scarcely touched upon, but had the officers and soldiers dreamed for one moment that they were to be torn from their homes, there would, I feel sure, have been another story to tell, and I am firmly convinced this letter would never have been written.

“The captain, in extending to me his congratulations, remarked: ‘Braunerzruther, you’ll never, as long as you live, have another experience such as this. I congratulate you on your work.’

“All this whole affair was transacted in Spanish. I had an interpreter with me, but forgot all about using him. I did not want them to get a chance to think, even, before it was too late.”

June 25. The Florida and the Fanita left Key West Saturday, June 25th, under convoy of the Peoria, commanded by Lieut. C. W. Rice. On board the steamers were 65 °Cubans under Gen. Emilio Nunez, fifty troopers of the Tenth U. S. Cavalry under Lieutenants Johnson and Ahearn, and twenty-five Rough Riders under Winthrop Chanler, brother of Col. William Astor Chanler.

The cargoes were enormous. There were the horses of the cavalry and 167 sacks of oats and 216 bales of hay to feed them. Topping the list of arms were two dynamite guns, with 50-pound projectiles to fit them, and two full batteries of light field-pieces, ten 3-inch rifles of regular ordnance pattern, with harnesses that go with them, and 1,500 cartridges. In the matter of infantry rifles there were 4,000 Springfields, with 954,000 cartridges, and 200 Mausers, with 2,000 shells.

Fifty of the Cubans aboard were armed with Mausers, and the others had Springfields. For the insurgent officers were provided 200 army Colts and 2,700 cartridges. Two hundred books of United States cavalry and infantry tactics, translated into Spanish, were taken along. In the expedition were also 1,475 saddles, 950 saddle-cloths, and 450 bridles. For the Cuban soldiers there were taken 7,663 uniforms, 5,080 pairs of shoes, 1,275 blankets, 400 shirts, 450 hats and 250 hammocks.

There were these commissary stores carried, calculated by pounds: Bacon, 67,275; corn-meal, 31,250; roasted coffee, 10,200; raw coffee, 3,250; sugar, 2,425; mess pork and beef, 9,600; corned beef, 24,000; beans 18,900; hardtack, 1,250; cans of corn, 1250.

June 29. The expectation was that the landing would be effected at San Juan Point, on the south coast of Cuba, midway between Cienfuegos and Trinidad. This place was reached Wednesday evening, June 29th. A scouting party put off in a small boat and sculled toward shore, but had made only half the distance when there came a lively fire from what had been taken to be an abandoned blockhouse near the point. The men were called back and the three ships moved to the eastward. About four o’clock the next afternoon they arrived at Las Tunas, forty miles away.