The War Between Spain and the United States, Part III, Chapters VII-X [pp. 155-173]

THE WAR BETWEEN SPAIN AND THE UNITED STATES
It had been supposed that a general
assault would be made on the city during
Saturday morning. At midnight General
Shafter had announced:
We have Caney in our possession, and the whole
crest of the plateau at Caney. We have taken some
two thousand prisoners on this side of Santiago. The
Spaniards have been driven back into the city, and tomorrow we will take and enter it.
As the reports
to which the
troopshadbeen
subjectedcame
from the front,
however, General Shafter
abandoned the
plans of carrying the city by
assault. In his
firstdispatchto!
Washington he!
had estimated
the losses at
"above 400."
The figures
then crept up
to800, andthen
to "over 1000."
Orders for attack were then
countermanded, and later he
informed the
Secretary of
War that, "We
find the ground
of such character and the
defenses so
strong that it
will be impossible to carry
it by storm
with my present force."
The Americans
had won by such
flicted serious los
had displayed a s
the most trying c
tified the confider
in them, and b
strong expression
try in their achie
had believed the
in the most
nish had fought
s of destruction
less powder had
b losses are un vised the Madrid
Ginares had but
, and that "half
ors de combat."
derstatement of
the number en gaged. Gen eral Linares
was among
those severely
wounded,being
shot in the left
arm while try ing to rally his
men near the
close of the
first day. The
active com mand in Santi ago then fell to
General Jose
Toral.
The contro versy as to the
wounds made
by the small
bore rifles was
settled by the
action. At
close range the
wounds made
by the exit of
the bullet are
large and rag ged, so much
so that theyled
to a charge of
mutilation of
the dead after
the engage ment at Guandinary distances
an wound easily
teral Shafter repds are much less
ounds made with
the large number
oefw amputations.
Tlue of the insur,o settled. They
Photo by Taber
GENERAL MERRITT ON BRIDGE OF NEWPORT LEAVING FOR MANILA,
TAKEN FROM TUG, JUNE 29
165