cavalry division, " and it was believed by many that a serious night attack had been made." The lieutenant tells how two officers near his position tried to stop the waste of ammunition in the dark. Lieutenant-Colonel Roosevelt strode along the trenches in front of the Rough Riders and told them that "he thought cowboys were men who shot only when they could see the whites of the other fellow's eyes." Captain Ayres, of the Tenth Cavalry, called to his negro troopers that they were "no better than the Cubans," upon which the men laughed and ceased their wild firing.* How wild it was is shown by the fact that some American officers reported that they were fired upon from their own lines.

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On their side, at the same time, the Spaniards. believed that they had sustained and repelled an attack. A little before ten P. M.," says Lieutenant Müller, "the enemy, who no doubt intended to surprise us, furiously attacked our lines, and was repulsed with great loss."

At six o'clock on the evening of the 2d, General Shafter summoned his division commanders to meet him at El Pozo. The conference began about eight, and each of the officers he had sent for-Wheeler, Lawton, Kent, and Bates-beginning with the junior, gave his view of the situation. The four men were not unanimous upon the question of a withdrawal; but after an hour's discussion, Shafter

for surrender,

July 3.

stated his intention of making no First demand move at present. Early the next morning he took two steps which may at first seem somewhat contradictory, but which can readily be reconciled. He telegraphed to the Secretary of War:

* Lieutenant Parker seems to date this incident as occurring "on the night of the 3d" (The Gatlings at Santiago, p. 161), but the night of the 2d must be meant, as firing was suspended at noon on July 3d until ten A. M. on the 5th.

This appears, in the translation published by the Navy Department, as "ten A. M."-an evident mistake, as it occurs at the end of the

We have the town well invested on the north and east, but with a very thin line. Upon approaching it we find it of such a character and the defences so strong it will be impossible to carry it by storm with my present force, and I am seriously considering withdrawing about five miles and taking up a new position on the high ground between the San Juan River and Siboney, with our left at Sardinero, so as to get our supplies to a large extent by means of the railroad, which we can use, having engines and cars at Siboney.

At the same time he sent a flag of truce into the enemy's lines with this message to the "commanding general of the Spanish forces":

SIR: I shall be obliged, unless you surrender, to shell Santiago de Cuba. Please inform the citizens of foreign countries, and all women and children, that they should leave the city before ten o'clock to-morrow morning.

In the fire of criticism, just and unjust, of which General Shafter has been the object, his despatch to Secretary Alger has been cited in proof of his vacillation and mental and physical debility. In reality, the fact that he demanded the enemy's surrender while he was warning his Government that he might be compelled to move backward, shows his correct estimate of the situation, and his promptness and resolution in availing himself of it. It was, to a certain extent, like Grant after the first day of Shiloh. His position was bad, and might become untenable, but he had reason to believe that that of the enemy was much worse. The Spanish troops were necessarily quite as exhausted as his own men; it was known that their food was meagre, and it was easy to guess that their ammunition was running low. The climate was but little less trying to them than to the Americans. Blockaded by sea, defeated on land, what could Toral see before him but destruction or surrender?

day's chronicle, and a few lines farther on the affair is called "a night surprise."

At Washington, where the situation was very imperfectly understood-Shafter's despatches had been few and not specially luminous-there was some natural anxiety. Secretary Alger had waited with the President until four o'clock that morning (July 3d) for news from the front, one of the last despatches they received on the 2d having been a request for more surgeons. It was nearly noon when the telegram telling of a possible retreat reached them. The secretary, a politician as well as a soldier, replied:

Of course you can judge the situation better than we can at this end of the line. If, however, you could hold your present position, especially San Juan heights, the effect upon the country would be much better than falling back.

Shafter's answer, received at Washington shortly after midnight, was brief and decided:

I shall hold my present position.

For in the meantime the situation had entirely changed. Cervera's squadron had gone out of the harbour, leaving the city to its fate.

CHAPTER XIII

THE SANTIAGO SEA FIGHT

DURING the battle of the 1st of July Cervera's ships threw a few shells in the direction of the American lines, but with little effect, as the intervening hills prevented any accurate aim. The Punta Gorda battery also joined in the firing, but its heavier guns turned seaward, and could not be brought to bear.

During the day the French consul at Santiago wrote to the admiral, inquiring whether he intended to bombard the city if the American troops occupied it, and requesting that he should not do so without giving notice. Cervera replied, next morning, that if the enemy entered Santiago he would at once turn his guns on the town, without further warning. The French official at once informed his countrymen and the other consuls, and there was something of a panic. Mr. Ramsden, the British representative, sent the civil governor of Santiago to see Cervera, who modified his truculent announcement— for there were more than twenty thousand women and children in the city-saying that he would bombard the place if the Americans took it and the inhabitants deserted it.*

* A detailed account of the incident appeared in the New York Sun, December 5, 1898, in which it was stated that Cervera's bloodthirsty design-quite foreign to the character displayed at other times by the gallant Spanish admiral-was frustrated only by the interference of the British Government. According to the Sun's historian, Ramsden telegraphed information of it to Sir Alexander Gollan, the British consul-general in Havana, at two o'clock A. M., July 2d. Gollan went to Blanco, but was rebuffed, Blanco telling him that Cervera was entirely at liberty "to take the measures which he should deem best for the success of the campaign"; but a protest to London caused a change of

On the morning of the 2d the harbour batteries were again shelled at close range by the blockading ships. This was in answer to a note from Shafter, requesting Sampson to keep up his fire upon Santiago. The action lasted two hours, the Spaniards making little attempt to reply; and a shot from the Texas accomplished what had not been done in all the bombardments of the blockade-it dismounted one of the six-inch guns in the Socapa, besides killing three men and wounding six, among the latter being Ensign Piña, the commander of the battery.

Cervera's sortie,
July 3.

Throughout the day Cervera made preparations for leaving the harbour, Blanco having sent him imperative orders to make a dash for Havana, in spite of the admiral's protest of his inability to cope with the blockading fleet.* The marines who had gone ashore to reinforce Linares were taken aboard, a pilot was sent to each ship, steam was made, and a little before half past nine o'clock on the morning of Sunday, July 3d, the six vessels, cleared for action, were moving toward the sea gate of the harbour that had sheltered them for forty-five eventful days.

heart, and the captain-general ordered Cervera to leave Santiago instead of bombarding it.

This version of the affair is not borne out by Mr. Ramsden's diary; indeed, it is contradicted at an essential point by his statement that it was ten o'clock on the morning of July 2d when he saw Cervera's note to the French consul. It must therefore be relegated to the already well-filled realm of war fiction.

* On September 10, 1898, according to a press report, Señor Aunon, the Spanish minister of marine, stated in the Cortes that Cervera "wanted to blow up his ships in the harbour; but I informed him that it would be preferable to leave the port and engage the enemy. General Blanco ordered Admiral Cervera to leave Santiago, and fixed the day of his departure."

Cervera's official report to Captain-General Blanco was read to representatives of the Madrid press on August 22, 1898, but no copies of it were given out. According to the version published by the Heraldo (translated by the Navy Department) it begins: "In obedience to your orders, in the face of that which would have happened, and of which you were informed, I left the bay of Santiago for sea on the 3d day of July." Its account of the battle is very brief.