The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, July 1, 1900, Page 6

THE 'SUNDAY CALL. General Shafier Telle of His Folurth of July at Santiago nahle for the Spanish fleet P v s iestroved I felt sure that : For thies or \ question of time bef » . 3y nander would be forc ew the suggestion again nder to save needless t betwe had b General Toral n a suspension the Feurth, to enable ind non-combatants d antiago foreign ¢ 1mens en and children that they re 10 o'clock to-mor- 1 your obedient Ry » this letter I received the folowing TIAGO DE SURA, July 3, 1808 eliency the neral “C: anding the United Btates, Near San Juan I have the ho e that you wiil bombard this 1 advise the foreigners, women h st leave the city be- ow morning. sty y to you that this city urrender and that 1 will inform the re tions of rejoici ba along We knew 1 had bec complished /“l\_A/ 5&fijfi4f T forelgn consuls and {nhabitants of the content ORAL, h Corps. Comm Several of the fore came into my lines and ask time given for them, the women iren, to do- city ed until 10 ted and Forces, In_con- officers during the interim your force ce no demon: wtration whatever upon those of my own. I am, with great respect, your obedient vant, WI . The effort to permit women, children and n combatants to leave Santiago ntirely in the interests of hu- as I thought it was too late in the century for an American army to fire upon a town filled with women and chil- dren. I therefore spent some little time making arrangements for the care and subsistence of the refugees. It was an interesting but sorrowful fight to see the thousands of poor cre: tures, principally Cubans, and, oons quently our friends, coming out of the city carrying their ‘babies and bundles. They were obliged to carry any luggage they might wish to take with them, as no horses or vehicles of any kind were al- lowed to be taken from the city. Every- thing they brought out was carried ubon Berrmeze Fors ‘parture to their backs. Of course, there was a great deal of excitement attending such a de- evade a bombardment, but was nsiderably more anxlety the Spaniards than the Cubans, elt a confidence in the American army. A surprisingly large number of men, aniards as well as Cubans, found thefr way out of the city to avold the ter- rors of & bombardment. The cessation of hostilities during the Fourth gave my troops a chance to re- cover from fatigue, while I was enabled to hurry up some reinforcements for the purpose of completing the investment of Santiago on the north. I wanted to strengthen my position as much as pos- sible on my right, for I knew that thirty miles from me, at San Luis, there were thirty-five hundred Spanish troops. and forty miles beyond, at Holguin, still far- ther north, ten thousand. From reports I expected these troops hourly to put in an appearance and attack me on the right. This delay also gave an opportunity to get up some batteries of light artiilery and place them in the line: also to inspect the entire length of the line (a ride of :.‘l‘:o:ud twenty-five miles), which I did a * I was fully convinced from my knowl- edge of the amount of their supplies that the Spanlards would be forced to surrend- er if given a little time, and I thought the result would be hastened if the men of their army could be made to understand there amon, who “osR that they would be treated well as prison- ers of war. I learned from the wounded Spanish officers and men captured at Kl Caney that they expected to be killed as soon as they fell into our hands. Acting upon this - information. ‘mined to offer to return all the wounded Spanish officers at El Caney who were able to Dbear transportation and who were willing to give their paroles not to serve against the forces of the United State larly exchanged. This offer w courteously accepted by the § cer, General Toral. These officer: as 'several of the wounded Span vates, twenty-seven in all, were their lines under the escort of a t cavalry. The troops, together with = lances™ containing wounded, were until regu- made and per- mitted to pass instde the Spanish lines—in fact, almost to the edege of the city—and were received with honors, the Spanish troops presenting arms to them. have every reason to belicve the re- turn of the Spanish prisoners had the de- sired effect, correcting among the troops in Santiago the false reports that had been circulated. Of this I was assured by the English Consul, who was thoroughly in touch with the sentiment of the citv 4 TREL ¢ O VERANGQ ©f JTAMPA /‘r’pffig?‘/ AT TAmPA Prior To 7 THE e S4usrG and was a very true friend of the Ameri can army. A coupie of hundred of our woundsd from tHE battles of the preceding were placed in ambulances and wagins and sent down to Siboney, whera they were placed in hospital until they could be sent back to the United States. I visited ail the general officers at their various quarters. I also communicated with Admiral Sampson and suggesied his forcing his way into the harbor, gestion that not favorably res t a bus many be given. It was only were least numerous that I coud sto a cup of coffee, some bacon and beans a little hard bread. I rememhat that I &= with General Law- 3 g my t hree-mile With an thousand men a commander a Y t F it twenty-one nvesting a city expect to have have ‘been bu which we n fa n than Jul well as the preceding days e following. “