Our War with Spain for Cuba's FreedomWhite, Trumbull
History
Our War with Spain for Cuba's Freedom
White, Trumbull
Cuba -- History; Spain -- Foreign relations -- United States; Spanish-American War, 1898; United States -- Foreign relations -- Spain
The Spanish set a trap one day during the blockade. The wily
Spaniards arranged a trap to send a couple of our ships to the
bottom. A small schooner was sent out from Havana harbor to draw
some of the Americans into the ambuscade. The ruse worked like a
charm. The Vicksburg and the Morrill, in the heat of the chase and
in their contempt for Spanish gunnery, walked straight into the
trap that had been set for them. Had the Spaniards possessed their
souls in patience but five minutes longer, not even their bad gun
practice would have saved our ships, and two more of our vessels
would lie at the bottom within two lengths of the wreck of the
ill-starred Maine.
Friday evening the Vicksburg and the Morrill, cruising to the west
of Morro Castle, were fired on by the big guns of the Cojimar
batteries. Two shots were fired at the Vicksburg and one at the
Morrill. Both fell short, and both vessels, without returning the
fire, steamed out of range. It would have been folly to have done
otherwise. But this time the Spaniards had better luck. The
schooner they had sent out before daylight ran off to the
eastward, hugging the shore, with the wind on her starboard
quarter. About three miles east of the entrance to the harbor she
came over on the port tack. A light haze fringed the horizon and
she was not discovered until three miles off shore, when the
Mayflower made her out and signaled the Morrill and Vicksburg.
THEY TAKE THE BAIT.
Captain Smith, of the Morrill, and Commander Lilly, of the Vicksburg,
immediately slapped on all steam and started in pursuit. The schooner
instantly put about and ran for Morro Castle before the wind. By doing
so she would, according to the well-conceived Spanish plot, lead the two
American warships directly under the guns of the Santa Clara batteries.
These works are a short mile west of Morro, and are a part of the
defenses of the harbor. There are two batteries, one at the shore, which
has been recently thrown up, of sand and mortar, with wide embrasures
for eight-inch guns, and the other on the crest of the rocky eminence
which juts out into the water of the gulf at the point.
The upper battery mounts modern 10-inch and 12-inch Krupp guns
behind a six-foot stone parapet, in front of which are twenty feet
of earthwork and a belting of railroad iron. This battery is
considered the most formidable of Havana's defenses except Morro
Castle. It is masked and has not been absolutely located by the
American warships. It is probably due to the fact that the Spanish
did not desire to expose its position that the Vicksburg and
Morrill are now afloat.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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