Spanish-American War, 1898 -- Regimental histories; United States. Army. Volunteer Cavalry, 1st
** Note: The total Spanish force in Santiago under General Linares
was 6,000: 4,000 regulars, 1,000 volunteers, and 1,000 marines and
sailors from the ships. (Diary of the British Consul, Frederick W.
Ramsden, entry of July 1st.) Four thousand more troops entered next
day. Of the 6,000 troops, 600 or thereabouts were at El Caney, and
900 in the forts at the mouth of the harbor. Lieutenant Tejeiro
states that there were 520 men at El Caney, 970 in the forts at the
mouth of the harbor, and 3,000 in the lines, not counting the
cavalry and civil guard which were in reserve. He certainly very
much understates the Spanish force; thus he nowhere accounts for the
engineers mentioned on p. 135; and his figures would make the total
number of Spanish artillerymen but 32. He excludes the cavalry, the
civil guard, and the marines which had been stationed at the Plaza
del Toros; yet he later mentions that these marines were brought up,
and their commander, Bustamente, severely wounded; he states that
the cavalry advanced to cover the retreat of the infantry, and I
myself saw the cavalry come forward, for the most part dismounted,
when the Spaniards attempted a forward movement late in the
afternoon, and we shot many of their horses; while later I saw and
conversed with officers and men of the civil guard who had been
wounded at the same time--this in connection with returning them
their wives and children, after the latter had fled from the city.
Although the engineers are excluded, Lieutenant Tejeiro mentions
that their colonel, as well as the colonel of the artillery, was
wounded. Four thousand five hundred is surely an understatement of
the forces which resisted the attack of the forces under Wheeler.
Lieutenant Tejeiro is very careless in his figures. Thus in one
place he states that the position of San Juan was held by two
companies comprising 250 soldiers. Later he says it was held by
three companies, whose strength he puts at 300--thus making them
average 100 instead of 125 men apiece. He then mentions another
echelon of two companies, so situated as to cross their fire with
the others. Doubtless the block-house and trenches at Fort San Juan
proper were only held by three or four hundred men; they were taken
by the Sixth and Sixteenth Infantry under Hawkins's immediate
command; and they formed but one point in the line of hills,
trenches, ranch-houses, and block-houses which the Spaniards held,
and from which we drove them. When the city capitulated later, over
8,000 unwounded troops and over 16,000 rifles and carbines were
surrendered; by that time the marines and sailors had of course
gone, and the volunteers had disbanded.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account