Spanish-American War, 1898 -- Regimental histories; United States. Army. Volunteer Cavalry, 1st
In all these figures I have taken merely the statements from the
Spanish side. I am inclined to think the actual numbers were much
greater than those here given. Lieutenant Wiley, in his book _In Cuba
with Shafter_, which is practically an official statement, states
that nearly 11,000 Spanish troops were surrendered; and this is the
number given by the Spaniards themselves in the remarkable letter
the captured soldiers addressed to General Shafter, which Wiley
quotes in full. Lieutenant Tejeiro, in his chap. xiv., explains that
the volunteers had disbanded before the end came, and the marines
and sailors had of course gone, while nearly a thousand men had been
killed or captured or had died of wounds and disease, so that there
must have been at least 14,000 all told. Subtracting the
reinforcements who arrived on the 2nd, this would mean about 10,000
Spaniards present on the 1st; in which case Kent and Wheeler were
opposed by at least equal numbers.
In dealing with the Spanish losses, Lieutenant Tejeiro contradicts
himself. He puts their total loss on this day at 593, including 94
killed, 121 missing, and 2 prisoners--217 in all. Yet he states that
of the 520 men at Caney but 80 got back, the remaining 440 being
killed, captured, or missing. When we captured the city we found in
the hospitals over 2,000 seriously wounded and sick Spaniards; on
making inquiries, I found that over a third were wounded. From these
facts I feel that it is safe to put down the total Spanish loss in
battle as at least 1,200, of whom over a thousand were killed and
wounded.
Lieutenant Tejeiro, while rightly claiming credit for the courage
shown by the Spaniards, also praises the courage and resolution of
the Americans, saying that they fought, "con un arrojo y una
decision verdaderamente admirables." He dwells repeatedly upon the
determination with which our troops kept charging though themselves
unprotected by cover. As for the Spanish troops, all who fought them
that day will most freely admit the courage they showed. At El
Caney, where they were nearly hemmed in, they made a most desperate
defence; at San Juan the way to retreat was open, and so, though
they were seven times as numerous, they fought with less
desperation, but still very gallantly.
I think we suffered more heavily than the Spaniards did in killed
and wounded (though we also captured some scores of prisoners). It
would have been very extraordinary if the reverse was the case, for we
did the charging; and to carry earthworks on foot with dismounted
cavalry, when these earthworks are held by unbroken infantry armed
with the best modern rifles, is a serious task.
V
IN THE TRENCHES
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