But now I must tell you about the next hard work that our soldiers had to do. On the last day of June, General Shafter gave orders that the whole Army was to move on toward Santiago the next day. General Shafter was sick, and stayed at headquarters in his tent, two miles away. Before Santiago could be reached, El Caney and San Juan had to be taken. So, on the first of July, early in the morning, six thousand of our troops, under brave officers, marched to attack El Caney. General Shafter thought this place could be taken in about an hour. [Illustration: Church at El Caney, Wrecked by American Shells.] The town of El Caney, four miles northeast of Santiago, lies in a broad valley. Beyond it, on the Santiago side, is a high, level piece of country. The houses in the town are built of stone, and have thick walls. The town was protected by a stone fort on a hill, and also by log forts, trenches, and covered places, where the Spaniards could stay under shelter while they fired. The stone fort on the hill was first attacked by our men, and if they had had more heavy cannon the work might have been easy. As it was, more than half the day passed, and, in spite of the hard work of our men, the fort still stood. Our men had no smokeless powder, and their firing made a big black cloud around them all the time, so that they could not see clearly. At last the stone walls of the fort began to weaken, and then our men were ordered to "storm." They ran along the valley, broke through fences of barbed wire, and went up the hill with such a rush that the Spaniards could not meet them, but fled down into the town. The other forts kept up firing for a while, but our men, now having the fort on the hill, forced the Spaniards farther and farther, and, by four o'clock, our men held the town. The whole place was strewn with dead Spaniards, and our own loss was heavy. Both sides had fought bravely, and the struggle had lasted nearly nine hours. [Illustration: General Henry W. Lawton.]