The miners' express. (Dubuque, Iowa) 1849-1854, 1851-10-01
-TY OF DUBUQUE, IOWA, OCTOBER /, /
From Cuba.
II lease cf .7merican Prisontrs-.turratire Of
Me ErncdiLini.

rs BY the arrival of the Winfield Scott, we ha
al later Intelligent from Cuba.
as Captains Kelly aud Haynes, and Lieut.
-, Van Vechten, who were concerned in the la
expedition, have been released by tie Capita
us General of Cuba
IT Lieut.. Van Vcchten taken up by Il
he Winfield Scott off Key West, and as alreat
:, announced, has arrived in this city. He W
released from prison and parlAned at the inte
Ut cesslon Of Capt. Platt, of the u S. sloop of W
d. Albany
IN letter from the Albany, dated Key Yves
Sept. s, gives the following particulars:
The Winfield Scott passes here to-day, ar
ID by her | send you intelligence Of the release
Col. HAYNES and Capt. Kelly, who were caI
"a tured in The late Cuban expedition. They weI
!, released by the Captain General, Conchn, upo
,fi Sheir promise to proceed TO New York and te
. the truth in regard t, the lanGi ~ of Lopc;
n TIER capture, and treatment. 1t was the Cap
: tain Generals intention that they should hav
gone on in the Empire City, on Sept lst, ba
by SOM accident they did not Get on board
. They were to have sailed Saturday, in th
ship Norma, tor'New York, and presume al
E! 81. A Mr. Van Eechten, of Albany, was ais
released at the request OF Capt. Plat, and h
/ was assured by the Captain General, that tn
lives OF the othrr prisoners were safe. Tae
q are in number l6o; all that survive of tie 43
lhat landed on the Ith under Lopez. G IN
Parker, in tae flay ship Saranac, went into Ha
vana on the 4th
From Narrative Of the expedition by Lieut.
E Van Nechten, we extract some additional par
Ii ulars He became conn. clcd with tie expe
dtion of Lopez at New Orleans and received
on the Both Of July last, an appointment as FRS
Lieut.. of Company B. of Col. w. l.. Criiten
dea's Regiment, LIST Ar,iilesyA commanded by
i Capt. James Sanders.
i "The expedition Continues the Narrative
eft New Orlrans al daybreak on the morning
of Sunday, Sd August, i'll the steamer Pauipcro
We remained in the river until "Wednesday tie
9th, ana left through the Northeast pass. The
intention at that time was 10 go to Key West,
and there take on board pilot for the river St
Johns-at which place we were to embark light
battery Of artillery, with ca:ssons, ammunition
and harness complete, together with 4 number
of cavalry saddles-and thence were to run t.
the south side of Cuba, and land as near as pos
sibla to Puerto Principe.
awhile at Key West, quantity of Brandy
and Champagne received on board, w,i;ch
was iin5ibed tolcrably freely. by Lopez and his
staff. About dusk of that day. no pilot appea. >
ing, Lopez called council, composed entirely
of the Cubans and Hungarans attached to his
staff, (no Americans being called,) who decided
to give up going to st. Johns river, and run
done at about 10 z. NJ.
"The next morning, owing to the variation of
the compass, from muskets being stacked near
it, we found ourselves il plain sight of the Marc
Castle, and about ~ miles distant; the vessel
was Immediately headed to the northward ard
westward and run out of sight of land
'At 2. II. we again stood in for the land
AM soon after dusk sent boat in to reconoiter,
which was hailed By sentry the walls Of tn,
fort, situated near Cabin Honda, the ship not
being II ,re than mile front il. As soon as the
boa. reported, lights were cx:ingu;shcd and
press of steam put on, the ship running to the
wcstwarl along the land. While running un-
der the charge of a pilot, the ship suddenly
struck, and 1t was necessary the force should be
Immediately furiCd About 9 o clock on the
morning of the 18th of August, the last Of Us
dscmbarked upon the shore Of what we had
been taught to consider would soon be the free
Island of Cuba. The first boats which landed
were fired upon by party of twenty men, who
fled on their fire being returned"
Lopez Immediately issued pronunciamento
to the inhabitants of Los Posas, village ten
miles distant, and marched ththex, leaving Col.
Crittenden at Cabanos to protect the stores.
Crittendcn followed during tie night. [The
subsequent attacks upon the forces under Lopez
and Crittenden are detailed by Lii ut. Van Fech-
tn with great mnut hess, but being verifca-
tions of the accounts already received we for
bear to publish them, and pass to other portions
of his Narrative.
Of the number of Americans killed and
wounded, and taken prisoners, Lielt. Van Vech-
ten gives the following account:
Cup to the time | left, the Spaniartfs could
account for 271 MISUNDERSTANDING Critten-
dens communication they had killed in ac-
ton; wounded men who were left on the field
and sick and fatigued men who gave out on the
march, and were left behind, and mon who n
they hunted down in the mountains with dogs
Those, with the l60 taken prisoners, making a
total of 43l men accounted for-eaving a ba-
lance of % men whose fate is yet unknown
the total force landed being 453 men. Of these
22, probably the greater portion are yet alive,
and in the mountains and the troops have
all been recalled to Havana, it is probable some
Of them may yet succeed in getting home.
"There were II coun.rymen N the party who
captured Lopez, each of whom was publicly
presented with 81 900 and a cross of honor, I'M
mcd;atcly after his execution
The writer states that he received assurances
from MIR. Sigur, one of the Editors of the .l'cic
Orleans Delta,
6 That revolt was regularly organized
among the Gre throughout the Island of
Cuba and they had elected General Lopez as
tn .ir leader, and their object was TO free Cuba
from the tyranny of pain, and either form
republic of their own, annex the island to
the United States. He told me that Lopez was
about toleave New Orleans for Cuba with abont
e., dr+d "A rvrrrI-ans- n,,d -trnt his faFscTrg
was the signal for general rising, and that
W thin ten days after The landing, he would be
at once at the head of an army of ten thousand
men; that there were also two VIII ,le rcgi
mants of Spanish troops to come over to him
with their equipments. The same story was
told 20 all. Was it so ?
The execution of Crittendan and men his
considered justiiiable by the prisoners now
in Havana and the story Of the muila.ion of
bodies is not verified.
Lieut.. Van Nechten openly asserts a that a.,
those letters, plrportng to be from Cuba, which
were published during the month of july. and
copied throughout the Union, were base forge
res, for the express purpnse of deceivng the
citizens of the United Utates, and ADVANCING
the sale Of Cuban bonds
$ Cuban bonds were worth or were seIinp a,
from 10 to 20 cents on the dollar when this cx
pedtion left Naturally they would Increase in
value as the prospect Of lbcraing Cuba became
more cert n /; and if this expedition succeeded,
as the pretended to think they would, Cuba
when ID rated from wha, they dpnomii.aicd tie
tyranny of Spain, would have been bnrdpned
with d. BIS of from fifty to one hundred million
dollars, al least fifty per cent of which would
have been i'll the pockets of these would be phi
lanthrophists, who active as they wished to he
thought in the holy cause of liberty, took the
best of good care to peril neither life nor their
own precious liberty in its behalf At the cx-
piration of the war, and after Cuba should have
bee ome free, then it was to be united to the
United States, and as a matter of course, the
payment Of these Cuban bonds was to be as
sumed by that Government -
He further believes that Crittenden was not
deserted by Lopez, and says
"Lopcz did not desert him, but in leaving
him, in dividing his command, committed one
Of those errors which eventually cost him his
life !; hut had Criitenden, the morning of
the 18th, gone on and join Lopez at Loss
Posas, instead of retreating to the sea, all
would have been wcll.-Th he would have
lost only the stores-as it WIS, he lost all
Why he did is inexplicable, and must ever
remain involved in mystery. Had Lopez carri-
ed but his original intention of landing near
Puerto Principe, the result might have been
fferent-he might there, perhaps, have found
friends, and raised force sufficient, TO have sus !
tan itco1 &c,