The San Francisco call., 1898-07-03

Special cable to The Call and the New York
 Herald Copyrighted; 1898, by James Cor
 IN CAMP WITH SEVENTY FIRST NEW YORK REGIMENT, Friday, July 1: (by The Call Herald dispatch boat Golden Rod to Port Antonio, Sat urday,.' July 2).AThe attack on the outer 'defenses of Santiago was begun from the. sea and. land at z o'clock this morning.. The forts at Caney were de- stroyed and e*yictory won after hard fighting, at San Juan.
 We, who were last night near the rear, were. ordered to move at half past. B. O clock this morning, and then learned with keen satisfaction that the main attack was to" be begun by the Sixth and Seventy first, with the Six teenth in; reserve. : Before the dawn the narrow &road, a foot deep in mire. was crowded" with marching men. An attempt had been made to improve the road by.throwing branches of trees in it, but that made, matters worse. The men formed in lines on both sides, the Seventy first joining the general sweeping movement toward Santiago:
 A mile from. the Seventy -first's old camp we found winding stream with no bridge and. had to ford it. The sul- try heat after the night chill made all eager to bathe and drink as we waded through. Twenty minutes before | o'clock I heard the low rumble of guns ahead as if. from cannon fired from hill. across the valley. Capron's battery had opened on Caney. .
 At ten minutes to the Seventy-hrst halted for rest and pushed on through the .4O0O Cubans under Gen eral Castillo and by General Shutters s headuuarters, where the general rest ed on a cot, awaiting reports, under the shade of the leaves of the wood. I ran down the line. Lawton's men were att .cking 'Caney. The Cubans turned off at Fl Pogo Hill, following the main road to the right, moving into position to the northeastward of the city. At Fl Pogo is creek, a large stone wall and a very steep hill up which is a difficult path. On top of the hill is a brick works and there, too, fronting to the westward, was bat tery of three field guns in position, and on a higher hill to the right due north were Capron's battery and infantry.
 .Caney is a suburb of Santiago and two miles from the city. In it was regiment of infantry and a strong blockhouse of ornamenta. finish. It is the most important place near the capi- tai. As I reached the summit of Ell Pogo smoke belched from one: of Caprons guns to the north of us, and the blockhouse was hidden by cloud of dust and stones and seemed to tum- ble to its base.
 The rattle of infantry fire reached us then and the battery fired gun after gun in quick succession as if covering the advance of our infantry on Caney.
 No one doubted the place would be occupied in two hours. From Fl Pogo one could not see the land lying be- tween Caprons battery and Caney on account of the trees and underbrush, but the volleys seemed to come from the thickly wooded valley. I could see clearly in San . uan what was evidently a part of the old city wall and fort with it's high roof. Outside these are earthworks and wire fences; but these were screened by the woods. There is a hill b cen Fl Pogo and San Juan battery rising higher on the left and hides the main section of Santiago to some extent, but between the royal palms on the hill I could see a long stretch of roofs, and the officers were puzzled to observe white or red cross flags floating above many of the houses. The Cubans explained that these flags were displayed by all the residents of Santiago who either took no part in the war or harbored no soldiers in the hope that the Americans would spare their houses when bombarding.
 Two field guns on Fl Pogo command ed the San Juan section of the city. The officers in charge told me the range was 2500 yards. At half-past 8 o'clock the guns on Fl Pogo joined the music of Capron's battery The rifles were making things lively north of us The first shell just grazed the roof of the central building on the San Juan wall. Dust arose lazily from the top of it and the shell passed on, bursting on the other side. The range had been we'll calculated. A roar of approval ran along Fl Pogo. Then gun was tried 1t a slightly less elevation. Its mis- sile flew true to the mark, and it's twang was still in our ears when dust clouds rose from the roof and settled, disclosing a great hole which seemed twenty or thirty feet in diameter. The third shot went higher, and the fourth
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