Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1898-08-14
SPANISH OFFICER TELLS OF THE
SLAUGHTER ON JULY L.
AMERICANS FOUGHT LIKE LIONS
NEVER REITERATED IN THE FACE
OF MOST MURDEROUS FIRE.
Spanish Stock of Ammunition Ran
Out in the Afternoon and Then
Ell Caney Was Abandoned
Death of General Varn
del Rey.
Correspondence of the Associated press)

Correspondence of the Associated Press)
SANTIAGO DE CUBA. Aug. 2.-One of
the few surviving Spanish officers at the
battle of caney, fought on July /, an aide
on General yara del Rey's staff, and pres
ent at the death of that officer, has related
his impression of the engagement to an
Associated Press correspondent. The mar
rative, which is told in the officers own
words. gives a Spanish. view of one of the
hardest fought battles of the war. The
narrator Said:
..Brigadier General Joaquin vara del
Rey, in command of the brigade of San
Luis. composed of three companies of the
Twenty-ninth regulars. numbering 49, and
forty-seven guerrillas was ordered by Gen.
eral Linares TO proceed from San Luis to
Santiago, there to reinforce the garrison
in that city.
''We left San Luis on June 23. marched
to Ell Paso and thence to Santiago where
We stayed forty-eight hours. when We were
ordered out to Caney to strengthen the
left flank Of the Spanish lines. We arrived
there on the 2Sth inst, in the evening, af-
ter an uneyentful march. - -, -
THE 514 men of General yara del Rey's
command were the only troops at Caney,
and were never reinforced. The 457 reg
ulars We're armed with Mausers and the
forty-seven guerillas with Remington rifles.
in the afternoon the 30th We noticed
a balloon ascending in the air about a
quarter of mile off. After its descent
We saw the enemy pick up their tents
and move their. camp. but as the night
was falling We were unable to locate their
new position, although we guessed at il
pretty correctly.
We. hurriedly dug trenches about. three
feet deep, in which the men fired kneel-
ing. We worked in the trenches and
breastworks all through the night, as
signed the men to their posts and placed
thirty regulars in the front of the block
house, known as El Paraiso, fearing a sur
prise from the enemy.
Our fears proved only too well founded,
for at -daybreak the next morning. July l,
the first shell from the enemy's guns fell in
the town. s--- -
The Americans simultaneously opened
with four rapid-fire guns, and kept up a
volcanic fire until 3 p. m.
I'VE had no artillery with which to re-
ply. and soon realized that we had the
fight of our lives on our hands. All the
ammunition We had were Twelve mule
loads of eight cases each, a total of Sc, 900
rounds. 100. -... .--
THE enemy's fire was incessant, and
We answered with equal rapidity. 1 have
never seen anything to equal the courage
and dash of those Americans, who, stripped
to the waists, offering their naked breasts
to our murderous fire. literally threw them
selves on our trenches at the very muzzles
of our guns. =
Our execution must have been terrible,
We had the advantage of position, and
moved them down by the hundreds, but
they never retreated or fell back an inch
As one man fell, shot through the heart
another would take his place with grim
determination and unfiinching devotion to
duty in every line of his face.
Their gallantry was heroic. We Won
dered at those men. who fought like lions
and fell like men courting wholesale
massacre, which could we'll have been
avoided had they only kept up their firing
without storming our trenches.
our stock of ammunition was dwin-
ding fast, We were losing men rapidly, and
We're fighting the battle of despair, the in
evitable staring us in the face General
Nara del Rey was standing in the square
opposite the church, when word was
brought him that the last round had been
served to the men. This was ai-.ut 4.
O'Clock in the afternoon He at once gave
the order to retreat, crying to his men:
'SalveZ quien Pueda.'
Hardly had he given the order when he
fell. shot through both legs. One of his
aides. Lieutenant Joquin Dominguez, turned
to the general as he fell. exclaiming: Gen.
eral. what slaughter A bullet took the
top clean off his skull, killing him on the
spot.
I'm the meantime I had secured q
stretcher and ordered. four men to plac.
the general on it and carry him to place
of safety. Bullets were whizzing past us
and falling like hail all arolI,1d
1T seems that fate was against us. A.
they placed him on the stretcher. Genera
Del Rey was shot through the head anc
killed. All four litter bearers were shot
and Lieutenant Won Vara del Rey. !:
brother and aide to the general, was wound
ed and taken prisoner.
Earlier in the day Majors Aguero an,
Aragon, both on the generals. staff, ha,
been killed. Besides these ten, other off
GERS were shot, and we had go men kille'
and wounded.
AT General Fara del Reys DEATH al
took flight, running down the hill and to
ward the woods and underbrush in an ef
fort to get away with their lives.
Toward evening small bands of strag
Cling, worn out soldiers began to arrive il
Santiago, and at $40 o'clock that nigh
Lieutenant Colonel Punet came in with 10
men whom he had been able to rally an
None of the block houses in the sur
rounding country was engaged that day
bu: in the early morning a shell from tn,
American lines fell in the San Mangue
block house, setting it on fire and KILN,
seven men.
I'VE estimate the enemy's forces engaged
at Caney on July at 5000 men, and thei
artillery at four rapid-fire guns.
1T was the hardest fighting have eve
seen or ever expect to see. The brillianc.
and daring of the American attacks wa
only equaled by the GOODNESS and stub
bornness of the Spanish defense.
The report that the body of Genera
Vara Del Rey had never been recovere
is untrue. 1t was buried by the America
troops and his grave was marked with
wooden cross. A decoration found on hi
breast was unpinned and later handed t
General Toral by General Shafter."
WHERE T0RAL'S HORSES WEN