Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1898-08-11

William Whitlock. a resident OF
Madison and an employee OF the
Deering Harvesting company. has
sou, Edward c. Whitlock, serving AZ
a marine on tho battleship Iowa. He
had the honor OF having been one OF
party OF nine that fred the first
gun on the American side In the
famous naval battle at Santiago July
5 In which Ceryera's fleet was an
affiliated, He wrote his father the
following interesting account OF the
battle:
The Spanish boats which we have
been waiting and watching for for q
number OF weeks came out OF SANTA
SO harbor yesterday. They all made
rush for this ship. We sunk three
OF the large ships and two torpedo
boats. They were SO close to land
that they could not entirely sink out
of sight. except 0e OF the torped,
boats which carried It's crew with It.
Most of the boats were either burned
up or blown to pieces. Four hun
dren and sixty-three men were killed
ON one ship. the Vixcaya, l do not
know how many were killed on the
other boats. heard the men on our
boat say that from one OF the boats
which we sunk only four meo we're
saved, one officer and three seamen
out OF 756 men. The Christobal
Colon, which our government bo-
lieves It will be able to save. after
being chased by the New York and
Brooklyn. ran ashore, striking on
big rock, The Spaniards then
pulled down the Spanish flag and sur
rendered, the Oregon and Texas
making the entire crew prisoners,
rome being killed. We had 260 NOM
bers OF the V2caya crew all that
were saved, among whom were sew
eral wounded, on board our boat for
some time. II was terrible sight
to see the intense suffering Of the
wounded sailors, seven OF whom died
within half an hour after being
brought on board. Many Of the Span
iards tried to swim ashore, but they
were killed by the Cubans, who we're
ambushed nearby.
at was grand sight when the
Spanish admiral and tho captain of
the Vizcaya came on board the Iowa
to surrender to Captain Bob Evans
who refused to take the Spanlards'
swords, saying that he fully appro-
ciatod the bravery they displayed In
coming out OF the harbor AZ they had
done. This action was greeted with
three rousing cheers by our crew.
The prisoners were at once given
baths and clean clothes and food.
We nil feel very sorry for tho wound
ed Spaniards and give them credit
for all they did. They are brave
people, but are behind tho times.
They are 80 match for tho United
States. One ll-Inch shell hit our
ship, penetrating ten inches Of solid
steel, and exploding into thousand
pieces. In one Of tho compartments.
There was no one In this compart-
ment at tho time and none OF the
crew were injured by II.
when the captain OF the Vizcaya
surrendered to our captain he kissed
his sword and rendered II TO Captain
Evans, who refused It saying Forget
It, captain, forget It. The Spanish
captain again kissed his sword and
hung 1t by his side, One man was
killed on the Brooklyn. Up to this
time there has been 5000 OF our men
killed and wounded, while the Span
ish losses have been three times that
number. II this trouble IL over be-
fore my time Is up, ! think | will try
and get my discharge. | have Just
oae year more In service. There is
some talk OF our going to Spain. The
! captain Of the Vizcaya was wounded
81 times by the explosion OF shell.
but not seriously. When he was pulled
up over the side OF the Iowa, he
looked back at his burning ship and
taking off his hat. said with
tears running down his cheeks,
Good bye, good bye, my Vizcaya,
! good bye We all felt almost as sorry
for the wounded Spaniards as II
they had been our brothers ana the
sight OF the wounded and dying lying
on the decks will never be forgot
ten.
Santiago de Cuba and all OF the
eastern part OF Cuba has surrendered.
Gen. Miles says he will sacrifice
100000 lives IL necessary, to take
Havana. Our army has captured
| 80 900 Spanish soldiers whom we
are going to send back to Spain.
They are starving over here now and
will be even worse Off there. This
is July 16. have been trying to get
stamp for this since July and
have finally succeeded"