Evening star., 1898-07-23
AT Tackled BY GARCIA
His Force Fires on Spanish Troops
Marching to Surrender.
ATTEMPT TO WREAK VENGEANCE
Spaniards. Although Caught Off
Guard, Routed the Cubans.
STORY NOT YET VERIFIED

A remarkable dispatch about General
Garcia appears in the New York Herald
today, dated Santiago Thursday last 1t is
as follows
Great excitement was caused in Santiago
today by story brought in by the Cubans
that 1900 Cuban insurgents, composing
General Garcia's army for the eastern de-
partment of Cuba, were routed in a fierce
engagement with a detachment of Spanish
troops bound for Santiago to surrender.
1 was unable to verify the story. l give
it the army here heard it.
In this battle which took place at a point
several miles to the north of this city,
forty-one Cubans were killed, the Cubans
say, and many more were wounded. The
Spanish loss, L am informed, was much
smaller.
Nothing happening in this vicinity recent
ly has taken the American officers and
troops SO completely by surprise as this
story of battle between the Cubans and the
Spaniards. Our troops had come to look
upon the insurgents eaters rather than
as fighters, and they scarcely believed the
reports that Garcia s men had lain in am
bush and had opened the fight by attack
ing the Spanish troops.
Garcia's Defeat.
I have been unable to learn as yet wheth-
er General Garcia was aware of the num-
Der of the enemy he was attacking. If he
thought he had encountered small force
of SDaniards and could overpower them
easily it was a grave mistake, apparently.
There were at least 5000 Spaniards in the
body, according to the report, and they
drove Garcia S men into full retreat few
hours after the battle began.
When the Cuban general withdrew his
troops to the mountains, as already told in
the Herald's dispatches, he resolved to
move onto Holguin, about sixty miles to
the northwest of this city. If the Ameri-
cans would not allow them to wreak VEN
geance on the Spanards in Santiago the
Cuoans proposed to storm some other i'm
portant place and take possession of it
their own account.
1t was with this object In view that Cen
eral Garcia withdrew his troops from the
American lines and refused longer to act az
an ally of General Shafter. He decided to
capture Holguin, if possible and to there
set up an insurgent government making
that place the Cuban headquarters for the
eastern department.
Attacked Surrendered Men.
1t Is nor stated how far to the northwest
of Santiago General Garcia's army had pro-
ceeded upon this mission when the Span
ish troops were encountered. They had
been marching for many hours however
and must have been well started on their
journey.
L am told 1t is a question as to which
We're the more surprised. the Cubans or the
Spaniards, when the two bodies of troops
met on the road between Santiago and Hol-
gum. The Spaniards, it is said, had been
gathered from the fortified towns in the
vicinity, and We're proceeding to Santiago
under the terms of surrender agreed to by
General Toral. They were seeking to carry
out in good faith the agreement made with
General Shafter. They were not looking
Tor a fight, and were caught off their
guard.
General Garcia, l am told. ordered his
men to form that they would be con-
cealed in the ehaparral, hoping to annihil-
ate the first section of the Spanish troops
HIS plans were promptly put into execu-
ton, but the Spaniards quickly recovering
from the Generalization caused by the
opening shots, fought fiercely, and General
Garcias ambuscade was a failure.
Although unsuccessful in his plan to trap
the Spaniards, General Garcia according
to the Cubans who brought the story, sent
word to them demanding that they surren-
der forthwith
To this demand the Spanish commander
returned an emphatic refusal.
General Toral," he notified General Gar
cia, has surrendered to the American
army. not to the Cubans."
The Order to Fire.
Despite the Information that these Span
ish troops were part Of those included in
General Torars surrender. General Garcia
is said to have ordered his troops to pre-
pare to fight.
The Cubans quickly took the positions to
which they had been assigned, and the or
Ger to fire passed along the line.
General Garcia had decided it is said to
attempt to carry the Spanish position by
assault. and his troops pressed forward
WHEN the word was given. Their progress
was firmly resisted at every point by the
SPanlardS, Who after several hours fight
Ing, put the Cubans to rout, with loss
OF forty-one killed and many wounded. The
Spanish suffered smaller loss
Ihls story of battle, and its disastrous
results, has greatly excited the Cubans
They are demanding vengeance and can
not understand why the Americans do not
al initiate their Spanish prisoners of war.
General Garcia, prior to this latest re-
ported exploit, had been a source of great
trouble to General Shafter, the American
commander having been met at every point
by Cubans with claims for precedence.
Opposed the Terms.
All of the Cubans violently opposed the
terms upon which General ToraI surren-
dered to General Shafter. Those terms
were dictated by General Shafter but the
Cubans ever since the city formally sur
rendered, last Sunday have done every
thing in their power to render the carry
ing out Of the terms difficult or impossible
This latest reported exploit of Garcia in
attacking a detachment of American prs-
oners of war is regarded as characteristic
1t is in line with the course he has pur-
sued ever since he discovered that he was
powerless TO interfere with General Shaf-
ters plans about the government of San
tiago and the treatment of the Spanish
troops who had surrendered.
After he found himself free from the an
noyance of the unreasonable Cubans Gen
eral Shafter set about to rid himself of the
only other disturbing element in the stua-
tion-the yellow journalists" Following
the arrest and deportation of Sylvester
Scoyel, General Shafter has banished from
this part of Cuba all of the correspondents
and artists of a well-known New York
paper
General Shafter resolved to put an end to
the mischief these yellow journalists"
were doing, and hundreds of yellow pos
ters, bearing the words Remember the
Maine" which were placed about the city
to incite attacks on the surrendered Span
iards, have been torn down.
CUBAN JUNTA'S STATEMENT.