Evening star., 1898-06-23

excited cheering of the soldiers on the
transports.
In five minutes the sea was alive with flo
tillas of small boats, headed by launches,
speeding for Baiquiri dock. Some of the
boats were manned by crews of sailors,
while others were rowed by the soldiers
themselves. Each boat contained sixteen
men, every one in fighting trim and carry
ing three days rations, a shelter tent. a
gun and 200 cartridges, ready to take the
field on touching the shore should he be re-
quired to do so.
The firing of the warships. however, prov
ed to be needless precaution, as their
shots were not returned and no SpaniardS
were visible.
Two correspondents of the Associated
Press, in a small boat, joined the first flo
tilla that went ashore and witnessed the
inspiring sight of the landing.
Gen. Shafter, on board the Seguranca,
closely watched the landing of the troops.
Brig. Gen. Lawton who had been detailed
to command the landing party, led the way
in launch, accompanied by his staff and
directed the formation of the line of opera
tion.
A detachment of eighty regular infantry
soldiers was the first to land, followed by
Gen. Skaters old regiment the 1st In
fantry. Then came the 25th Infantry, the
22d infantry, the 10th Infantry, the 5Oth
Infantry, the 18th and 18th Infantry, the
I'd Massachusetts Regiment and a detac h
ment of the 9tn Cavalry
Rivalry for Position.
The boats rushed forward simultaneously
from every quarter, in good natured rival
ry to be first, and their occupants scram-
bied over one another to leap ashore.
As the boats tossed about in the surf
breaking against the pier, getting ashore
was no easy matter, and the soldiers had
to throw their rifles on the dock before
they would climb up themselves, and some
hard tumbles resulted, but nobody was
hurt.
At the end of the pier the companies and
regiments quickly lined up and We're
marched away.
General Lawton threw a strong detach-
Eient, for the night, about six miles west,
on the road to Santiago, and another de-
tachment was posted to the north of the
town, among the hills. The rest of the
troops were quartered in the town, some
of them being housed in the buildings of
the iron company. Others were quartered
in deserted houses, while others still pre-
ferred the shelter of their tents in the
adjoining fields.
The mornings fire, it was seen, had de-
stroyed tie round house, the repair shops
and several small dwellings. The town was
deserted when the troops landed, but wo-
men and children soon appeared from the
surrounding taickets and returned to their
he mes.
The sun-bronzed soldiers in their s!ouch
hats and service uniforms, quickly search
ed the buildings and beat up the thickets
after landing in search of lurking foes, and
marched into the unknown country beyond
at nghtfall, with long, swinging stride and
the alert bearing of the old frontier army
men, ready to fight the Spaniards Sioux
fashion or in the open, wherever they
could be found.
The cheers of their comrades still wait
ing on the transports and of the blue
jackets and the strains of Yankee Doodle"
from the bands on the troop ships saluted
them they disappeared from view over
the hills OF Baiquiri.
The landing was accomplished without
loss of life, the only casualty being the
wounding Of an insurgent on the hills by
d shell from one of our warships. He will
lose his arm.
The insurgent troops at Baiquiri are COM
manded by General Castillo and are esti
mated to number thousand men.