The San Francisco call., 1898-07-24

boats, mostly of the 'improvised" class. Immediate preparations were made for
 disembarking the troops. BaiquiTi, a
 little town with a good harbor, afout
 ten miles east of Santiago, was se- lected as the landing place. The town
 is defended by two or three batteries,
 which it was, of course, necessary to
 reduce before the army could land.
 General Shafter and Admiral Sampson decided upon the 22d instant as the day
 of disembarkation, and, on the even ing of the 2lst, the admiral issued or derS for a general bombardment of all
 the batteries along the coast, from
 Santiago to BaiQuiri, on the following morning
 It may seem somewhat strange to you that these same batteries need to be repeatedly bombarded The reason is this The enemy's guns, with the exception of those of the Cabanas and Morro forts, are mounted either behind extensive esrthWOrks, or on the crest of high bluff, so that they just peep" over the top. It is a comparatively easy matter to drive the Spaniards away from their guns, and thus si lence the batteries temporarily; but in order to permanently reduce them 1t would be necessary to hit each indi- vidual gun, and this, under the Ctrcum- stances, is exceedingly difficult. even with the best of craftsmanship.
 The best we have been able to do is to drive the Spaniards away from their batteries temporarily, occasionally knocking out a gun with a lucky shot.
 The general bonn bardment began about : o'clock yesterday morning (the 22d) and lasted a couple of hours The Scorpion, New Orleans, and four or five other vessels engaged the bat terieS at Baiquiri, where the troops were to land. Other vessels were as signed to each of the batteries along the coast from that point to Santiago.
 We ran in to within 200 yards of the shore at Baiquiri and opened such a rapid fire that the Spaniards ceased firing and deserted their guns inside or half an hour. We kept up our fusil- Jade, however. for a couple of hours, meanwhile the transports came up be- hind us and prepared to land troops The soldiers were full of enthusiasm. eager to land, and could hardly be kept back until We had cleared the beach with our ~uns. At every par ticularly good shot from the ships, they cheered us wildly.
 Though they were supposed to wait until the bOmbardment was over be- fore landing, the troops came .up close behind us in their boats while the fir ing was at Its hottest, and long before 1t had ceased they had begun to land. My personal station was on the bridge of the Scorpion, and during the latter part of the engagement. l had to give as much attention to keeping the sol dlers out of our line of ire, as 1 did to the training of our guns.
 An amusing incident occurred while ! the bombardment was still in progress. | The Twenty fifth Infantry (c0Iored( | came by in their boats on their way 10 | the shore, and as they ~assed us a band on one of the ships struck up | All Coons Lot k Alike to Me" follow. | cd by Iherll be Hot Time in the Old | Town To-Nisht." The shout of laugh | ter that went Up could be heard above ! the roar of the guns The darllies an preclated the joke. too, cheered inc | ships, and called out to us Clear tba way boys, and we'll do the rest"
 So far as l have heard the only cae- ualtles on our side occurred on inc Dattle-shtp Texas, which had one man Killed and eight wounded. June 25. We were sent to-day with dispatches froro the admiral to General Shafter Ha ir- termed us that the army was advanc- Ing on Santiago. and is now within seven or eight miles of the town The auEance guard had an engagement or latner a sklrmish. with the enemy yes teruay We lost twenty men killed | ana about thirty wounded; the Snanjsb | JOSS IS unknown, but our men found l Iorty-Iour bodies on the field The -7pahlsh broke ranks and fled in dis