The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-06-29
"a
 .1E P .' @ A s / ' IN SIGHT or SANTIAGO Shafter Sends Word That the Army is Only Three Miles From City. IT CAN BE PLAINLY SEEN NEVIS REG1RDED AS GOOD AT TV4R DEP4RTMENT.
IT CAN BE PLAINLY SEEN
NEVIS REGARDED AS GOOD AT WAR
 DEP4RTMENT.

DEP4RTMEN
 1t DiscIoses a Very Satisfactory Rate of Progress Upon the Part of General Shafter-As Near as Can be Gathered From the Brief Dispatch the Army Is at the Fork in the Road, One Branch of Which Leads to Santiago and the Other to Morro Castle.
 Washington, June 2S.-The war de- pertinent this afternoon posted the fol- lowing:,
 Off Siboney, June 27 9 a. m., via Playa del Este.-Adjutant General, Washington; All is progressing well. We occupied to- day an advanced position abandoned by the enemy yesterday on the Sevilla and San tiago road west of the San Juan river within three miles of Santiago and from which it can be plainly seen. (signeuJ
 Shafter, Major General, Commanding.
 The following bulletin was also post ed by the war department late this af- ternoon:
 Baiquiri, June 27. via Play del Este, June 2S.-Hon. Secretary of War, Washington: The Yale arrived this morning all right. Troops now disembarking. Your son, who has been at the front as a volunteer, as- signed to duty on the staff of General Duff field. fsigned)
 Shafter, Major General.
 It was very late in the day when the first of the above dispatch came to the war department from General Shafter. It was the first in two days, but the news was regarded as so good that there was no disposition to complain. It disclosed very satisfactory rate of progress upon the part of General Shafter towards the town of Santiago itself and apparently he has gained all this ground and has come within three miles of Santiago without suffering any losses since the bloody skirmish of Fri day last. As near as can be gathered from the brief dispatch the American army is now at the fork in the road, one branch of which leads to Santiago anu tuC OIlCl IO NlOllo ScSIlC cL tHC entrance to the harbor. General Shaf- ter is thus free to move in either direc- tion according to the demands of the campaign
 With the thirteen hundred men who reinforced him yesterday on the Yale and the additional brigade that will reach him by tomorrow it may be pos sible to make even more rapid progress in the advance upon Santiago, as these men can be relied upon to relieve the main body of troops from the necessity of keeping open the line of communica- ton between Shafter and his base at Baiquiri. Meanwhile further reinforce nents are being dispatched as rapidly as the best energies of the department can direct, and it is believed that sev- eral thousand men sailed from Tampa to-day directly for Santiago. The de- partment has had in mind the difficult ties of the campaign that are just de veloping to the public eye, such as the use for the first time in civilized war of barbed wire fencing as means of defences, and acting upon the advice of some of our army officers who were in Cuba while the fighting was con- fined to the Spaniards and the insur- gents.
 A certain number of men in each reg iment have been provided with wire cutters and charged with the duty of cutting down these fences so as to per- init the advance of the troops and, when necessary to shell out the force defending these fences. The lines are being frightened around Cuba, and it will soon be impossible for even small quantities of food or war supplies to reach the Spanish troops. On the south coast the Isle of Pines will be cut off as a transfer depot for cattle and food supplies coming from Jamaica and Gen. tral America. By closing San Juan harbor the Spaniards will lose the last chance of getting war supplies into Gu ba, and the future operations of army and navy looking to the occupation of Porto Rico will be materially advanced by the establishment of a successful hIockade