The San Francisco call., 1898-07-03
Copyrighted, 1898, by the Associated Press.


 ON BOARD THE ASSOCIATED PRESS. DISPATCH BOAT DANDY. off Juragua, Friday, July 1, D. m., via Kingston. Jamaica, July 2.-The battle of Santiago. has ragged all day and at 4 o'clock this afternoon 15,000 American troops are laundering at the outer for tifications of the doomed city. Since daybreak General Shafter's army has fought its way across two and a half miles of bitterly contested and strongly fortified country and the entire line of the men to the right is within gunshot of Santiago town.
 The American loss thus far is esti- mated at hospital corps headquarters at twenty killed and fifty wounded but 1t will be hours before the death roll can be accurately given. Lieutenant Colonel Patterson of. the Twenty-second Infantry is the only officer known to have been. wounded, and he is not fatally hurt
 The Spanish killed and wounded are undoubtedly numbered by hundreds.
 The Spanish strongholds of Caney and Fl Pogo have fallen nd the forts at: Aguadores, just east of Morro Castle ,onsthe coast, have been blown to ruins by the guns of the fleet With the ex- .eeption of about 1000 troops, who are guarding Baiquiri and Juragua, the en- tire army is engaged, together with 40QQ of General Garcia's Cuban troops
 The men fought gloriously, and if the same measure of success which attend ed .tQ-day's engagement follows the lighting of the next twenty-fOur hours, the American flag will fly from Santi- agos walls on Sunday. .. Officers and men are.fplly convinced that the city. will be theirs by tomorrow night. ;" The general order for an advance was issued by General Shafter at dark last night and by midnight every man in the army.knew that a desperate strug- gle would come with the dawn. The news put the troops into fever of ex- cIteneHt, and the night was spent in cheering and, singing, the popular strain being &Therell Be a Hot Time in Santiago To- o-morrow.'. .., At l. O 'clock this morning hundreds of bugles. rang out. the. reyeille and before the. sun had risen the great line was complete. To the extreme left was - General Duffield with the Thirty-third Michigan, his command having reach ed the Aguadores bridge by train. Next, to the northeast, was General Rents di
 
 and held as a reserve force. The cen ter of the line was held by cavalry dlYisions 'Wflich arrived at noon. It was commanded by General Summer. Ow- ing t0 ($enAral XQung's illness, Colonel Wood 'ofrthe Rough Riders, commanded. his brigade which consisted of the. First. Neg ularst' the First Volunteers and the:Ienth Regulars and one battal- ion of. the Ninth Regular Cavalry, all diSmQunteG With the exception of two troops on the extreme right, under Gen. erals EaWton and. Chaffee, fully five miles from: the sea. ...
 It had been arranged that General .DufHeld: should make feint of attack ing ;Aguad0reS, in order to draw atten- ton. from the main movement, and at , o'clock: GeHeral Lawton S troops moved forward led by battery of the First Artillery, under. command of Capt..in Allyn Capron. Every man in the army carried three. days rations and am rL- milton to match. and every one kne,y that he was not expected to: return to camp until Santiago had fallen.
 General LaWton's division opeaai the ball with 13-pound shot, quicN'y fol- lowed by others, the infantry opening fire immediately afterward. At GAO a, m. Garcia advanced rapidly through the brush in the valley. meeting win no opposition, and General LawtJn ad Yanced along the north slope, the in 'fantry and artillery firing heavily Cap tain Grimes guns had just gallopel to the plateau in grand style and opened fire.
 The telegraph line, Labrunelle super intending, kept up with the advance in line style. The observation balIoo,7 was inflated for the first time and made three successful experimental ascen- sIons, the car holding six men.
 Under the musketry fire of the cav a iQ Qf6c in 1a town of Fl Paso retreated and Captain Grimes battery took a position there and began rapid firing into Caney. The guns of the two batteries made the place so hot that the enemy. finally re- urea, having no artillery.
 After the enemy had been driven from Ei Paso twenty-one shots were ; fired by Captain Grimes and Captain Capron from that position into the outer Qualifications. of Santiago before . response came. When it did come. however; it came, with, unexcelled ac- curacy-shct and shell from .three- inch rifles, evidently taken from Admiral Ceryera s: warships, and mounted be- hind. the fortifications:
 The. Spanish gunners raked the hill on which :El Paso stands and which had been made .the :headquafters of General Sumner and; 'the. Cuban gener- als, Garcia, Castillo, Canote and Rabi One shell struck. a: large sugar store house, on the: red corrugated. roof of which<stoGd some Cubans viewing the fight. The roof fell and all the Cubans were wounded and three of them. will die .> -: .'% ..
 A detachment of 200 Cubans went forward from Fl Paso; and then Colonel Wood, with the Rough Riders and the :; First and Tenth. Cavalry, started down the hillside straight for the. enemy's fortifications. =: :.
 Captain Crimes battery poured a .. .:-teady fire into the Spaniards to pro- .'.ect Colonel Woods advance. The dis mounted cavalry paused on it's way through the tangled grass and under brush. and, halfway down the hills side, selected a good spot to halt, and from there. opened and maintained for twenty minutes a hot fire. The oppos- ing batteries banged away, Captain Grimes sending a storm. of lead down into the outer Qualifications and the Spanfards pounding away at the hill top with vicious persistency. Most of the Spanish shells went over the. hill tops. and fell in a ravine beyond. Here several detachments of Cuban troops were stationed as reserves, and before